33 apartments, retail and offices, Lyon, France, 2008

This project seeks to express the qualities of an urban island by the insertion of housing and offices overlooking a transversal garden with a strong visual relationship with the central square, thus enhancing the built mass and valorising the base of the building as a figure of liaison and urban continuity. The heart of the island is seen as a large ‘green window' contrasting against its surroundings in materiality and atmosphere. It is a garden in part on the base of the building, in part floating above, with low vegetation and higher trees. It serves both halls of the housing building; it is a place of conviviality and relaxation, open on the city but reserved for inhabitants only. On the heart, windows open onto terraces covered in vegetation. The species planted (such as jasmine or honeysuckle) in pots integrated into balustrades help limit the vis-à-vis between homes and offices, and privatise balconies.