Le Sentier Vert

Affordable Housing Competition, Paris

Rock Townsend submitted a proposal to develop underused sites in Paris into affordable housing. Our design proposals are shown here.

Paris’s boulevards are a distinct feature of its urban landscape - the recognisable tree lined streets, Parisian buildings either side, and views connecting landmarks of Paris. The boulevards were originally introduced as a city wide intervention to bring open space, air and light into the narrow streets of the city, and connections between different areas. These were largely based on Haussmann’s proposals in the 1850s.

Today the reality is that a lot of the boulevards have become car heavy and polluted routes that divide areas of the city and lack human scale. This proposal explores the potential for the use and scale of these boulevards to be reinvented to suit the city today.

The proposal depicts an urban landscape where these main roads through the city are no longer a necessity, creating huge open spaces that could be reimagined. Along the length of these boulevards much needed affordable housing in the city centre is proposed. This will bring back a human scale and life to the streets with new public squares, shops, cafes, and public roof top gardens created. New tram and cycle routes supplement the housing with vital infrastructure and importance has been placed on reinforcing pedestrian routes through the city.

In each house a separate self contained unit is proposed. This provides future flexibility as it can be used as an extra bedroom, a self contained unit for grandparents or children, or an Airbnb. Multi generational households are becoming more common place out of financial necessity while the rise in short term lets and airbnbs in the city has contributed to the affordable housing crisis.

By deliberately providing opportunities for short term lets, the design strikes a balance between everyday need and use, and integrating tourists into Parisian life. This will free up housing in the rest of the city and will provide an additional source of income for less affluent Parisians.

Team: Giulia Simone, Kate O’Neill, Pippa Farmer, Wajiha Dadabhoy

Dates: 2019