A laboratory of wooden construction, without forgetting the architectural pretensions: here is the Wood Up tower, which overlooks from its 50 meters the end of the 13th arrondissement, on the banks of the Seine, just opposite Ivry-sur-Seine. A creation of the developer specializing in wooden construction REI habitat, signed by the architectural firm LAN (Local architecture network). A high-rise building with its 15 levels above the roadway, not counting the lower levels acquired by the real estate company Gecina, which intends to rent most of the 132 housing units in this building.
«There was a huge amount of work, calculations and full-scale tests with the firefighters to create this wooden structure building, which meant that the project ultimately took 7 years instead of 3.5, admits Umberto Napolitano, co-founder of LAN. But all this was not done to the detriment of the intrinsic architectural qualities of the project.” Originally, the project was located on a “complicated boulevard”, an area at the foot of the Pont National where magnificent views of the Seine rub shoulders with less desirable views of the Paris ring road and the Ivry incinerator. sur-Seine. “From certain points of view, we are halfway between a slightly strange American city and a strange German city”summarizes Umberto Napolitano.
1300 m² of terraces
The objective of the project will therefore be “to bring the city into the building and vice versa”. A challenge that involves high density to bring many residents but also generous common spaces to create living together. This is how the 132 accommodations (from T1 to T5) benefit from a large roof terrace as well as 800 m² of private terraces and 500 m² of collective terraces. On the 8th floor, there is an astonishing terrace of more than 300 m², half open courtyard, half belvedere that can accommodate up to 300 people. The place will also benefit from modular furniture and mobile kitchen units which will be made with recycled wood scraps from construction.
For the developer REI, who prides himself on always building in wood and at least 80% of French origin, this project will have allowed numerous experiments. And in particular that of using hardwoods (which constitute two thirds of French production) for the posts while we almost systematically use softwoods. This is why the use of Norman beech is a first for this type of high-rise building. “The idea was to build an emblematic building that fully adapts to our resources”underlines Paul Jarquin, president of REI Habitat. And continuing the logic of ecology and short circuit, this Normandy wood was transported to the site by boat.
An approach which is also accompanied by planting operations in all the forests used for the construction sites. “In this case for Wood Up, we used 225 m3 of wood from 6 forests and we replanted several thousand trees, which will ultimately represent much more than what was used”specifies Paul Jarquin. Thanks to the ecological qualities of wood, the carbon footprint is reduced by 60% compared to “traditional” construction. But wood also creates real constraints. In addition to the numerous tests and calculations necessary to certify its fire resistance, it was necessary to develop a specific system for the large bay windows found throughout the building. These sliding windows cannot tolerate not being perfectly flat and it was therefore necessary to add a “shock absorber” system to withstand the work of a wooden structure. Despite all the first implementations on this site, the cost of the work remains under control with a displayed cost price of 2700 euros per square meter, compared to an estimate of 2300 euros for a “classic” concrete construction. As for the owner of the premises, Gecina, he intends to launch rentals as well as, on a limited basis, possible sales of apartments by the end of the year when the building will have been officially handed over to him.
