Built volume and the void space inside it complement one another to define the image of this building, one of the most recent works by Ateliers Jean Nouvel.
The building is the result of the almost obsessive repetition of standardised façade elements. However, the different colours assigned to them on the interior and exterior elevations create a totally different impression between what is outside, which seeks a relationship with its urban setting, and what is inside, a void treasure chest that is more private and welcoming. The principal objectives of the project included the realisation of a new urban connection between the two streets delimiting the east and west elevations of the building; set into the existing city fabric, the building generates an unexpected commercial street, a true and proper passage inspired by the later nineteenth century gallerias of Paris. The “Street of 1000 Red Jars” – the name given to the project by its authors – is the result of the collaboration between Ateliers Jean Nouvel and local landscape architects ASPECT-Studios. Not only the colour of the façade, but also the selection of plant species participates in the distinction between inside and outside, turning the elevations in a vegetal surface in perpetual transformation.