L'Azurée, 70 housing units, Aytré

This is a 71 unit housing project on a human scale, with the homes arranged around a shared, landscaped courtyard, and particular attention paid to the various levels of privacy and community interaction.

Through numerous participatory workshops, decisions regarding spatial organization and regulatory compliance were made in collaboration with the future residents, ranging from the layout of the site to the design of the individual housing units.

The project is part of the BDNA initiative and has received preliminary gold-level certification. To achieve this, several aspects were specifically addressed: construction methods (prefabricated wood-straw composite), energy strategy, carbon footprint, quality of life, community involvement, and the sourcing of materials, among others.

The construction project is guided by two key principles: a strong environmental and social ambition,which we support and encourage and economic realities that necessitate certain choices in order to deliver a project that is both realistic and ambitious. The entire wood-frame facade is therefore composed of blown-in chopped straw insulation sourced from the local IELO cooperative, which develops and markets chopped straw insulation. This is the first new-construction housing project to use chopped straw insulation.