Residence buffalo booklet, Paris http://socratesarchitects.com

2. History
The State policies set out to solve the problem of housing short-
ages in the context of post-war reconstrucƟon and the succeeding
phase of unprecedented demographic growth (the baby boom, the
massive rural exodus, and then at the start of the 1960s; the rein-
tegraƟon of two million people from Algeria). All these issues were
iniƟally expressed in the building of large collecƟve structures, be-
tween 1950 and 1970.
The marked preference from this period, on for the acquisiƟon of
property, for individual housing; the rejecƟon of the large collecƟve
groupings by the middle classes, and modificaƟon in family struc-
tures, inspired the first waves of the building of individual housing
estates. The moƟvaƟons which were offered as reasons for moving
ahead are related much more to the condiƟons of housing (surface
space, cost, the desire to change from renƟng to property owner-
ship, and from the collecƟve to the individual), than to a search for
the advantages of a rural environment.
figure 1.1: building model
IntroducƟon Architect Fernand Pouillon
Buffalo Residence consists of 466 rooms, distributed around 5 dif- The architect and urban planner Fernand Pouillon, born 14 May
ferent spaces. 1912 in Cancon (Lot-et-Garonne) and died at the castle of Belcastel
(Aveyron) on 24 July 1986.
Residence Buffalo reflects and projects the Montrouge districts’ Fernand Pouillon was one of the great builders of the years of the
classical and memorable qualiƟes. It is a residenƟal complex with a reconstrucƟon aŌer World War II in France. Much of his abundant
character of monumentality. work consists of housing;
He was an innovaƟve architect, both in his choice of construcƟon
The Government launched a major campaign to build social hous- methods and his globally renowned designs. The buildings that he
ing from 1954. Residence Buffalo was one of the first operaƟons built were of a relaƟvely low cost, whilst he used quality materials
insƟgated by the Comptoir NaƟonal Housing CorporaƟon (NLC) (the and standards that were relaƟvely high.
social housing campaign). He was guided by ideas about a precise and organized space and its
inclusion in the city. Within his housing complexes, he provides a
The residence was named aŌer the Buffalo Stadium, famous and comfort similar to that enjoyed by the richest. His accomplishments
popular before the Second World War. are characterized by an inserƟon into the site, a building mass bal-
ance; born of rigorous harmonic proporƟons, noble materials and
The residence covers 38,000 square meters of land. his collaboraƟon with local sculptors, poƩers and landscapers.
It is one of the most complex buildings Fernand Pouillon has de- He used forms from classical examples, such as; squares, or ‘malls’
signed, both architecturally and from the point of view of available (walkways), the plaza and various objects of urban furniture, espe-
space of land. cially the fountain.
He paid great aƩenƟon to the quality of public space that adjusts
(almost contrasts) its context; of a rapidly developing high urbaniza-
Ɵon.
introducƟon 2

3. An enclave is a territory whose geo-
graphical boundaries lie enƟrely with-
in the boundaries of another territory.
figure 2.1: site plan 1:10000
Research QuesƟon
What quality does the enclave bring to the
space?
figure 2.2: site plan 1:2500
research quesƟon 3

