Two briefs: a small civic building on a sloping lot, a low-rise high-density block with a roof garden
What the track asks
Practical test of the 2024 second session, sat on 14 November 2024. Two briefs, joined by a tight height limit and an explicit demand for a technical-functional legend. BRIEF 1 — A small public building with a civic function: library, conference and/or assembly hall, and temporary exhibition spaces. The urban lot is square, about 60 × 60 metres, but not flat: the southern side is affected by a slight escarpment cutting the lot obliquely and reducing the internal area to a trapezoidal shape. The building must not exceed 12 metres in height, counting skylights, lightwells and rooftop outdoor spaces. Boundary distance rules under current national legislation apply, with the complication that every side except the south adjoins buildings erected on the boundary line: the brief therefore confronts the candidate with an almost entirely blind lot, where the only free frontage is the sloping one. BRIEF 2 — A residential building with apartments aggregated in a row, stair and lift shared by two or three apartments per core, for three cores in total. It is declared part of a "low rise – hi density" scheme: three or four storeys above ground plus a basement, with a deliberately variable height across the apartment verticals, alternating three and four floors so as to obtain private terraces at the top level. The roof is habitable as an "equipped roof garden" on the model of the Unité d'Habitation, designed as a "perforated enclosure" for communal use; the maximum height at the eaves line, including any roof-garden crowning, remains 15 metres. Apartments range between 75 and 105 sqm, with a stated preference for aggregations of differing sizes. The lot is free, flat and set in greenery. The ground floor must be emptied, with no apartments and a shared porter's lodge; devoting part of the first floor to collective space is recommended but not binding.
Required drawings
BRIEF 1: 2 plans, at least 1 section and one elevation of the candidate's choice at 1:200; overall site plan at 1:500. Optional, at free scale: a roof scheme or plan, a sketch or axonometric diagram, a detail or larger-scale section on a specific constructional choice. BRIEF 2: 1 main elevation at 1:200 showing both the volumetric play of the height variation and the collective spaces on the first floor; overall site plan at 1:200 with the ground-floor plan; a partial plan of one apartment (typical floor) at 1:100; a cross section at 1:100 through the stair core. Optional, at free scale: a roof scheme or plan, a sketch or axonometric diagram, a detail or larger-scale section. In both, a technical-functional legend with alphanumeric references on the plans is required.
Regulations this track calls into play
Editorial anchoring: the rules a well-prepared candidate should have in hand for this theme, each with its current status.
This theme, across the archive
The same brief seen by theme: every other past exam that asked for it, and the norm kit they share.
Official university page for this session ↗This university publishes notices, calendars and results, but not the text of the briefs: the page confirms the session, the summary above is ours.
Practice this track in the exam room →
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