Rooftop “parasite homes” might just be an answer to Paris’s affordable housing drought—at least that’s the hope of developers behind the 3BOX project about to begin construction.
The three upcoming apartments, just off the canal near the city’s Quai de Valmy, have found an ingenious way of freeing up more space in a densely built city: they’re perched on top of existing buildings. As a result, the developers hope the homes will ultimately sell at 40 percent less than the area’s market price.
Looking vaguely like steel and glass reptiles that have scaled a wall to bask in the sun, these new apartments might come as a shock inserted into the historic fabric of Paris (albeit a somewhat humdrum corner of it). But if the officially sponsored developers of the new apartments get their way, this project could be just the beginning.
[For more of this story, written by Feargus O'Sullivan, go to http://www.citylab.com/housing...housing-3box/459399/]
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