PARISIAN ECONOMY.

New houses are unusual in Paris. But, here in the nineteenth arrondissement is an ingenious contribution to the cityscape.

Paris is still largely a city of apartments contained in courtyard blocks. The chance to build an entirely new house is rare and usually requires vast resources. The town house Georges Maurios designed on an exceptionally tight site in the nineteenth arrondissement is intriguing in that it was built on a limited budget (just over a million francs, about [POUND]100 000) and adopts a strategy of prefabrication and modular planning in order to speed the process of construction. In its formal and material economy, it also provides a model for development that could be easily emulated on other cramped urban sites.

The site lies in a narrow alley, hemmed in by four-storey blocks of flats. Measuring just 7m x 12m, it contained the crumbling foundations of a previous attempt to build on it. To the rear, a 4.5m high wall had to be retained, restricting access for builders. Given limitations of budget and site, Maurios was sceptical as to what could be achieved, but his clients, a young couple with children, proved persuasive.

Steel was chosen for both structure and cladding, as elements could be prefabricated off site and then quickly and simply slotted into place in kit-of-parts fashion. The lightweight structure did not require complex foundations and the reliance on prefabrication reduced construction time to a mere six weeks. These are well-rehearsed principles, from Prouve onwards, yet the presence of a sleek metal facade in a Parisian alleyway is still surprising. The house is very different from its neighbours, its taut steel skin incised with long horizontal slits like visors.

Inventively exploiting the tight site, the porti is compact and economical. Maurios manages to squeeze in four floors, linked by an open-plan staircase placed along the party wall on the east side. The arrangement follows a traditional town house, with garage and service spaces at ground level, a piano nobile first floor for living, dining and cooking, and two floors of bedrooms above. Part of the living room is double height and opens on to a terrace. At the back, the house is pulled away from the building line to create a space for the smallest of gardens. As family needs evolve, the house can be modified, because rooms are enclosed by lightweight, flexible partitions. For the

clients, the more conventional option would have been to decant to the suburbs, yet in this affordable and adaptable house, they can remain part of the life of the city.

Architect

Georges Maurlos, Paris, France

Photographs

1, 2, 4, 5, 6, Gaston

3, Jean-Marie Monthiers