Divided in Two: Apartment House in the Rue de Belleville by Atelier du Pont

The apartment building is part of a block in the faubourg style that adjoins the street to the south. The narrow lot and subsidized housing project have developed amid a crowded inner-city environment.

Atelier du Pont have divided the subsidized apartment building into two volumes: one faces the Rue de Belleville, while the second stands inside the block. Both tracts are encompassed by a central courtyard planted with greenery - a quiet haven in the middle of the city.

The street-side structure has a rectangular floor plan and extends over seven storeys. In the upper area, the volume recedes in some places, making room for generous terraces and balconies. In the Rue de Belleville, the social apartment house shows itself as a white element façade that takes up the rhythm of the existing buildings and interprets it in a modern way. The façade towards the courtyard is all in black and features vertical ripples; small balconies jut in the form of square boxes. Composed of silvery perforated sheeting, they provide a gleaming accent.

Seen from the street, the left side of the ground floor of the main structure is home to a separate shop with retail space. To the right, there is a passageway. This leads not to the stairway of the apartment building, but rather to the inner courtyard.

The second building has four storeys in addition to the entrance level. It consists of two cubes brought together by an access core in the middle. The courtyard-side façade continues the ripply, black effect of the main building. Perforated sheeting has been used again: it encloses the stairway, where its perforations allow natural lighting of the interior space.