Dezeen Magazine

Bottière Chenaie by Block Architects

French studio Block Architects have completed a building Nantes, France, clad in multi-coloured stripes derived from the aesthetics of vegetable farms.

Called Bottière Chenaie, the block is constructed on land formerly used for farming vegetables.

The concrete building is clad in vertical, corrugated stripes of colour and comprises housing, public facilities and a school.

The mixed-use facilities are placed close together to promote an urban neighborhood.

The project has a maximum of five stories and lies within a rectangular block.

Photos are by Stéphane Chalmeau.

Here's some more information from Block Architects:

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The project was established in an urban project located in France at the North East of the city of Nantes inside an old growing area.

The project proposes a strong identity, by redrawing this landscape.

The architectural design of the project proposes to reactivate the aesthetics linked to the vegetable production industry.

The urban block consists in a five compact levels building housing, public facilities and a school.

The entire plan folds in the geometry of the block and household spaces external courses.

Different parts of the program fit to articulate the complex areas of the project.

A concrete shell displays a geometry own alignment on the street and urban structure in attendance.

Dubbed a translucent skin echoing the past of the vegetable production industry, this layer provides a vibration chromatic facades and increases the expression of verticality of the project.

This principle is proposed for the entire project. Thus writing is a homogeneous unit block of a building mixed-use: education - housing - activities…

This formal intention, in addition to its impact, symbolically shows the quality program of urban neighbourhoods.

It consists generous image of a "architecture - signal", in resonance with the landscape.

Authors :
Block Architects: Principal architects
Guinée Potin Architects: associate architects
Collaborators: Solen Nico, Celine Monvoisin, Benoit Moreira
Engineer: Iosis, Itac, Gotec
School: City of Nantes (France)
Housing and public facilities : Harmonie Habitat (France)