Dutch architecture firm MVRDV just completed a courtyard apartment building in Bordeaux, France that aims to help transform what city living can look and feel like. Set east of the River Garonne, across from the city’s UNESCO World Heritage historic center, Ilot Queyries is a living laboratory of sorts, testing out a new masterplan offering community, greenery, daylight, access to amenities, and a sense of intimacy that can be hard to come by in urban centers. The building includes 282 homes, including 128 for social housing, as well as commercial space, a rooftop restaurant, a large collective green space, and parking.

The development stands out even when viewed from afar. Its jagged white rooflines rise from the city streets in an organic-looking jumble, contrasting the neatly organized rows and rectilinear shapes of the buildings around it. In the center is a massive courtyard, all the facades facing it painted with textured red stucco. The building fills its building site all the way to the boundaries, and the roofs are designed with “carefully calibrated” slopes to maximize ventilation and sunlight to both the building itself and its neighbors.
The courtyard inside, developed in collaboration with local architecture firm Flint, is irregularly shaped and measures nearly 56,000 square feet. This park-like green space is actually one level above the street, positioned over the complex’s parking garage, making it feel like a secret garden that&r...