DESKOPOLITAN VOLTAIRE

In the heart of the 11th arrondissement of Paris, the block located at 224-226 boulevard Voltaire is a forgotten site, almost kept secret. The renovation and extension project proposed by Franklin Azzi is in keeping with an approach that respects the built heritage by relying on the initial principles of the building's design. Saved for many years, this island is now being reborn under the impulse of Deskopolitan to become a unique place. Its singular position in the heart of the block makes it an atypical place where one of the first urban challenges was to open the site to the neighbourhood thanks to a rich programme. A variety of activities and uses geared towards innovation are thus brought together on almost 6,000 m2: work spaces, a hotel, a restaurant, sports studios and a crèche.

Faced with the architectural and heritage richness of this site, the project led by the agency Franklin Azzi Architecture is oriented towards the bias of a daring and sensitive rehabilitation, anxious to preserve the soul of the site while guiding it towards a contemporary architectural response.

Based on an in-depth analysis of the morphology of the buildings and their constructive principles, the project's challenge was to make the existing fabric compatible with contemporary uses.

Thus, the primary frameworks of the buildings are preserved, as well as the existing fills and openings in order to include this rehabilitation in a respectful and sustainable approach with a low environmental impact (BREEAM certification "very good").

The tertiary character of the building is maintained in order to preserve the ordered layout of the post-beam structure as well as the existing openings. On the facades, we find the materials that make up the structure: the exposed concrete and the protective coating.

The contemporary extension, creating two additional levels (R + 5), is an extension of the rigorous writing of the original building.

In addition, a new back-to-back building hosts the Bed & Coworking Hotel Program. His architectural writing takes the codes of the site's industrial materials, brick and metal.

The project thus interacts with existing buildings and blurs the ruptures created by the fragmentation of the existing.

The ambition of Franklin Azzi Architecture was to transform a backyard site into a living and reconnected urban complex in the city.

In addition to the architectural approach, the landscaped component is also structuring. Indeed, the nature of urban soils and their valuation in a dense city like Paris is a real issue. Therefore, the project proposes a strengthening of the presence of the plant through the creation of collective and generous landscaped areas.

To do this, all spaces in the ground are treated in the manner of a landscaped garden crossed by several pedestrian paths; the slab spaces are planted with the addition of topsoil and will accommodate plant pots of different sizes.

These devices allow the creation of visual breakthroughs delimiting the spaces to be invested and thus guide the different pedestrian circulations.

Finally, in response to a global environmental approach based on the reappropriation of outdoor spaces by the public, the fifth facade is made accessible. A terrace and a vegetable garden have been created, with the aim of developing an urban agriculture to feed the restaurant and benefit the various users of the site.