4. A
A
B
B
C
C
figure 3.1: isometry
figure 3.2: secƟons a, b, c
A
B
C
volumetric definiƟon 4

5. 1. Enclosure
The basic design objecƟve of the masterplan is to enclose the site. This is achieved by arranging the buildings with the same qualiƟes; the same
funcƟon (their floor plans), and their modules (their facades). The basic layout of the blocks consists of 5 story buildings according to the average
height of the immediate neighboring buildings.
This can be seen as the convenƟonal way of creaƟng an enclave in most European ciƟes. What should be focused on here is the 3 addiƟonal
stories placed on top of the two buildings in the North-East and North-West. This can be thought of as an unavoidable choice for the architect.
Pouillon, increased the density of these parƟcular, North-facing, blocks, in order not to cast a shadow on the inside of the residence.
top, figures 3.3 & 3.4 enclave
below, figures 3.5 & 3.6 relaƟon enclave with surrounding streets
2. Extra volume
The appearance of the tall building is re-
duced with several strategies;
Pouillon divided the building verƟcally
with the upper part being recessed,
creaƟng a running balcony. AddiƟonally,
he divided the face of the upper part,
verƟcally, into narrow planes of glass,
with repeƟƟve mullions. With these two
strategies the façade can be seen lighter
and less imposing.
The placing of the low-rise garages
reduces the apperance of the high-rise
building again This was an unavoidable
choice, because the space where the
low-rise garages exist would be un-
suitable for high-rise buildings, as they
would be too close to the neighbouring
houses, physically; for casƟng a shadow
and also psychologically; the buildings
were set back, from the road, to create
open space.
volumetric definiƟon
introducƟon 5

6. figure 3.7: Inner Volumes L-shape
and Tower
3. Inner volumes
Tower
The tower funcƟons as a Landmark, but is not higher than the tall
rectangular blocks behind it. The ground floor is open. The tower
is seen higher than it is, because of the facade of the upper part
(of the 8 story buildings), in the distance, in relaƟon to the 4 story
building.
L shape building
Intriguingly, this building is 4 stories high, which is one story less to
its adjoining block. The reason for this is explained below;
1. Improving the inƟmacy; the minus 1 story, ‘L’ shaped, building
helps the complex maintain the enclave, whilst not being too high,
as of the other buildings (of 5 stories), thus not to impose its height
on the inside of the site.
2. To maintain, geometrically, the principle of an enclave; the ‘L’
shaped building, of 4 stories, emphasizes the enclave within the en-
Ɵre complex. To make the longest block to be read as one.
With this building an inƟmate atmosphere is created within the in-
ner space, separaƟng the court into several parts. Without the ‘L’
shape building, the residenƟal complex would be too monumental,
too monotonous, and also too open to the outside
volumetric definiƟon 6

7. 1 3
2
figure 3.8: different perspecƟve
views on tower
view 1
view 2
view 3
volumetric definiƟon
introducƟon 7

8. pedestrians
cars
figure 3.9: circulaƟon
figure 3.10: landscape
CirculaƟon
There is a strong separaƟon between car parking zone and pedes-
trian zone. Car parking spaces surrounding housing blocks act as
buffer zones that mediate inner blocks and the streets.
Inner landscape
The architect divided the inner court into the paves and green spac-
es. Trees is arranged to play an important role – translucent volume.
Plaza is designed to be like a cozy garden surrounded by tall trees
and wall made of bushes. Tall trees cast shade on the square and act
like buffer for privacy.
Boundaries
The architect used physical boundaries and psychological boundar-
ies in landscaping; lawns can be crossed but is felt like barriers. And
also hedges hide up the plaza.
circulaƟon 8

9. plaza
square
street
figure 3.11 : concept of the inner
courtyards
Inner Courtyards
Square
In this secƟon of the enclave, a large open space is wrapped around
by a single building, thus creaƟng the same atmosphere of a
square.
Plaza
A central prominent space that is enclosed by trees and buildings,
Pouillon creates a sense of a plaza like seƫng.
Street
Pouillon creates the effect of a street (or) mall by creaƟng two side-
walks along a narrow space between two buildings.
inner courtyards
introducƟon 9

10. figure 3.12: views on inner court-
yards
plaza
figure figure
street
square
inner courtyards 10

11. figure figure
figure 4.1: housing typolgie
introducƟon
housing 11

12. figure 4.2: Housing concept
Housing Efficiency:
The two rows of housing share one staircase and pipe space. Each
parallel apartment is mirrored, with a variaƟon; there are two
types, of slight differences The circulaƟon space is minimized in the
interior space.
Every room has good and flexible condiƟons so that it can accom-
modate for the needs of all types of inhabitants.
Pouillon gave the inhabitants the possibility of making their own
house by changing the layout.
Two rooms (can be three rooms), three rooms (can be four rooms).
The module in the floor plan is related to the grid in the façade;
where all the verƟcal lines meet exterior wall.
The exterior walls are relaƟvely thick.
housing 12

