Vatea apartment block resembles "ship set along the riverbank" in France

Local studio Nicolas Laisné Architectes has completed Vatea, a riverside apartment block in France with a sleek, skinny form that references ship design.

Located in Huningue, where the borders of France, Germany and Switzerland meet, the nine-storey block provides 20 individual and co-living apartments targeted at students and young professionals.

Taking cues from its riverside location, Nicolas Laisné Architectes said it considered the building as a "ship set along the riverbank", designing a streamlined form and a series of deck-style terraces overlooking the Rhine.

"The project is based on the idea of creating a co-living building open to an international population, at the intersection of France, Germany and Switzerland," studio founder Nicolas Laisné told Dezeen.

"It is conceived as an inhabited structure in direct relationship with the Rhine, evoking the image of a ship set along the riverbank – both anchored in its site and oriented towards the landscape," Laisné added.

"The defining gesture is the mid-level terrace, conceived as a ship deck overlooking the Rhine, offering panoramic views and creating a central shared space."

The wedge-shaped plan of Vatea tapers towards the north, ending in a curved, prow-like point that contains a spiral staircase on the lower levels and a stack of terraces above.

Bookending this plan are shared living, kitchen and dining spaces that benefit from expansive curved glass facades, while in between is a mixture of collective apartments and private studios with their own kitchenettes.

Slicing through the midsection of the building is a large terrace that wraps the western river-facing edge of the block and projects out over the road below.

This communal level is centred around a double-height shared living and dining room wrapped by fully glazed walls, which sits alongside fitness and cinema spaces.

The slender building has a concrete column-and-beam structure. Its facades are clad in corrugated metal and finished with a screen of thin, vertical steel elements, all of which are finished in white to enhance its streamlined appearance.

"This system provides both strength and flexibility. External insulation ensures high thermal performance, while the facades are clad in a metal envelope, chosen for its lightness and durability," Laisné explained.

"Vertical metal elements also contribute to the façade composition, filtering light and reinforcing the building's visual lightness," he added.

Based in Paris, Laisné founded his eponymous practice in 2005. Previous projects by the studio include an "inside out" office building in Nice designed with Dimitri Roussel, which features a similarly lightweight concrete-and-steel structure.

The studio also collaborated with Sou Fujimoto on a tree-like tower in Montpellier, which features balconies that fan out like leaves.

The photography is by Cyrille Weiner.

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