Here are a couple of images of Eden Bio by French architect Edouard Francois, a social housing development in Paris set in organic gardens.
The project, which is due for completion early next year, features terraced houses ranged along pedestrain alleys heavily landscaped with trees and plants.
The development contains 100 social housing units, with the upper levels reached by external timber gantries and staircases surrounded by greenery.
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Posted by Marcus Fairs
December 20th, 2007 at 11:48 am
Nice idea.
December 20th, 2007 at 2:15 pm
what a fantastically innovative way to not actually design anything.
December 20th, 2007 at 3:51 pm
i agree, more of a landscape/urban concept than anything else, but i still like it.
December 20th, 2007 at 6:56 pm
i enjoy most of his work… but having some greenery around the building does not make it green… please just sell it for what it is - mildly interesting scheme with external staircases ‘through’ vegetation.
December 20th, 2007 at 8:29 pm
Frank Lloyd Wright said ” a doctor can bury his mistakes, an architect can only suggest the planting of some vines”. Thanks for saving us the trouble.
December 20th, 2007 at 10:52 pm
That reminds me vaguely of James Wines for “Best Products”. 1975…..
December 21st, 2007 at 9:32 am
what a load of rubbish!!! Where is the elevation?
Anyone can photoshop a few trees and some random shapes behind and call it “architecture”
December 21st, 2007 at 4:49 pm
mike - Wait until it’s built and then decide if it’s rubbish. Of course there are elevations if it’s nearing completion.
roadkill - what makes a building “green” has been for some time now a very blurry topic. I would argue that any project that makes as great efforts as those of Francois to connect people in an urban condition to plants (growth/seasons/decay) is a worthwhile investigation. When we eventually decide what “green” means we may find that it’s something more than the pursuit of new materials (which is arguably the current “green” mainstream’s m.o.).
December 31st, 2007 at 7:17 pm
Ok Ok Ok…
I’ll play devil’s advocate.
PERHAPS (and since there is no sectional elevation I can’t tell), those green swaths of ambiguous vegetation act as:
1) storm water infiltration/attenuation features
OR
2)the assumption is the greenery acts as a heuristic device to educate the residents of their integration in/affect on nature
OR
3)by some sheer leap of faith the belief is that they provide solar insulation and reduce energy consumption for heat and cooling (ok that’s a stretch, but it seems oh so faux-green)
An Aside: Is anyone else sick of photoshop renderings in-lieu of actual plans/elevations/sections? I know it’s conceptual. I know it’s landscape design. But seriously, looking at a faked perspective with hyper-colors only obfuscates and confuses a design. It’s mostly on purpose I assume to hide the lack of actual design (I know, I went through design school).
January 21st, 2008 at 3:52 am
nice scheme. but a bit blur on the elevations and all. does anyone have a link for the project?
February 7th, 2008 at 4:51 am
Ken Yeang in his book Ecodesign, stated that one of the major hindrance in the design aspect of ‘green design’ is its fussy look/facade. I believe Jean Nouvel was able to hurdle this. His design for Musee du Quay Branly simply looked good with its 600 species of plants in its facade.
April 11th, 2008 at 6:05 am
Beautifull eco- or bio-arquitecture. Congatulations
¿Where I can see the “Torre de las Flores” in Paris? 2004
Thank you.
August 7th, 2008 at 3:53 pm
What a fantastic design! We are Housing Professionals and are very keen to visit the development. Please could you contact us to arrange a visit.
Thank you.