Urban Collage

February 15, 2013

Beth Broome

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Champigny-Sur-Marne, France

Maison Édouard François

This new social-housing complex in Champigny-sur-Marne, outside Paris, is dubbed Urban Collage, but what really is going on here is more of a suburban ménage à trois. Paying homage to the neighborhood's existing mix of residential styles, architect Maison Édouard François created an intriguing discourse by stacking single-family residence atop housing block atop townhouse. “We didn't want to ignore this urban chaos,” says architect Eitan Hammer. “We decided to identify it and work with it.”A single concrete structural system runs between the typologies, starting with the copper-, zinc-, or ceramic-tile-clad townhouses at the base, on through the stucco components above. Unique entrance sequences and skewed orientations bring further variety to each piece of this most unusual design for living.

Beth Broome joined Architectural Record as managing editor in 2004 after a number of years working in newspapers, most recently as managing editor of The New York Observer. Beyond architecture, she has written on a variety of subjects, including finance, food, and society and culture. In her current position, she oversees the day-to-day operations, planning, and production of the magazine and edits and writes on a range of projects. Originally from the Boston area, she is a graduate of Tufts University.