JO 2024, finalist project, Saint Denis

A building that reuses containers from recent voyages to create an athletes’ residence with 126 rooms, a restaurant and, on the mezzanine level, a garden with a fitness trail and magnificent views over the Seine. The 7-storey building was conceived as an evolving system that could be transformed over time to meet changing needs. The containers, like real cells, can be plugged and unplugged. Today rooms for athletes, tomorrow university residences or offices. A flexible structure in perpetual evolution. An economical, clever and recyclable project.
Competition — finalist

Program	Student residence (126 rooms)
Floor area	36080 sqf
Owner	DUVAL, AMETIS Île-de-France et Les Promoteurs du Grand Paris
Place	Île-Saint-Denis (93)
Architects	MFR Architectes / ITAR architectes / archi5
Structure	OTEIS
Façades	OTEIS
Economist	OTEIS
Landscape Architect	Base
Fire Safety	Qualiconsult
Certifications	Label Biodiversity, E3C1, NF Habitat HQE…
Images	YAM Studio

Their standardized size makes it easy to stack them up several floors. Along with being modular, they resist water, fire, shock and salt. Fitted out and isolated, they can thus become a building like the others.

This seven-story building presents itself as an evolving system that could be trans-formed over time and as needed. The containers act as real cells having the ability to plug and unplug. Today they are rooms for athletes, yet tomorrow they can evolve into university residences or offices. The structure is mobile, flexible, and constantly evolving. It is therefore an economical, practical, clever and recyclable project.

Already in the year 2000, the agency had built, from containers and in record time, the base of the French sailing team for the America’s Cup in New Zealand. The offices accommodated up to 90 people with a restaurant, a gym, technical rooms, a panoramic terrace. The project received the New Zealand Innovation Award. A few years later, the containers were reused to build in Valencia, Spain, the working base of a new sailing team.