20 Social Housing Units in Fourvière

L’Antiquaille’s plot is in a UNESCO world heritage site. Several factors make the development’s large, central, urban site unique:

— Its exceptional location on Fourvière hill in Lyon, tucked between an archaeological centre and a viewpoint offering panoramas of Mont Blanc,

— The potential for problematic groundwork and levelling limitations due to the possible resurgence of centuries of history,

— Complex archaeology, where various juxtaposed eras have attempted to create architectural unity through an improvised overall harmony,

— An impression of insularity created by the marked presence of boundary walls and relatively hidden openings.

The character of the new construction was defined by several choices:

— To use the topography, i.e. to keep to land’s profile and cascade gently downwards following the line of the old Roman road,

— To integrate the construction into the historical site by building a massive Hauteville stone substructure which would hold the car park and echo the boundary walls on the site,

— To conceal the domestic character of the development - crosswalls separating the units mask the use of the balconies from the public space.

When wandering through a redeveloped site like this one, the overriding impression is that everything is in its place and that whatever we see derives from a series of inevitable choices. This is not true. The transformations created here derive from series of miracles that overcame an equal number of difficulties.