Rheinzink zinc-titanium random geometric facades for the Emeriau village in Paris

Taking up the main principles of the Cité Radieuse by Le Corbusier, the building consists of 180 housing units spread over 10 levels, placed on the first Library and Media Library of the City of Paris, itself resting on a base of 3 parking levels . The Emeriau Village has 5 interior streets serving through apartments opening onto both the Seine and the 15th arrondissement through large loggias in mahogany wood, interspersed between 5 strips of architectural white concrete facades. Today, the city of Paris wishes to protect it via the heritage label of the XNUMXth century.

In 2011, Paris Habitat, a major player in social housing, decided to launch a vast site rehabilitation program meeting the objectives of the Paris Climate Plan.

The project provides in particular for the complete treatment of the building envelope including the implementation of thermal insulation from the outside and the installation of new bespoke cladding in zinc-titanium RHEINZINK on the gables and the walls of split around the beautiful central staircase of the building. It includes the restoration of mahogany wood joinery, the greening of roofs and the painting of facades, in addition to ad hoc work in the apartments.

"The Emeriau Village rehabilitation work program is part of a sustainable development approach improving the comfort and quality of life of tenants" comment Julien Le Mentec from the agency OdC Architectes and Olivier de Certeau, in charge of this project.

A 70s facade

"The treatment of the facades was the most spectacular operation" announces Julien Le Mentec. "Our wish was to propose a new design respecting this very marked and emblematic architecture of the 70s with its three dominant colors (white, orange and gray)". This idea appealed to all the tenants, who followed the project throughout the stages.

During construction, the two west and east façades were made of raw concrete with the random negative design of the wooden slats at the bottom of the formwork, which had subsequently been covered with smooth metal cladding. “The objective of the project was to find this random drawing. For this we opted for clear RHEINZINK-prePATINA zinc-titanium profiles, of different dimensions ” explains Julien Le Mentec. "We chose this material for the variety of appearances and colors it can have when the weather changes". The light gray appearance echoes the color of the old facade in raw concrete and subtly fits with the colors of the surrounding Parisian roofs.

A tailor-made achievement

Made to measure and shaped by the RHEINZINK site service, the new cladding offers eight models of profiles in hollow joints of different depths and dimensions. This solution developed by the RHEINZINK design office responds to the relief drawing desired by architects by limiting the number of different centers (useful width). “At each level, a pattern composed of the RHEINZINK zinc-titanium hollow joint system shifts with the previous level. This pattern is repeated every 3 levels. In this way, the design of the zinc siding as a whole has the desired random and rhythmic effect ”, comments Julien Le Mentec.

Followed and orchestrated by the company GTM Bâtiment, Groupe Vinci, the works for the implementation of the new cladding included several stages. The first consisted in removing the old facade in order to install the new thermal insulation from the outside. Once this step was completed, the team on site took care of installing the profiles of different dimensions, from top to bottom. "Thanks to the numbering of each RHEINZINK zinc-titanium profile according to the layout, the installation went very well" adds Alexandra Achin, from the ACPF company (Achin Couverture Plomberie Fumisterie).

The rehabilitation program also provides for the requalification of the outdoor spaces and the restructuring of the accesses with the construction of a new elevator on the west gable, at the location of the new entrance to the Village on rue Emeriau.

Site identity sheet

• Project: Village Emeriau
• Year: 2016
• Surface: 2.500 m² of facade with hollow joints in clear RHEINZINK-prePATINA
• Client: Paris Habitat, Department of Rehabilitation
• Project manager: OdC Architects. Olivier de Certeau, Julien Le Mentec project manager, Paris
• Realization of works: Entreprise GTM Bâtiment