Les Choux de Creteil [1974]

Les Choux (The Cabbages) de Creteil is an array of ten experimental housing towers in the Creteil commune of south-east Paris. Designed by French architect and poet Gerard Grandval from a new-age prefabricated concrete system, the curvilinear shape of the balconies referenced the site’s agricultural past and were originally meant to be infilled with soil to allow the facade to green over. Although this idea was dispelled due to concerns of the longevity of a living facade, the balconies themselves provide both privacy and a unique articulation of form, with the living space positioned close to the glazing to heighten amenity. Today Grandval’s creation is heritage listed and considered emblematic of optimistic, late-modernist French architecture.