Le Ray in Nice by Maison Edouard François

Up against Rudy Ricciotti, Herzog & de Meuron and Babin + Renaud architectes, Maison Edouard François has been selected to convert the site of the former Stade du Ray. The brief comprises nearly 300 homes (15,000 m²) and 6,000 m² of retail space.

The project sits along boulevard Gorbella, on the former car park of the Stade du Ray. The plot is therefore a transitional site between boulevard Gorbella to the west, currently lined with seven- to nine-storey concrete buildings and served by a tram line, and, to the east, the future park that will take the place of the former Stade du Ray.

The scheme consists of two parallel blocks, of ground plus five and ground plus six storeys, along the southern and northern edges of the plot. Between them sits a ground-plus-three volume lifted well clear of the ground to ensure perfect continuity of the internal green spaces. The architects have let nature into the project, with the link between park and development free of any break.

The architects say they were ‘inspired by the topography of the Nice landscape, where white rocks echo the stone bases of villas perched amid dense vegetation. It recreates a kind of green hillock where vegetation sits alongside stone and timber ’.

On the façades, we find a principle dear to the architect: heterogeneity. Besides reinforcing the impression of individuality, it accentuates the idea of a city that builds up over time and is never fixed. The morphology of the buildings on the boulevard side will thus draw on that of their neighbours. It will in any case be hard for the project to stay frozen in time, since its façades will be covered with flowering climbers, while the roofs will in part provide the soil for shared gardens for residents.

The individuality of the homes will be heightened by residents making the balconies their own through lightweight constructions, such as raw timber cladding. The plans also show lofts to be fitted out by the occupants; these double-height spaces will be sold as bare shells. It is a new offer ‘for new populations bringing new ways of living. These are fragments of the desire to live here that brighten up the façades ’.

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