"La Métropolitaine, a project jointly designed by the architectural firms of Ignacio Prego and Thibaud Babled for the Régie Immobilière de la Ville de Paris, is an iconic project in the Clichy Batignolles ZAC that redefines urban living through a bioclimatic approach. Located at the intersection of the main thoroughfares in the Porte de Clichy area, this multifunctional building strengthens the connection between Paris and its suburbs, guiding pedestrians with a sense of purpose through a space that was once undefined.”
La Métropolitaine stands as a “city-building,” featuring flexible and sustainable architecture designed to adapt to the urban and climate challenges of the future, particularly through major typological innovations. It promotes urban quality of life by meeting the current and future needs of its residents, while contributing to the harmonious and eco-friendly densification of Paris. This innovative project underscores the importance of an integrated and collaborative approach to building the city of tomorrow, combining proximity, diversity, sustainability, and adaptability.
La Métropolitaine stands as a “city-building,” featuring flexible and sustainable architecture designed to adapt to the urban and climate challenges of the future, particularly through major typological innovations. It promotes urban quality of life by meeting the current and future needs of its residents, while contributing to the harmonious and eco-friendly densification of Paris. This innovative project underscores the importance of an integrated and collaborative approach to building the city of tomorrow, combining proximity, diversity, sustainability, and adaptability.
La Métropolitaine stands as a “city-building,” featuring flexible and sustainable architecture designed to adapt to the urban and climate challenges of the future, particularly through major typological innovations. It promotes urban quality of life by meeting the current and future needs of its residents, while contributing to the harmonious and eco-friendly densification of Paris. This innovative project underscores the importance of an integrated and collaborative approach to building the city of tomorrow, combining proximity, diversity, sustainability, and adaptability.
The project stands out for its wide mix of uses, housing 45 intermediate-income units, 35 public housing units, 151 student studios, an Emergency Shelter Center (CHU), a health center, and ground-floor retail spaces. This diversity fosters continuous neighborhood activity and openness to the public realm. The architecture employs a vocabulary of slender fissures, luminous porches, and volumetric cutouts, creating a porous and permeable structure that enhances the pedestrian experience.
A true technical feat, La Métropolitaine rises above the Porte de Clichy metro station. This urban giant resembles an iceberg, concealing beneath the surface a submerged volume: the platforms of the deep-level metro station on Line 14. An iceberg resting on no fewer than 340 spring-loaded boxes to neutralize the vibrations caused by passing trains.La Métropolitaine rises to the challenge of providing a through-plan layout for all units, from studios to five-bedroom apartments, offering dual orientation that maximizes natural light and ventilation. With a winter garden loggia on the southwest facade and an access loggia on the northeast facade, the configuration of these outdoor spaces allows for seasonal variation in the use of each unit. Movable sunshade systems, true “climatic moldings,” protect the outdoor spaces, optimizing passive heat gain in response to weather changes.
In response to the challenges of global warming, La Métropolitaine is implementing passive solutions to maintain a comfortable indoor climate: active facades, thermal mass, and natural ventilation ensure optimal comfort. The student housing features suitable outdoor spaces, while the reused furniture reflects an eco-responsible approach to resource conservation. Equipped with 600 m² of solar panels and a graywater energy recovery system, the building significantly reduces its energy consumption. Finally, as an extension of the future Balzac High School park currently under construction, the extensive greening system integrated into the northeast facade, featuring carefully selected plant species, contributes to improved air quality, thermal regulation, and the renaturation of the city. " - Ignacio Prego and Thibaud Babled
