The INFINITY project is the construction of 95 new collective units and 6 houses, situated in Toulouse (Occitanie region, France).
The Infinity residence sits in a remarkable landscape context, characterised by protected woodland surrounding the plot. The project is composed of four groups of 3-storey collective residential buildings and a pair of semi-detached one-storey houses. Infinity totals 101 homes, ranging from two-room to six-room, in the case of the houses.
Address: Allée Jean Griffon, 31400 Toulouse, France
Client: Eclisse Promotion
Architect: TAA Toulouse
Heads of Project: Aurélie Guinel, Claire Peyrot
Surface: 5 961 m²
ost: 8,5 M€
Delivery Date: April 2022
Two walkways allow the plot to be cut through its centre, across the length and width, marking strong visual axes. The paths cross between the buildings and give access to the ground floor entrance halls and to the car park stairs. The placement of the project within the site ensures the protection of the woodland and offers it a calm landscape environment.
Infinity presents a strong architectural identity. During early design, the collective housing was originally proposed in a single “U” shape. Then, on considering the scale of the building in its plot, it seemed more pertinent to separate the operation in to four distinct blocks. The aim is to generate more interaction and dialogue between the buildings, with a fragmentation marked by two openings, cutting towards the strong visual pedestrian axes.
The architectural profile of each block stands out by its treatment of the three angles oriented towards the park or the road. Each of these angles proposes a concrete protuberance, turning the project towards the woodland. In the third-floor, these extensions offer a double-height space loggias and an access to roof terraces for the angle apartments.
Facing the park, the exterior facades of the collective residence buildings are treated in polished mirror stainless steel, in order to reflect the vegetation. The interior facades towards the plot’s more domestic heart use a wood cladding. Concrete is used at the plinth level and follows into the protuberances. The whole is harmonised thanks to the facades’ variations and the proportions of the openings and loggias – creating a rhythmic composition of solids and voids.
Despite the difference in scale, the houses along the parcel boundary maintain an architectural concordance with the collective buildings. Whether in the materiality or in the roof’s inclined profile, we find the same statements. The houses are situated in groups of semi-detached duplexes. Each of these pairs comprises a ground floor, functioning as a base, a recessed first floor, functioning as a raised box, and a sloping roof above. The recess at the first floor provides a terrace for the upstairs double-exposure bedrooms.
On the road-side, the façade presents a porch, forming a void in the ground-floor base and giving the pair of homes facing entrances. On the park-side, each home has a double-exposure lounge with wide glazed opening towards the woods. The ground-floor of the houses is treated in concrete, while the first floor is lighter, in polished mirror stainless steel, appearing more like a box, topped with a single-slope zinc roof. The first-floor recess creates a roofless terrace to the south, while on the park-side, the smoother façade offers a rhythm of regular openings.
About TAA
Founded in 1993 by Pierre-Louis Taillandier, Taillandier Architectes Associés – TAA – is an architecture and urbanism agency based in Toulouse, France. TAA is an open-minded organisation, working side by side with private and public partners.
The people at TAA give their best to develop architectural solutions aimed to enhance the general experience: regardless of the nature of the project, the answer has to improve the quality of life of the end user and the direct environment. To reach this goal, the approach needs to be well designed and well built. Every step must be taken very carefully within a structured and professional organisation. Much more than a mere architectural momentum, every project designed by TAA solves a series of equations blending program, user and environmental specifics. To achieve a truly obvious architectural and urban solution, Pierre-Louis Taillandier set up a rational and efficient methodology splitting the project into five dimensions: contextual, intellectual, technical, financial and sensitive.
TAA & affiliates gather about ninety co-workers, deployed between Toulouse, Bordeaux, Montpellier and Paris.
