The rebirth of the “Serpentin” public housing development in Pantin, France

프랑스 서펜틴 퍼블릭하우징 재개발

“Architectural heritage and contemporary pixellation”

20세기 들어 Courtillièes 주민 수는 점차 감소하고 있었다. 과잉된 거주지와 고립된 커뮤니티로 인해 여러 가지 도시의 문제점들이 야기되고 있었다. 이에 프랑스 정부와 지방정부는 국가도시재생기구(The National Urban Renewal Agency)를 통해 공공기금을 출원하여 거주자들의 복지를 늘리고자 하였다. 그 과정에서 도시 설계 그리고 디자인, 건축, 조경 건축, 공학 그리고 사회학 분야에서 전문가를 구성된 GIP가 결성되었다. 이후 2002년에 Agence RVA는 디자인과 공공 주거 개발인 HLM de Pantin과의 재건사업에 계약을 했고, 서펜틴(Serpentin) 주거개발, the Fonds d’Eaubonne 그리고 Point-de-Pierre housing developments 그리고 공공 공원의 개발이 본격적인 궤도에 오르게 된다. 건축설계는 Dominique Renaud, Philippe Vignaud and Associates가 맡았다.

건물 파사드의 미적인 부분과 색채 계획은 건축가 Éile Aillaud에게 굉장히 중요한 요소가 되었다. 공공 주거개발에서 건축가는 예술가와 함께 협업하였다. 서펜틴의 컬러 시멘트 플라스터 파사드는 여러 번의 건물 공사와 그리고 깨지기 쉬운 플라스터 표면 재질의 찢겨져서 시간이 지나면서 손상되었다. 완벽한 파사드 재건을 하기 전에 디자인팀은 건축물의 과거 유산 재건을 위해 4개의 가능한 접근 방법을 염두에 두었다. Émile Aillaud에 의해 원래 디자인된 파사드의 복원과 Émile Aillaud 스타일로의 복원, 원래 건축물을 바꾸면서 파사드 전체를 보수하는 것과 원래 건축물의 기본 설계를 바탕으로 동시대의 프로젝트 해답을 찾는다는 혁신사항이 그것이다.

처음에 디자인했던 파사드를 복원하면서 건축가의 원래 의도에 대해 완전한 이해를 하지 못하고 공사와 보수 유지하는데 두 부분 모두 높은 가격이 필요해서 첫 번째 접근은 배제되었다. Émile Aillaud의 스타일로 건물 외피를 복원하는 시도를 하는 것은 공공 주거 개발과 멀어져 갔다. 완전한 보수를 할 때 건물의 건축 유산을 해치지 않는 것은 쉽지 않았다. 결과적으로 처음 세 개의 디자인 접근을 무시하고 네 번째 접근만 활용하였다. 그것은 바로 혁신으로 동시대적인 디자인, 지속가능한 프로젝트, 동시에 Aillaud의 원래 디자인 의도를 존중하면서 현재 기술로 시행할 수 있었다.

서펜틴(Serpentin)의 뜻처럼 건물의 외형은 마치 구불구불한 뱀처럼 생겼다. 구불구불한 매스는 건물을 에워싸고 그 안쪽에는 공원이 형성되어 있다. 건물 안쪽 외관의 색상은 공원의 녹지와 조화를 이루며 다양한 컬러 그라데이션을 통해 차분한 분위기를 연출한다. 이처럼 서펜틴 공공주거 재개발은 열악한 주거상황을 개선하고 기능적이면서 합리적인 주거디자인을 내외부에 반영함으로써 도시환경에 긍정적인 울림을 전해주고 있다.

Architects_ Dominique RENAUD & Philippe VIGNAUD, architects/ Agence RVA

At the turn of the twentieth century, the Courtillières neighbourhood was in decline and suffered from a degraded image: the isolated community had become subject to overpopulated housing units, a deteriorated housing stock, an increasingly impoverished population, rising unemployment rates, tension and violence in public spaces and schools, and dangerously high rates of illegal activity. In response to this alarming situation, the French state and local government authorities chose to implement public funds through the National Urban Renewal Agency(ANRU previously known as the “Grand Projet de Ville”) in an effort to remediate the existing conditions for the welfare of the community and its residents. To facilitate the process, the cities, Pantin and Bobigny(the two cities within which the Serpentin project site is situated), created a public interest group(GIP) through which a public tender was launched calling for urban renewal proposals from teams regrouping expertise in the fields of urban planning and design, architecture, landscape architecture, engineering and sociology.

Over a period of several months, three teams including that led by Agence RVA carried out diagnostic and programme studies for the site. The teams’ analyses and programme recommendations were presented to the community for feedback before being submitted to a jury composed of community representatives, design and engineering specialists, and local and state level officials for review. In 2002, Agence RVA was awarded the contract for the design and rehabilitation of the ensemble of properties belonging to the public housing developer, HLM de Pantin, including the Serpentin housing development, the Fonds d’Eaubonne and Point-de-Pierre housing developments and a public park.

