MAD unveils Parisian housing block with curvy floors and balconies
Beijing studio MAD has revealed plans for a Parisian housing block surrounded by undulating balconies, which is set to become the firm's first residential project in Europe (+ slideshow).
Called UNIC, the 50-metre-tall block will feature floorplates with undulating edges and glazed walls to give residents views of the Paris skyline.
![Architecture news: UNIC housing block in Paris, Franc by MAD studio](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2016/05/unic-mad-residential-housing-block-architecture-news-paris-france_dezeen_936_0.jpg)
MAD won an international design competition for the scheme, which it worked on in collaboration with local practice Accueil-Biecher Architectes.
UNIC will be located in the developing Clichy-Batignolles neighbourhood, beside the Martin Luther King Park and Renzo Piano's yet-to-be-completed courthouse.
![Architecture news: UNIC housing block in Paris, Franc by MAD studio](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2016/05/unic-mad-residential-housing-block-architecture-news-paris-france_dezeen_936_1.jpg)
"UNIC is a creative and iconic residential project united with the community," said MAD's founder Ma Yansong.
The tower's asymmetric floors decrease in scale towards its summit, offering a range of secluded and public balconies and creating a stepped outline – not dissimilar to the firm's earlier Urban Garden proposal for the city of Chongqing in China.
![Architecture news: UNIC housing block in Paris, Franc by MAD studio](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2016/05/unic-mad-residential-housing-block-architecture-news-paris-france_dezeen_936_3.jpg)
The terraces will be planted with trees in an attempt to extend the adjacent park vertically, and balconies on the uppermost floors of the 13-level-block will boast views of the Eiffel Tower.
"The floating and upward-growing form responds to an organic scheme," said MAD. "Representing stacked courtyards, the distance between human and nature is collapsed."
![Architecture news: UNIC housing block in Paris, Franc by MAD studio](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2016/05/unic-mad-residential-housing-block-architecture-news-paris-france_dezeen_936_7.jpg)
The building's curvilinear podium will be joined to a neighbouring public housing scheme. It will provide access to a new stretch of the Paris Métro, as well as a kindergarten, shops and restaurants.
"The resulting design enhances everyday community relations among a diverse socio-economic neighbourhood," said the studio.
![Architecture news: UNIC housing block in Paris, Franc by MAD studio](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2016/05/unic-mad-residential-housing-block-architecture-news-paris-france_dezeen_936_2.jpg)
Sinuous forms are characteristic of MAD's architecture and design.
The firm's Harbin opera house features an undulating form that wraps two concert halls and a plaza – recently photographed in snowy weather by Iwan Baan – and the studio has also applied its distinctive style to a curvaceous door handle.
The UNIC scheme is expected to complete in 2018.
Project credits:
Architecture: MAD
Directors: Ma Yansong, Dang Qun, Yosuke Hayano
Design team: Zhao Wei, Flora Lee, Wu Kaicong, Daniel Gillen, Jiang Bin, Andrea D'Antrassi, Tristan Brasseur, Juan Valeros, Gustavo Alfred van Staveren, Xin Dogterom, Juan Pablo, Cesar d Pena Del Rey, Natalia Giacomino
![Architecture news: UNIC housing block in Paris, Franc by MAD studio](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2016/05/unic-mad-residential-housing-block-architecture-news-paris-france-site-plan_dezeen_0.gif)
![Architecture news: UNIC housing block in Paris, Franc by MAD studio](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2016/05/unic-mad-residential-housing-block-architecture-news-paris-france-fourth-floor-plan_dezeen_1.gif)
![Architecture news: UNIC housing block in Paris, Franc by MAD studio](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2016/05/unic-mad-residential-housing-block-architecture-news-paris-france-ninth-floor-plan_dezeen_2.gif)