13. figure 5.1: elevaƟon concept
ElevaƟon
1. There is a parƟcular order in the facades; the true height of the
buildings is well hidden. The pilasters, alternately separated by ver-
Ɵcal windows and panels, are covered with plates of red marble.
2. The four-stories form a horizontal ‘register’ generally only ex-
ceeded, in height, by the tower and the extra three floors, placed
on top of the tall buildings.
In this part (the ‘register’); the stone, is the dominant material,
above the register; the design of the facade is made of narrow
bays defined by mullions - precast reinforced concrete. The ‘regis-
ter’ (these horizontal bands), at each story height, creates flowing
lines (reoccurring in Pouillon’s work) - which enlarge the percep-
Ɵon of the space.
elevaƟon 13

14. figure 6.1: landscape fountain figure 6.2: elevaƟon materials
Materiality
The main material of the residence buffalo is sandstone.
This gives, combined with the thick walls, a luxurious and warm
atmosphere.
It also makes the building look very natural. The combinaƟon of
the green landscape with the sandstone works really well.
figure 6.3: interior material
materiality 14

15. Conclusion
Fernand Pouillon groups markets, shops, public spaces and civic
buildings into a residenƟal complex, hence giving the place a feel of
an urban centre. This is something way ahead of its Ɵme period. In
the Residence Buffalo in Paris, the quality of spaces created by the
enclave is two-fold.
The interior open spaces
The buildings in the periphery of the site create the enclave. By
varying the heights in the structures and adding blocks that create
niche pockets, a completely new quality is brought into this open
space. It longer remains one large open space, but gets divided into
different zones. Pouillon brings in the qualiƟes of the “street”, “pla-
za” and the “square” (all urban enƟƟes) into these zones using the
surroundings.
The effect of the enclave on the exteriors
The Residence Buffalo is an iconic project that occupies almost a
whole city block. The context only comprises of smaller buildings
arranged in a row house paƩern. However Pouillon tries to suppress
this feeling of massiveness by creaƟng different details in the fa-
cade. He creates a sense of an opƟcal illusion that makes one feel
that the building is only 4 stories in height (similar to the surround-
ings) whereas it is actually 7 stories in reality. In some places the
blocks in the periphery are also recessed to provide that extra gap
between buildings to conƟnue maintaining the scale and propor-
Ɵons of the building with its context.
Pouillon knows, very well, how to vary the verƟcal scale to meet the
prescripƟon (the project objecƟves); the separaƟon of the blocks
reduces the visual percepƟon of the actual density, making it a
much more pleasant place to live.
conclusion 15

16. Bibliography
Lucan, Jacques, Fernand Pouillon, Architecte. Montrouge, PanƟn, Meudon, Boulogne, Picard Publishers, January 2003,
France, Book, 143 pages, 09.09.2010.
Lejeune, Jean-Francois, The New Modern City, Princeton Architectural Press, 1996, USA, Book, 194 pages, 21.09.2010.
Cohen, Jean-Lois, Above Paris, The Aerial Survey of Roger Henard, Architectual Press, 1996, USA, Book, 21.09.2010.
Architecture Contemporaine et Design, hƩp://habitatcontemporain.blogspot.com/ , website, blog, 22.09.2010, 12:30.
Wikipedia (France), Fernand Pouillon, hƩp://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fernand_Pouillon , website, 24.09.2010, 13:30.
Fernand Pouillon Architecte website, Les pierres Sauvages de Belcastel, AssociaƟon Loi 1901, hƩp://fernandpouillon.
com/ , website, 12.09.2010, 21:00.
bibliography 16