French architecture practice TVK has completed a neighbourhood in Paris made up of limestone buildings surrounding a garden and designed as a sustainable development that aims to increase biodiversity.
Located on a triangular site in Paris's 19th arrondissement, the project is "the capital's first zero-carbon district", according to TVK.
Named Îlot Fertile, which translates to "fertile island" in French, it contains apartments, a youth hostel, student residences, a hotel, offices, restaurants, shops and sports facilities.
TVK claims ÃŽlot Fertile is the first zero-carbon district in Paris
The four buildings that make up the neighbourhood range in height from seven to nine storeys tall, each with ground-floor levels made from low-carbon concrete and designed to achieve large, unobstructed interior spaces. The upper levels were made from load-bearing limestone sourced mainly from the local Ile-de-France region, aiming to reduce the carbon cost of transportation.
TVK claims the 35,200-square-metre development is the largest load-bearing stone building site since Georges-Eugène Haussmann's reconstruction of Paris in the mid-19th century.
The buildings were made from load-bearing stone and concrete
"Each material is used in the right place and the right quantity," TVK founders Pierre Alain Trévelo and Antoine Viger Kohler told Dezeen.
"We chose to use mainly limestone from the Paris region ? it's the same one used to build the Haussmann bui...