VILIAPRINT
Innovation // 51100 Reims
The project
Client: Plurial Novilia
Programme: Construction of a programme of 5 houses using 3D printing and prefabricated elements
Areas: 450 sqm
Construction value: €1,210,000 excl. tax
Competition winner: 2018
Delivery: 2021
(Press release, January 2019)
Through VILIAPRINT, PLURIAL NOVILIA does not hide its ambition to advance social-housing construction in France by fully integrating 3D-printing technology, taking it from its current experimental stage to a fully operational and reproducible stage.
As Alain Nicole, Managing Director of PLURIAL NOVILIA, explains: "The work carried out over almost a year on VILIAPRINT, with the support of the Lab'CDC teams and Agence Coste Architectures, has confirmed our belief that 3D-printing technology offers near-infinite possibilities for construction. For the first time in France, we have pushed the thinking beyond a simple ‘ancillary' use of this technology, and have devised a way of producing the majority of a house's structural elements using 3D printing. The result is a project that is original from an architectural point of view while being mastered at every level (costs, lead times, performance) and perfectly reproducible by other social-housing providers."
An ambitious project that takes advantage of the site and of the mix of construction techniques.
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Project overview
Project overview :
Located at the heart of the REMAVERT eco-district in Reims, on a 1,000 sqm plot, VILIAPRINT will host five single-storey houses by 2020, ranging from 3-room (T3) to 5-room (T5) layouts, with their five adjoining parking spaces. Because of the elongated nature of the plot, Agence Coste Architectures chose to optimise the space by building semi-detached houses, linked by a large green "blanket" on the roof, each with its own outdoor spaces.
"We drew inspiration from two unconventional and innovative construction systems to define the broad architectural lines of the project: 3D printing on the one hand, for most of the walls of the houses — a powerful innovation that allows for curved lines — combined with off-site modules for the functional blocks of the houses on the other hand," explains Emmanuel Coste of Agence Coste Architectures.
Each house will indeed be composed of 3D-printed concrete elements and a module set on the north side, containing the kitchen, the storeroom, the entrance, the toilet and the bathroom.
These off-site modules will deliver gains in lead time, performance and quality. To the south of these modules will run 3D-printed concrete walls, realised with freer, curved shapes, in partnership with the start-up XtreeE and the Vicat group. These walls form the living rooms and bedrooms and will be linked to the modules through glazed joinery, creating luminous gaps with visual connections.
As Emmanuel Coste points out, "the staggered arrangement, the connection of off-site modules and printed construction through glazed gaps, the curved and rounded angles of the printed-concrete walls, create an optimised architectural ensemble with a vernacular village-like atmosphere — accentuated by the soft and warm graphic pattern of the printed concrete — all harmoniously united by a large vegetal roof unfolding over the houses."
Inside, the houses are designed to be functional and bright. The kitchens, with views over the front garden, will open onto the living rooms and their large glazed façades. The bedrooms unfold like little cocoons in overlapping protective shells, creating a play of staggered openings towards the gardens.
