The Masséna | Hamonic+Masson & Associés+ Comte Vollenweider Architects

Architecture, Apartments, Residential Buildings

The Masséna most inherited its name from Paris’ Masséna region in the southeastern 13th arrondissement, where the project is located. The project was designed after some alterations and revisions in urban regulations allowed for the construction of residential and office towers measuring up to 50 and 180 meters tall respectively. It was completed in early 2015.

photography by© Takuji Shimmura

The €24.5 million residential development is made up of two towers, one taller than the other, but functions as one single building while offering the option of private home ownership or social housing. The ambitious mixed-use project consists of 96 private apartments, 92 social housing units. These are distributed through the two high-rise blocks, one of the 14 storeys and one of the 17 storeys, where housing tenure is differentiated. These blocks are placed on a common base where shops are located.

Furthermore, the dwellings range from 1 to 5 room apartments and each one has its own unique identity and individuality through the different sizes and typologies used. This is something we rarely see on residential blocks where repetition is usually everywhere in order to minimise the cost and make the project fit it the local urban skin.

photography by© Takuji Shimmura

What the architects have created is really exceptional. They have managed to achieve uniqueness both for the development as a whole and also for individual housing units. The terraces are spiralling upwards, allowing for maximum sunlight exposure and give the towers a feeling of progression, growth and transformation. This innovative housing development also promotes social capital by providing people with direct visual connection to neighbouring terraces, while enjoying the outdoors through everyday activities. There are no buildings on the opposite side of the road, and this provides the apartments with exceptional views that stretch out to the horizon.

Concluding, The development marks new residential heights for the city of Paris while shaping its highly preserved skyline. The housing blocks are now acting as a the new icon for the area of Masséna in Paris, but also a symbol for the new era of vertical cities, shaped around the people’s needs and not economical circumstances.