Chaville Town city-centre

The commune of Chaville wished to reanimate its town centre situated close to the Town Hall by means of a comprehensive programme.

Around the market square there were to be council apartments as well as apartments for private sale, shops at ground-floor level, restaurants and cafés. Town centre parking was also to be reorganized.

On the Paul Bert block, the AIM Hanemian Architects Agency planned to free the main square of market vehicles and private car parking by using the slope of the site to build an underground car park. The advantages of this plan were twofold: it allowed the market square to be pedestrianized and increased the capacity for market stalls, thus achieving the desired effect of enhanced liveliness resulting also from the siting of shops and commercial activities at the ground floor level of the new residential blocks.

The narrow arcades around the square let light into the shopping area and protect from inclement weather. A street of shops bisects the main building and creates a new link between the pedestrianized square and the rest of the town centre.

The 176 apartments totalling nearly 9,500 square meters of floor space are arranged in two sites around the square. Whether council-rented or privately owned, they are identical in fittings and appearance: façades of stone and wood with zinc-roofed dormers. Sliding shutters make it possible for the inhabitants to shelter from the elements and create privacy on their terraces as required.