Paris studio LAN Architecture has created a collection of ice cream-coloured buildings called Nolistra in Strasbourg, France, which are set around a communal garden.
Located in the area between the Saint-Urban cemetery and the Parc de l'Etoile, the buildings are each different colours, ranging from dark, greyish blue to pale pistachio green and bubblegum pink.
The development sits on an urban island
Nolistra sits on an "urban island" that is hemmed in by two roads, in-between Strasbourg's historical district and a 1960s expansion of the borough.
In order to create an identity for the development, which has housing units as well as commercial space, a hotel and offices, the studio looked to the surroundings colourful buildings. "From the beginning of the project we were searching for a form and strategy that could express continuity and at the same time a strong identity in itself," Local Architecture Network (LAN) Architecture co-founder Umberto Napolitano told Dezeen.
Its pastel-colour facades blend into the neighbourhood. Photo is by Lorenzo Zandri
"We tried to use what the city already offered us, and Strasbourg is a city that is extremely defined by the colours," Napolitano explained.
"The idea was to use colour as a tool that could express continuity with the elements that were already there ? on one side there is a pink building which was one of the first we had to relate to, and there is this very small architecture of the cemeter...