Le Gabriel / TAA Toulouse

Architects: TAA Toulouse
Area: 11,544 m²
Year: 2024
Photography: Roland Halbe
Client: Uniti Habitat
Construction: Amar Tahmi
Associated Head of Project: Aurélie Guinel
Head of Project: Laurie Corrocher
Deputy Head of Project: Ana Nevado Funès
Head of Project’s Assistant: Delphine Chauvière
City: Saint-Jory
Country: France

Le Gabriel residential project, designed by TAA Toulouse in Saint-Jory, redefines a fragmented entrance to the village by introducing a compact, mixed-use development across a three-hectare site. Commissioned by Uniti Habitat and completed in 2024, the project integrates housing, public amenities, and landscape strategies rooted in historic agricultural patterns. Organized along east-west market gardening plots, the low-rise architecture preserves views toward the Canal du Midi and ensures coherence with the existing urban fabric, while promoting pedestrian mobility and soft transport across a calm, structured environment.

I am inspired by nature, art, photography, science, sport—anything that creates awe, surprise, or satisfaction. Architecture is a form of expression that transcends mere functionality and draws from the full spectrum of society.
Interview with Marinell Van Wyk of Taillandier Architectes Associés – TAA

The Le Gabriel development in Saint-Jory was conceived as a strategic urban intervention to redefine the northern entrance of the village. Positioned between a commercial roundabout and the historic center, the site filled a spatial void that lacked cohesion. TAA Toulouse approached the project as both architects and urban planners, creating a layout that merges contemporary residential forms with the traditional framework of a street village. Their design reflects the geographic and historical context while establishing a functional and connected town gateway.

Following several phases of urban studies, Uniti Habitat was tasked with overseeing the development of this three-hectare site within the Development and Planning Orientation zone. The objective was to establish a mixed-use program that included housing and public facilities, helping to consolidate the village entrance while reconnecting it to its broader landscape context.

The design responds to three major spatial elements that define the area: the Canal du Midi, the railway corridor, and the national road lined with plane trees. All run north to south and contrast with the east-west grid of former market gardening plots. These perpendicular systems, once central to the region’s agricultural production, informed both the project’s layout and its landscape strategy.

The site plan respects the traditional bocage framework by incorporating vegetation into the urban structure and using building orientation to reinforce historic land divisions. Housing plots were aligned with the original parcel lines, preserving the distinct identity of the northern Toulouse landscape, shaped by long, narrow agricultural strips.

Architecturally, the project ensures a gentle transition from the dense commercial fringe to the historic village core. Inspired by the positioning of traditional market gardeners’ homes, the buildings preserve key views from the Route de Paris toward the Canal and agricultural plain. All structures remain below the canopy of the plane trees along the national road, capped at two stories above ground level.

The buildings along Route de Paris define a gradual and articulated street edge that frames the town’s entrance. Deeper into the site, volumes are scaled for intermediate housing. Circulation is structured through a simplified road network that encourages slow vehicular speeds and emphasizes pedestrian connectivity. A central pedestrian path extends across the development and ties into the existing local network, aligning with the OAP provision for a soft mobility link between Rue de Bagnols and Route de Paris. The entire site functions as a 20 kilometers per hour zone, promoting bicycles and other non-motorized forms of transport.

The program includes a variety of residential typologies, including townhouses, small apartment blocks, a Senior Residence, and a medical center. Each element contributes to the architectural diversity while referencing familiar materials and forms found in the Toulouse region, such as canal-tile roofs, red brick facades, and rendered surfaces. The landscape layout reinforces this connection by maintaining alignment with historic parcel divisions.

The Senior Residence is constructed with tinted raw concrete at the base and brick cladding on the upper floors. A fully glazed restaurant space connects the two wings of the residence and opens directly onto a garden and terrace. Consistent anthracite gray joinery is used throughout.

Intermediate housing units are designed as compact, white-rendered forms topped with canal-tile roofs, alternating between gabled and hipped profiles. Roof edges are finished with white aluminum flashings, and staircases are made of exposed concrete. White balustrades and joinery complete the overall visual composition. A planted buffer zone separates the housing from adjacent parking areas, maintaining privacy and spatial clarity.

The collective housing blocks follow a simple dual-pitch form clad in red brick, with tiled roofs and detailing consistent with the intermediate units. Metal pergolas punctuate the rooflines, offering shade and outdoor terrace space. Gray joinery is uniformly applied.

Semi-detached houses are finished in white render with matching white joinery. Across the development, material choices are deliberately consistent to ensure architectural unity within a varied and complex urban context. This clarity is particularly important along the Route de Paris, where the project helps define a new identity for the town’s northern approach.