The Flandre building complex, owned by Paris Habitat, was built in 1973 by architects Marc Leboucher, Marcel Astorg, and Robert Salles. It consists of 262 apartments distributed across three buildings: two 15-storey towers and a lower 5-storey structure. The original project was designed at a time when the rise of the automobile had profoundly transformed urban life, altering the scale relationships between buildings, streets, and people.
Over time, however, these relationships have evolved, and today we need more than ever to rediscover a human scale in our cities, our streets, and our buildings. This project seeks to demonstrate how the built heritage — particularly that of the 1970s — can be transformed into sustainable architecture through a frugal and resource-efficient approach, without sacrificing aesthetic value or long-term durability.
Beyond thermal rehabilitation, the intervention also aims to requalify the overall image of the existing buildings and reconnect them with a completely new vision of the city, aligned with the new bioclimatic PLU.

The project’s objectives are:

– to improve the architectural quality of the three buildings, including ground floors and commercial facades;
– to enhance energy performance by upgrading the building envelope, as well as ventilation and heating systems;
– to redevelop common areas and improve the quality of services and outdoor spaces.

All of this must be carried out on an occupied site. From a conceptual standpoint, the aim is to unify the three buildings through a single architectural gesture that brings coherence to the many changes made over the years. A brick grid, made from reused materials and applied to the first five storeys, provides a structural order to the façade and creates a strong relationship with the surrounding environment.