Herault Arnod Architectures has designed Inhabited Landscape in Laval, France.

This 92-unit mixed-tenure project is organised as a 10-metre-thick square ring around a central garden, allowing every apartment to be dual-aspect or set on an outer corner.

"The client's brief was to develop a mixed-tenure residential building on a strategic plot at the hinge between the new Arsenal eco-district and the existing suburban neighbourhood across rue Voltaire," said Herault Arnod Architectures.

The brief also called for social rental, subsidised home-ownership and market-rate units within a single architectural ensemble, with attention to the transition with smaller-scale neighbours, including a daycare and an apartment block 15 metres from the site.

As a result, Inhabited Landscape offers residents freedom in their way of living: a connection to the outdoors and to greenery, the ability to move between different types of spaces, additional storage units on the balconies and the possibility of riding their bike to and from home.