Local D’Activités is a minimal space located in Malakoff, France, designed by Philippe Dubus Architectes. The edifice incorporates reflective, glass-clad facades on two of its sides, mimicking the city’s bustling streetscape. In contrast, the other two walls employ a wood-frame structure, further complemented by an aluminum cladding. The building’s scale harmoniously matches its neighboring structures, featuring a unique design adapted to the local building footprint. The functional floors span a 10×10 square meter layout, stacked from the basement level up to the second floor, with a retracted top level. The latter crowns the building, boasting a verdant terrace complete with a lush pergola. Prominently featuring large sliding frames, the structure has been built with raw concrete and wooden-paneled formwork, intentionally kept minimalistic and precisely dimensioned.

The pillars and ceilings have been left in their natural state, embedding light fixtures and technical units within the bare surfaces. Quartz-finished floors blend seamlessly with the structure, incorporating electrical outlets for practical usage. Technical units left exposed on the ceilings connect to an air-to-air heat pump located on the roof, ensuring year-round comfort. A strip of garden runs along the building’s western facade, half at street level and the rest at the basement level, inviting light and offering views onto a green patio. This garden streak cuts through the property, giving a peek from the street at the mature trees of Larousse Square, supplemented by the project’s terrace trees and the towering pine in the garden. This project embodies our firm’s commitment to humanistic and environmental principles. A warm, comfortable living space that prioritizes user experience, it is a model of simplicity and meticulousness in its design and construction.

Photography by Julien Hourcade