Nemausus | Jean Nouvel, Jean-Marc Ibos
France | 1985 | hard use
| Address: | Avenue du Général Leclerc, Nîmes |
| Work Type: | new built |
| Location: | on arterial road at the periphery |
| Number of Storeys: | 6-storey |
| Type of Building: | tenement / apart. house [detached] |
| Number of Units: | 114 |
Description
The housing scheme at Nîmes uses the principle of providing an excess of raw space that the tenants can then adapt as they wish. The economics work because whilst there is an abundance of space initially both in terms of area and volume, it is very cheap (one square meter was built for around £300 in 1985), the argument being is that quantity of space is more valuable in the long term to the occupants than quality of finish. The 114 dwellings are either single level, split level or evolve over three levels; all of them are double aspect, most fitting between a five metre cross wall system. Access to each unit is via a wide deck which runs along the entire length of every second level.
The most common unit type is a four room two storey apartment of between 97 m2 and 116 m2 in which the maisonette stairs are the only fixed elements in the otherwise undivided space. Services and wet zones are either grouped as a freestanding block in the centre the entrance level of a floor plan or as one long strip located against one of a unit's perimeter concrete walls. Because of simple and straightforward structural and technological principles, each apartment can be easily subdivided or left undivided. Hot and cold water connections as well as waste water to and from kitchen sinks for example are wall mounted allowing for easy accessibility as well as changeability. Although there is an apparent freedom granted to the tenants in subdividing their dwellings according to their needs, they are restricted by a covenant that forbids them to paint or plaster walls, or to carpet the floors; curtain colours are predefined according to size of the apartment (blue for two-room, yellow for three-room, and red for four-room apartments).References
Aldersey-Williams, H., 'A chip off the old block : Hugh Aldersey-Williams compares two iconic public apartment blocks in the south of France - one by Le Corbusier, the other by Jean Nouvel', Building Design, 1989, pp. 40-41.
Duroy, L., 'Le Quartier Nemausus [1]', Architecture d'aujourd'hui, 252, 1987, pp. 2-10.
Lucan, J., ''Nemausus 1' Wohnüberbauung mit Lofts, Nîmes, 1985', werk, bauen + wohnen, 77/44, 1990, pp. 56-58.
Schneider, F., ed., Grundrißatlas Wohnungsbau - Floor plan atlas: housing, Basel: Birkhäuser, 1994.
Zaera, A., and J. Nouvel, 'Nemausus experimental scheme', El Croquis, 13, 1994, pp. 94-112.