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| Nemausus Social Housing |
The Nemausus Social Housing project by Jean Nouvel was
completed in 1987, a time during which a massive amount of the population of
France was moving from the rural outskirts to the more urban areas. This emigration led to an urgent need for
mass housing for a low cost. The
Nemausus One was Jean Nouvel’s answer to this problem. Nouvel wanted each apartment in the building
to be as large as possible, while still being flexible. By doing this he wanted to encourage the
tenants of the building to transform their own apartment to fit their
needs. Nouvel argued that the “quantity
of space is more valuable, in the long run, than the quality of finish.” With that understood, Nouvel made large apartments but left a lot of things unfinished, such as the concrete walls.
Jean Nouvel was inspired by industrial buildings, and wanted
to apply the concepts of such buildings to the Nemausus project. Nouvel also drew inspiration from the design
of ships, and used pre-manufactured industrial components throughout the
building. People really took to the Nemausus project because it was so
dramatically different from any apartment building that had come before
it. It was built in an industrial zone
as part of a project to improve public housing in the area. Because Nouvel was so inspired by industrial
design, he was able to lower the overall costs of construction and make the
apartments available to a wider range of people. Apart from being greatly cheaper than much of
the housing at the time, the Nemausus provided a whole new look for public
housing in France. The façade of the
building follows a completely continuous pattern even though there are a
variety of different apartment sizes and shapes within the structure.
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| Facade of Nemausus Housing Project |
One of the things that I found most interesting about this
project was the flexibility of the interior spaces. This was one of the most important aspects of
the project in the eyes of Jean Nouvel.
He felt it was important that the tenants be able to create their own
space inside of each individual apartment.
He used one main core in each apartment that included the bathroom, and
a pantry. Even though the core moved
around in different apartments, those items were always together. The large glass doors in each apartment also
give the space a feeling of flexibility.
They allow the tenant to almost bring the outside in to their
apartment. Nouvel was also able to add quite a bit of exterior space surrounding this building. He raised the building up off the ground and used the space he gained for parking, which was a fairly revolutionary idea for the area. There is also a large green space in between the two buildings for tenants to enjoy. In my opinion all of the little details that Nouvel considered when designing this building makes it a very successful housing project.
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| plan view |
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| beneath the Nemausus |
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