Vazhe Sahel Residential Complex
This unique project located in the heart of the city alongside Saheli Street parallel to a river is a modern residential apartment building that is designed to serve the communal and environmental needs of the city. The site area is 2400sq/m with over 10000 sq/m of infrastructure consisting of two separate blocks that are 8 and 6 floors respectively and house a total of 31 units. Facilities include Billiards, Ping-Pong, and Foosball tables, swimming pool a meeting room.
To engage this project it was necessary to develop new models, in order to respond to the housing of such a busy city by creating green areas and avoiding density, with the intention of preserving the green nature unique methods were utilized within the project. The two apartment blocks are placed around a central social space and courtyards covered with greenery. The trees penetrate through the courtyard floors stemming from the parking level forming a unique and interesting method in preserving the natural environment.
The volume as seen on the front façade off the main road is lifted by columns and engaged with stairways that is combined with a ramp, both pedestrian and vehicle access are from the front of the building. The volumes and elevations are not uniform in shape but have the same colors due to enhancing views, complementing the heterogeneity of the surroundings and aiding the orientation of the residents and passers-by.
The building is dynamic in its form and where floor divisions obtain a patio; raised gardens (green roofs) are apparent from the exterior. The spreading of the apartments and variety of the sizes and the connection between the interior and exterior space were paid close attention to. The scale of the project contrasts with the surrounding buildings while the configurations of the facade express unity to the surroundings. This new building provides unity to this part of the urban district, defining two different levels that generate a staggered progression of heights among the neighboring buildings.
In summery this residential project achieves great architectural vigor through the following factors: the two apartments redefines the environment within the urban scale: at a more immediate scale, they provide a suitable response to the contextual needs of the zone by means of a skillful use of volume; and from the point of view of the domestic programme, light and layout and preservation of the green environment is of the main values. Here Innovation is both architectural and urbanistic.
The overall result is a fragmented and dynamic volume contrasts sharply with the exterior environment however the combination of sustainable and modern materials and the language containing formal references to functionalist architecture transform the intervention into an elegant exercise of urban adaptation.