Les Acacias
The courtyard, a landmark landscaped space
With the redefinition of the urban form, the courtyard becomes the unifying open space for the entire Acacias complex. Very spacious, it is a new landmark, a green lung at the heart of the block, offering residents exceptional openness and space in a dense urban environment.
Structure: Rationality and flexibility
The proposed structural system is a reinforced concrete core-column-slab system. Simple, rational and flexible, it can accommodate the three types of programmes in the project. The spans are standard and define rational slab fields, leaving multiple possibilities for occupancy and partitioning within the volumes.
Working on the boundary
The outer boundaries of the complex respond to the surrounding context: alignment with Acacias, setback from Revilliod Street, and a setback at the intersection of Lièvre, Grand Bureau and Revilliod Streets. This urban seam integrates the project into its context and proposes a scale of intervention linked to its urban location.
Programme, a contextual distribution
The urban form and programmatic distribution form a coherent whole, where the layout of the uses responds to the need for protection against nuisances (offices and shops as an acoustic barrier) and a desire to activate the commercial ground floors. The housing units are located on the 1st and 2nd floors and on the Acacias, from the 7th to the 9th floors, above an altitude favourable to the installation of noise-sensitive rooms.
Articulations and volumetric breaks
The project's templates range from 5 storeys above ground to 9 storeys above ground. They weave a cross-sectional relationship between the Vernets site, with its two large-scale blocks and two tower blocks, and the neighbouring ‘lower’ district of Carouge. This approach reinforces the position of the Acacias urban complex at the junction of different urban systems.
Flow and accessibility: gradation and hierarchy
Access to the project's three major programmes is handled according to their relationship to public space: shops from the streets, mall or square, service activities and offices located on the upper floors via porosity, and housing, in a more intimate approach sequenced by the inner courtyard. This gradation of access creates a specific and appropriate relationship between each programme and the public space. Access to the underground car park is via the shared ramp of the neighbouring building to the west, and two large bicycle storage areas are located in the courtyard and under the mall on Rue du Lièvre.
Urban continuity
The project connects existing public spaces: Route des Acacias, Mail des Vernets extended by Rue du Lièvre, Parc des Acacias, and an informal space at the intersection of Rue Caroline, Rue du Grand-Bureau, Rue du Lièvre and Rue des Ronzades. The project recognises these characteristic situations and forges links between these public spaces. At the end of Rue du Lièvre, at the end of Mail des Vernets and connected to the beginning of Rue Caroline, a new public space is being created. A space for breathing and urban punctuation, this small square opens up through a gap in the block towards the large inner courtyard. The inner courtyard is a semi-public space of reference: multi-purpose, welcoming residents, workers in the block, potential visitors and customers of the businesses opening onto the courtyard. A tree-lined central space, it provides a sense of interiority and intimacy. It can be closed in the evening to ensure peace and privacy for residents.
Porosity
The morphological approach takes advantage of the large scale of the project to introduce urban continuity and porosity that crosses the ground floors and passes through the large courtyard, offering a variety of routes and hidden paths, giving the project a strong anchorage in its immediate urban context.
A mixed-use urban complex
The project's mixed-use programme gives the block an urban and multi-functional character and encourages a high-quality lifestyle in which residents can live, work and do their daily shopping within a very small area. The office and service spaces, which can be used as small areas or large open-plan spaces, suggest the installation of small neighbourhood service entities or larger establishments.
Landscape continuity
Observation of the wider landscape context of Les Acacias highlights the contrasts between the urban nature of the Route des Acacias axis and the intersection with the green break of the Arve river. Between these two types of space, landscape features such as the Parc des Acacias and more informal green blocks bring qualitative diversity to this neighbourhood. The developments around the urban complex seek to link or complement these existing landscape features with morphologies adapted to different contexts in order to create a genuine vegetation network, promoting biodiversity and temperature regulation. Around the complex, trees accompany the alignment of the façades or echo the gaps and recesses of the architectural project. Rue Gustave-Revilliod and Rue du Lièvre create a comb-like effect in relation to Route des Acacias to serve the new complex. These streets are lined with trees in rows or small groups, which sometimes accompany pedestrians as they stroll, sometimes invite them to stop at a café terrace in the shade of a group of trees, or sometimes invite them to enter the courtyard of the block.
Heart of the block
To mark the transition from public to private space or to allow those who wish to escape the hustle and bustle of the city, the courtyard offers a respite where greenery predominates. This area provides an opportunity for trees to grow freely in the ground. The hill at its centre is an intriguing feature in the often sterile urban landscape, a playful haven for children and an invitation for everyone to immerse themselves in greenery. The slopes have been designed to create interest while ensuring safety, with shrubs planted to prevent access to the steepest areas.
Roofs
To emphasise the importance of the current idea of “outdoor living”, the roof spaces on the Gustave Revilliod side are also considered living spaces, hosting various activities and inviting contemplation of the surrounding landscape. The upper terrace has an atmosphere designed to create conviviality on both sides of the central access. One side has large tables and the other can accommodate games. At the ends, this roof invites contemplation of flower-filled scenes. The lowest terrace, to the south, consists of planters planted in the style of urban vegetable gardens. The planters are randomly interrupted to create areas for rest or socialising, equipped with benches or fountain basins. At the ends of the roof, the space widens to create a terrace that opens up views of Carouge.