Apartment hotel, Paris

In an area of urban redevelopment alongside the northern stretch of Paris' boulevard périphérique ring-road at Porte Pouchet, the long facade of the Odalys City 148-room apartment hotel faces onto what is soon to be Place Pouchet. The project is part of a larger scheme for a zone of urban development directed by urban planners TVK and Michel Guthmann. The massing and envelope of Hardel Le Bihan's architectural proposal for the hotel address three issues: the arrangement of assorted spaces and scales, at first glance difficult to unite; respect for the visual comfort and privacy of the residents of the Borel flats to the rear of the site; and reducing acoustic reverberation in the future square. Rather than creating additional disturbance, the undulating metal cladding of the long facade contributes to urban comfort by diffracting traffic noise. This wave was also designed to bring a bit of joy into this cold and impersonal zone on the city's edge. The corridor and facade walls are load bearing, whereas the walls between the bedrooms are lightweight partitions for easy dismantling, a design choice on the part of the architects in case of change of use: large, open floors could easily be created.