An oasis of wood and greenery has just emerged in the heart of the French capital, in a district that, until now, was bristling with concrete towers. An original project in more ways than one.

Paris Edison© CMP-bois

The Edison Lite building offers a new type of housing with three basic principles. First of all, each resident was able to participate in the design of their part. All future inhabitants could express their development wishes, and the developer offered support in their choices and decisions.

Secondly, the inhabitants have not only their own housing but also 20% of modular and versatile areas, which can be made available to everyone for a show, an exhibition, a meal, a community event… Cohabitation and conviviality have been pushed rather far: on the ground floor, a large workshop allows the inhabitants to tinker near their cellar. The common areas have been imagined in the form of a path, which allows the inhabitants to meet, from the cellar to the roof.

Finally, greenery and nature played a big role in the design of this welcoming building. Everyone has the right to a window box, but also to a large communal garden of 150 m2 on the roof. Since plantations began long before the arrival of the first inhabitants, they were welcomed by mature plants. In a way, “nature was there before them”. The facades are also largely vegetated.

Reinventing Paris

It is a “permacultural” way of life: all residents will grow a part of their food needs themselves, will have the pride of seeing their own vegetables grow, thus reducing the use of supply chains (I eat what I have grown) and contributing at the same time to the beauty of the building, which was designed by the architect Manuelle Gautrand.

Paris Edison © Manuelle Gautrand Architecture

Another original feature of the project: there are no condominium charges. These are financed by the sharing economy, as the rent of the shop located on the ground floor is reallocated to the management of the building. Edison Lite, which focuses on living together, is one of the winners of the call for innovative projects of “Reinventing Paris“. Its wooden facade contrasts with the district in which it was erected (Paris XIII), and emphasises that wooden constructions are quite rare in the Parisian urban landscape.

Tags: Edison Lite, green façade, Manuelle Gautrand, Paris, Reinventing Paris