White caged balconies project from the sides of this social housing block by French collective Poggi + More, making it look like a series of irregularly stacked boxes.

Bordeaux-based More Architecture and Poggi Architecture teamed up to design the 1,886-square-metre scheme named White Clouds, which provides 30 apartments for the town of Saintes in western France.
Working together as Poggi + More, the architects devised a scheme aiming to maximise outdoor space through a series of gridded metal balconies.

"The building is positioned in such a way as to respect the site's quality, rather than merely colonise the given space," said the architects. "The little boxes project outwards, embracing the most interesting vistas."
Caged balconies are "grafted" onto all sides the block, ensuring there is no primary facade. Their size and placement corresponds with the need of each individual apartment, which are contained within three white, corrugated metal blocks.
"Exit conventional balconies, terraces and loggias with their separating walls and shields of varying transparency, used to hide unsightly objects or provide a modicum of intimacy," said the architects.

"In this design, the outside spaces are extremely secluded and provide genuine additional spaces, equipped with utility rooms for drying washing or storing bulky objects, just like garden sheds," they continued.
"The apartments flow out into these exterior facil...