Construction of housing, shops and landscaping
in Meinier (Geneva - Switzerland) - 1st Prize
The evolution of the village of Meinier raises the question of the identity of the place: Its capacity to develop, while perpetuating its essentially rural character.
The activities of the village are anchored along the road to Gy, the central axis of the village structure of Meinier. The strategy for reorganizing the site is based on a simple and clear gesture: Before designing the new volumes of the housing program, it is essential to “define the void”, the outdoor spaces. Their design extends over the entire perimeter of the site with the main objective, to preserve the openings on the countryside and to create a unity between the new constructions and the existing village fabric. Thus the project, in all its components, follows a language inspired by the fabric of the village. This formal work aims to create porosity between the village and the new neighborhood, which is structured around three places:
- The Public Square - The collective vegetable yard - The Gardens and private access.
The above-ground parts of the project are made up of a prefabricated structure, with intensive use of wood, both for the structure and for the facades. In addition to the fact that it is a renewable resource, whose growth cycle makes it possible to store CO2, this choice also makes it possible to significantly reduce the volumes of concrete and reinforcing steel, the environmental impact of which is unfavourable.
The structures consist of wooden walls of the frame type, posts and rails, as well as completely prefabricated mixed wood-concrete floors with a span of 3.80 m.
The prefabrication of the structures is adopted in order to be able to meet the main objective of reducing the duration of the construction site, by a construction carried out dry, while respecting the criteria of quality and durability. In addition, this solution drastically reduces the overall costs of the operation and in particular those related to the rehousing of the current inhabitants during the construction period.
Architect: A&F architects
Landscape architect :Landscape MAP
Structural Engineer:Boss & Ass. Consulting Engineers
Images: A&F architects
A&F architects collaborators: Mehdi Aouabed,
Alberto Figuccio, Vincent Caussignac, Audrey Humbert, Tahir Memil