Newood Housing / La Architectures + AQMA

Architects: AQMA, La Architectures
Area: 5990 m²
Year: 2024
Photographs: Jean Baptiste Thiriet
Manufacturers: Arcelor Mittal, Lignalpes, Serge Ferrari
Lead Architects: Linda Gilardone, Amandine Quillent
Category: Apartments
Design Team: Linda Gilardone, Amandine Quillent, Charlotte Wuyam, Leo Bansaye, Moussa Belkacem
Commune: Noisy-le-Grand
Country: France

Newood Housing residential project designed by La Architectures and AQMA in Noisy-le-Grand, France has redefined the relationship between built form and steep topography, creating a porous and domestic-scaled urban environment. Newood Housing places volumes around the edge of a sloped plot to form a ring that opens to a long internal courtyard. The design uses fine striping from ground to fourth floor and divides volumes to create a smaller domestic scale across the 6000 m² project with 2600 m² accession and 3400 m² social housing. Exterior faults organize circulation and animate the facade while enhancing connections to public space, and multiple access points at different heights reduce perceived density and increase resident ownership. The project uses concrete for ground faults and timber framing (MOB) for upper structures, with a material palette of wide and tight wood cladding, white metal cladding, and coatings, along with roofs of single slopes, double slopes, and green terraces, maintaining unity through a clear structural framework.

Newood housing / la architectures + aqma

The Newood Housing project is situated in the “l’île de la Marne” neighborhood of Noisy-le-Grand, near Paris. Positioned on a long plot with a steep slope, the built volumes are arranged around the edge of the property, forming a ring that reveals an elongated central courtyard, creating a pathway through the project. The massing is distinguished by refined striping from the ground floor to the fourth floor (R+4) and a substantial subdivision of the buildings, which introduces a domestic scale to the 6000 m² development, comprising 2600 m² of accession housing and 3400 m² of social housing.

Circulations are placed in external faults, introducing rhythm and animation along the facade. These faults enhance the porosity between the inner courtyard and public spaces. The multiple access points at varying platform heights, combined with the nesting of buildings, contribute to diminishing the perceived density. This access strategy facilitates greater appropriation of the residences by their occupants.

Each apartment features an outdoor area such as a garden, terrace, or balcony, with most units offering clear views of the expansive landscape of the Marne. The program includes a semi-buried level dedicated to parking. A range of typologies is provided, from one- to five-room units, including many single-story apartments with gardens and duplexes on the upper floors.

Concrete is used for faults and technical rooms on the ground floor, while the remainder of the superstructure employs timber framing (MOB). The facade material palette includes wide slatted wood cladding, tight deep wood cladding, white metal panels, and coating. Roofs vary between single-pitch, dual-pitch, and green terraces. Despite the heterogeneous application of materials, roof forms, and paneling, the project maintains strong architectural and urban coherence through its clear structural framework.