A single-family house converted into several homes.

Keep the existing volume, and open an inner courtyard in it.

At the end of a shopping street, the building mixed housing and retail space. A retail space built around a production activity remained too specific and found no tenant. The request was for several homes, created in several phases, on a limited budget and with better spatial quality.

The change of use required reducing the depth of the existing volume, which did not comply with the buildable zone. A considerable part of the existing building would have had to be demolished.1 The studio kept the original volume without changing the layout beyond the required depth, while integrating an inner courtyard. It brings light and natural ventilation to the bedrooms and makes the building compliant.3  

The studio also provided the administrative support: technical documentation and the energy requirements of the EPB file.

Targeted thinking and precise phasing limited demolition, improved use and restored spatial coherence to the building.