Coming between the Loire estuary and the flooding dock, the situation of the district is atypical and unique. It’s a fragile place, at the end of the world, at once isolated from and very present in the city. The development comprises 36 overly small apartments that have to be demolished and replaced by 55 new dwellings. The character of the place immediately suggests to us that one must retain this precious balance, charm, the warm and convivial surroundings, the trees, uses, the approaches, to leave people where they are and to develop the project on the basis of what exists. To avoid demolishing, disturbing, displacing, unmaking and remaking, by making a tabula rasa of the situation.

To increase the number of apartments on the plot of land and to keep what exists are not contradictory. On the contrary, to make with what exists enables one to make more by using the potential of the situation. The project proposes transforming the existing apartments by making them bigger, in order to bring them up to a very high standard, one comparable to that of the new building which will be added in situ to create the required number of dwellings. Twenty-seven apartments are preserved and enlarged or requalified. Eighteen new apartments are created by structures that are placed on the ground without upsetting the public space, the gardens. The apartments are spacious, comfortable; generous living rooms (twice as large as the minimum norms) prolonged by balconies or exterior spaces, first-rate views of the sea, comfort, pleasure and luxury.