The aesthetic aspects of a building’s façade and its colour scheme are of extreme importance for the architect, Émile Aillaud. No matter our opinion of the colouration of the public housing development, Nuage Towers, in Nanterre, that of the Grande Borne’s abstract frescos(Rimbaud’s portrait) in Grigny or that of the Serpentin’s nuances of pink and blue(softening the limit between the façade and sky), colour is a key element of Aillaud’s architecture and essential to its understanding. Aillaud’s attention to colour is a result of his collaboration with the artist, Fabio Rieti. The Serpentin’s coloured cement plaster façades were damaged over time due to multiple hasty building interventions(including the removal of the balconies) and to the wear and tear of the fragile plaster surface material. Similarly damaged, an initial façade rehabilitation of the Fonds d’Eaubonne and Pont-de-Pierre housing developments was realised in the 1980’s; a layer of brick was added onto the existing cement plaster. (Aillaud approved of the intervention.)

The rehabilitation of the Serpentin’s façades, however, would not be evoked for another thirty years. Insulation was added in the 1980’s, but the damaged cement plaster and its fading colours remained untouched. Before undertaking the complete façade rehabilitation, the design team identified four possible approaches, keeping in mind the inherent constraints of rehabilitating an inhabited architectural heritage site: restore the façades as they were originally designed by Émile Aillaud; restore the façades “in the style of” Émile Aillaud; renovate the façades entirely, greatly altering the original architecture; innovate : seek out a contemporary project solution based on the original architectural parti - an approach akin to the spirit of Émile Aillaud. The first approach was discounted due to an incomplete understanding of the architect’s original intentions combined with the high costs, both in terms of construction and maintenance, associated with restoring the façades as they were initially designed. Attempting to restore the building envelope “in the style of” Émile Aillaud risked to further stigmatize the public housing development. A complete renovation, implying the radical transformation of the façade’s materials and colour scheme, was problematic in terms of honouring the building’s architectural heritage. Having negated the first three design approaches, the team is left with the fourth approach: innovate. This solution permits the design of a contemporary, sustainable project, able to adapt to existing technical challenges while simultaneously honouring Aillaud’s original design intentions.

The architects wished to collaborate with a graphic artist to elaborate the building envelope’s colour scheme. After a public tender process, the choice of graphic designer, Pierre di Sciullo, resulted in a unique and distinguished design. The street front is treated uniformly: a continuous, vertical colour gradient signals the Serpentin within its immediate context. The park-facing façade is treated with multiple, sparkling horizontal colour gradients, varying in length such that the building’s entryways are differentiated from one another. The façade’s colour choice is intended to complement the park’s verdure. This contemporary design proposal for the building’s envelope was agreed upon by all parties and participants involved.

A building’s street front should be designed in relation to its context. Given the exceptional length of the Serpentin, the building’s street front is presented with a multitude of different urban typologies. The façade is asked to respond to a major thruway, avenue de la Division Leclerc, planted with mature canopy trees, a large plot of community gardens, Aillaud’s public housing tower blocks and the construction of contemporary multifamily housing units resulting from ongoing urban renewal projects.

In response to the Serpentin’s diverse context, the project team designed a continuous, unifying monolithic façade composed of an undulating vertical grey colour gradient. Breaking with the previous address system which was composed of a street number followed by a entryway letter and a street name, today, each entry is indicated with a

conventional address: a street number, followed by a street name and the city. Each street number is indicated on a customized address post.

In contrast to the busy urban street front, the park-facing façade sinuously winds its way around a vast open space, creating intimate pockets of green within the Serpentin’s curves. The building’s concave sections envelop portions of the park creating identifiable, human-scale outdoor spaces. The façade’s horizontal colour gradients are tailored to the building’s undulations. Each curve and open-space “alcove” is associated with a particular gradient.

One of the causes of the community’s social woes is the substandard living conditions resulting from substandard housing. The Serpentin housing complex is made up of undersized and poorly equipped housing units dating from the 1950’s and 1960’s. The building measures six storeys high(one ground floor and five upper levels) without an elevator. The Urban Renewal Programme(PRU) and its associated funding enable the amelioration of the housing units’ spatial organisation(via the regrouping of existing surfaces), the modernization of each unit’s kitchen and sanitary equipment as well as increased thermal and energy performance. The goal is to rehabilitate the Serpentin so that it meets current housing stock standards and codes(except for its lack of elevators which are impossible to integrate given the narrow building width and the decision to respect the building’s architectural heritage).

Architect: Dominique Renaud, Philippe Vignaud and Associates

Principal architect: Nicolas Trentesaux

Client(public housing developer): Pantin Habitat OPH

Graphic designer: Atelier Pierre di Sciullo

Engineers/Economists: ARCOBA -ARTELIA

Landscape architect: Agence Vincent Pruvost

Project site surface area: 75,000m²

Housing unit density: 80 housing units/ hectare

Building dimensions: Width: 8m pre-rehabilitation, 8.40m after rehabilitation; Length: 1,060m pre-rehabilitation, 970m after rehabilitation

Building height: 6 stories(1 ground floor + 5 upper levels)/ 16.15m

Building footprint(in relation to site surface area): 11%

Gross floor area: 50,000m²

Façde surface area: 30,000m²

Housing units: Pre-existing units: 655, Restructured units: 513, Demolished units: 60