Paris studio MXarchitecture has built 2in1 Houses, a pair of three-bedroom homes that butt up against each other on a suburban plot in the east of the French capital.
The 2in1 Houses at Noisy-le-Sec were designed as family homes, each with three storeys and a basement. Both have a balcony and a separate driveway and entrance, although the rear-facing home is the only one with a garden.
The home at the back features a mostly glazed facade to the garden
The interiors are laid out with staircases and bathrooms against the party wall, creating an additional layer of acoustic privacy between the two residences.
MXarchitecture founder Emmanuel Choupis designed the building for a private developer. The back-to-back concept allowed them to increase the value of the property, while respecting the scale and character of the neighbourhood.
The streetfront home features timber louvres for shade and privacy
“We are interested in situations challenging an important densification within existing urban tissues with strict regulations,” Choupis told Dezeen.
“We consider it an opportunity to invent an architecture able to respond to contemporary needs while also interacting with the existing urban forms.”
Both homes have their own entrances and driveways
Back-to-back housing was not common in France, like it was in early 20th-century England, where the typology later became stigmatised for cramped conditions, poor lighting and lack of ventilation.
Choupis joins a growing list of architects looking to reinvent this typology. Others include British housing specialist Peter Barber, on schemes like the award-winning McGrath Road, and Dutch architect Ronald Janssen.
A skylight spans the kitchen and living room of the garden-facing home
Both front and rear facades were carefully designed as “adjustable envelopes”, to give residents as much control as possible over daylight, ventilation and thermal heat exposure.
For the 130-square-metre streetfront residence, which faces northwest, first-floor windows are screened behind a “timber mega-panel” of folding louvres, while the second floor is set back so that it is shaded by the overhang of the roof.
Hauvette & Madani uses “architecture as a frame for nature” in Parisian home
Privacy was less of an issue for the 153-square-metre garden-facing home, where glazed doors and large windows allow spaces to easily open up.
The ground floors are staggered to follow the slope of the hill, creating a split-level arrangement throughout. This prompted Choupis to give the building an upward-sloping roof.
The top-floor bedrooms of both homes open out to balconies
The architect chose a concrete with a reduced cement content for the building’s main structure and exterior walls.
This includes some playful details, including a curved edge above the side entrance and an exposed column in the rear kitchen.
The homes were designed for families, with three bedrooms
This thermal mass of the concrete helps to passively heat and cool the interior, while the staircases act as ventilation shafts.
“The building’s capacity to naturally auto-regulate its comfort responds effectively and sustainably to the seasonal variations,” said the architect.
The photography is by Alex Shoots Buildings.
Project credits:
Architect: MXarchitecture
Project manager: Romain Rozan-Gebhard
Structure: RDingenierie
Comfort: Acteco