START-Ivry

Beatriz Ramo

START-Ivry: Form follows life
Rethinking housing from the inside out: a new generation of social and affordable housing, where the dwelling adapts to its inhabitants–and not the other way around

START-Ivry sets out to redefine housing culture. It rejects the prevailing standardisation of housing production and responds to the growing diversity of contemporary lifestyles. It rethinks housing from the inside—starting from the resident—restoring the central role of the floor plan, and boldly reversing the conventional process by starting with architecture: the architect is selected first, and developers are then invited to compete. START embodies a genuine paradigm shift.

START stands for Social, Transformable, Affordable and Resilient Typologies—housing solutions that respond to contemporary life. Located in Ivry-sur-Seine, a city historically linked to architectural innovation, START paves the way for a new cycle of experimentation in housing. START is both a manifesto and a demonstration: it proves that much better housing can be achieved without increasing surface areas and within very constrained budgets. A pilot project. A vanguard.

Households today are increasingly diverse and dynamic—single-parent families, blended households, elderly residents requiring assistance, remote workers—while housing has remained largely standardized and rigid, serving developer logic more than the realities of life. START address this mismatch by creating housing adapted to its inhabitants: units can be enlarged in anticipation of a child; a kitchen relocated to make an extra bedroom; children’s rooms transformed into a studio; or a neighbouring unit purchased to extend the current one. Even in its initial state, the dwelling already accommodates a wide range of users and situations, placing residents at the heart of design.

START comprises 5 buildings with 288 units, including social, intermediate, and market-rate housing, arranged to create a new urban skyline along the Seine

Beatriz Ramo NL

https://st-ar.nl/
Kipstraat 7B | 3011RR Rotterdam