Wood’Art – La Canopée Housing, Toulouse (FR)
New building
Client: Icade Promotion
Location: F-31000 Toulouse, Avenue de Grande Bretagne, ZAC La Cartoucherie
Architecture: Dietrich Untertrifaller with Seuil Architecture
Competition: 2017, 1. prize
Construction: 2019 – 2022
Area: 13,565 m²
Programme: 137 flats (42 subsidised), 100 hotel rooms, shops, car park
Photos: Aldo Amoretti
Team
Florent Brosse, Jörg Fend, Martin Höck, Christina Kimmerle, Federico Silvestri, Christoph Teuschl, Iana Vicq (Project management)
Text: Gerlinde Jüttner
Partners
Statics: Terrell, Toulouse
Building services: Soconer, Toulouse
Acoustics: Gamba, Labège
Costs: Sept, Muret Haute-Garonne
Landscape: Idtec, Seysses
Total contractor, timber construction: Maitre Cube, Paris
Awards
- Holzbaupreis Vorarlberg , Recognition
- Austria Green Planet Building, Award
- Grand prix régional des Pyramides d’argent, Award
Hotel tower and residences made of 75 per cent wood
The mixed-use eco-neighbourhood La Cartoucherie with a total of 3,100 flats, 6,000 m² of commercial space and public facilities such as schools, sports and leisure facilities is being built on a former industrial site on the left bank of the Garonne. We built the "Wood'Art" complex there with an eleven-storey hotel tower and two residential complexes – an award-winning project as part of the national Adiv'bois competition in France. The buildings are 75 per cent timber construction – a topic that is also very important in France. Wood is used wherever it makes the most sense.
The hotel and the residential buildings were constructed from two-dimensional, prefabricated timber modules. This construction has a very positive effect on energy performance and the indoor climate, while also reducing waste and speeding up construction times – an essential prerequisite for building in densely populated cities.
Two-part masterplan
The masterplan divides the approx. 13,000 m² site into two parts: On the edge of the public square and lined by the tram axis, the hotel tower sets a clear accent in the new district. Behind it, on the quieter western side, two residential buildings rise on a shared base, which enlivens the area with shops and public facilities.
The lush green gardens on the roof of the plinth are visible from the square and offer residents shared meeting and recreational spaces. They also form a reserve for biodiversity and limit the creation of heat islands.
The visual unity of the architecture creates a striking point of reference for the neighbourhood, while the diversity of the public spaces, the permeability of the blocks and the social and functional mix of the buildings guarantee users a lively environment. A pedestrian street connects all the buildings at ground level, widening in some places to create space for café terraces.
In the flats, untreated wooden surfaces provide a natural, healthy living environment for all the senses. Wood also creates a pleasant ambience and a high level of living comfort in the hotel lobby, on the façades, ceilings and balconies.
Terracotta panels, which tie in with the local colour tradition of the "ville rose", form a double façade skin along the paths and passages of the tower and in front of the loggias of the flats.
