{"id":501038,"date":"2026-03-03T10:36:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T10:36:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/501038\/"},"modified":"2026-03-03T10:36:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T10:36:10","slug":"mxarchitecture-installs-back-to-back-homes-in-paris-suburb","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/501038\/","title":{"rendered":"MXarchitecture installs back-to-back homes in Paris suburb"},"content":{"rendered":"

Paris<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"GardenThe home at the back features a mostly glazed facade to the garden<\/p>\n

The interiors are laid out with staircases and bathrooms against the party wall, creating an additional layer of acoustic privacy between the two residences.<\/p>\n

MXarchitecture<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n

\"TimberThe streetfront home features timber louvres for shade and privacy<\/p>\n

“We are interested in situations challenging an important densification within existing urban tissues with strict regulations,” Choupis told Dezeen.<\/p>\n

“We consider it an opportunity to invent an architecture able to respond to contemporary needs while also interacting with the existing urban forms.”<\/p>\n

\"ConcreteBoth homes have their own entrances and driveways<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Choupis joins a growing list of architects looking to reinvent this typology. Others include British housing specialist Peter Barber<\/a>, on schemes like the award-winning McGrath Road<\/a>, and Dutch architect Ronald Janssen<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"KitchenA skylight spans the kitchen and living room of the garden-facing home<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Paris<\/p>\n

Hauvette & Madani uses “architecture as a frame for nature” in Parisian home\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"BedroomThe top-floor bedrooms of both homes open out to balconies<\/p>\n

The architect chose a concrete with a reduced cement content for the building’s main structure and exterior walls.<\/p>\n

This includes some playful details, including a curved edge above the side entrance and an exposed column in the rear kitchen.<\/p>\n

\"Bedroom\"The homes were designed for families, with three bedrooms<\/p>\n

This thermal mass of the concrete helps to passively heat and cool the interior, while the staircases act as ventilation shafts.<\/p>\n

“The building’s capacity to naturally auto-regulate its comfort responds effectively and sustainably to the seasonal variations,” said the architect.<\/p>\n

The photography is by Alex Shoots Buildings<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Project credits:<\/p>\n

Architect: MXarchitecture
Project manager: Romain Rozan-Gebhard
Structure: RDingenierie
Comfort: Acteco<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Paris studio MXarchitecture has built 2in1 Houses, a pair of three-bedroom homes that butt up against each other…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":501039,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[228,226,227,229,88,594,228452,989,2053,593,4728,64879,64880],"class_list":["post-501038","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-france","tag-french-houses","tag-houses","tag-housing","tag-paris","tag-residential-architecture-and-interiors","tag-sectionall","tag-sectionarchitecture"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501038","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=501038"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501038\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/501039"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=501038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=501038"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=501038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}