“Colline aux Oliviers” Social housing (Re-envisioning an olive grove domain into an habitable park)

“Colline aux Oliviers” Social housing (An hybrid alternative to suburban sprawling).
Re-envisioning an olive grove domain into an habitable park.
This semi-rural/semi-urban new alternative development of 30 hectares is in the governorate of Manouba on a hill near the Medjerda river on the South West edge of Jedeida city limits. Its eco friendly planning design preserves and utilizes an existing olive grove estate, by placing small individual pavilions for collective housing and service facilities within its 4 475 existing salvaged olive trees and by planting tall sized trees plus a wild botanical garden for more local bio-diversity.
The overall urban planning is centered around a green common which connects services and housing pavilions within the same network without the need of using roads. The rural park enables trees and rustic nature to flow freely throughout towards a communal park, or “commons”. This is surrounded by amenities in an organic relation which transforms the existing olive grove into an habitable park. This rural Agora includes housing (3200 units), administrative and health facilities, a cultural center, an elementary school, retailing, a sports area, a mosque, bus and taxi hub. This habitable park offers an alternative solution to nearby peri-urban growth. It establishes new strategic relations between man-nature-culture that are rarely addressed in green neighbourhoods (éco-quartier) but necessary to develop if we want to built more efficiently a sustainable environment.
The park creates a local micro-climate fostered by the existing orchard and by introducing biodiversity enabling it to become a green reserve. The small sized housing pavilions are designed to fit within the existing grid of olive trees and to allow for spaces in between them. Service roads and parking are at the periphery of the park, but within reach to have direct access to buildings.
This hybrid architecture housing project is based on bio-climatic principles for a more sustainable environment.
Bio-climatic principles are developed individualized housing with:
• Passive solar energy (deep loggias, roof protection …etc.).
• Individual responses to specific solar orientation.
• Modular Solar protection (movable moucharaby, curtain ... etc.).
• Cross ventilation in every room.
• Double orientation unit.
• Vertical chimney ventilation allowing fresh air intake along side unit.
• Innovative rhinoVAULt technology use for the design of roof top cafés built with local materials. They also function as solar protection for the entire building.

Date: (2016-2017)
Project: Public housing development with services
Location: La colline aux Oliviers – City of Jedaida - Governorat of Manouba – Tunisia
Client : Tunisian republic, Governorat of Manouba - Delegation of Jedaida.
Sociétè de promotion immobilière : Le Mont Fleury Groupe Bayahi.

The roof vaults will be erected by local masons using local materials. The Vaults parametric design and digital fabrication involve the use of RhinoVAULT software (Funicular Form Finding The Rhinoceros® Plug-In RhinoVAULT). It is a structural form using the Thrust-Network-Approach to intuitively create and explore compression-only structures.
Modular Solar protection (vertical movable moucharaby) are made with local bricks according to parametric design solutions respecting solar trajectory.

Engineer: Tarek Ghorbel, Structural Engineer, SOGEP Batiment, Tunisia.
Engineering Software: RhinoVAULT - Designing funicular form in Rhinoceros (Block Research Group BRG).

Web: http://www.philippebarrierecollective.com/project/social-community/
Philippe Barriere Collective (PB+Co), Adnen Ben Tanfous (Associate Partner), Vicky Tessier, Azza Mezghani, Aboudou Azize Olawolé Marcos, Ibrahim Tameur Abbassi, Tania Paula Garza, Lucie Riedweg, Yosri Boukadida, Wael Ben Mansour. Graphic Artist: Ezzine Abderrahmen.

“Colline aux Oliviers” Social housing (Re-envisioning an olive grove domain into an habitable park) by Philippe Barriere in Tunisia won the WA Award Cycle 24. Please find below the WA Award poster for this project.