The Marseillebased practice has crafted a portfolio of civic work and social housing across France that aspires to appeal to allAtelier EGRwas shortlisted in the AR Emerging awards 2024. Read about the full shortlist hereIn 2021, a monolithic structure was unveiled in Biot, a fortified medieval village near Antibes in the south of France. Nestled in a steep inclined site, it is a grand concrete extension connecting the village hall to the historical chapel of Saint-Roch, as well as Biots main car park. The extension accommodates anarchive and spaces for public gathering. Frdric Einaudi, who cofounded Marseillebased architecture firm Atelier EGR with Maxime Gil and Anthony Rodrigues in 2013, says that the village hall extension is not a building, but a roof that creates a new form of monumental space.On the upper level, a piazza has been created at the back of the chapel, drawing people into a covered tripleheight loggia. Slender concrete 5.5mhigh columns hold up a flat roof that provides shade for informal public gatherings in the hot summer months. The piazza itself is paved with concrete and a constellationlike pattern ofinset glass blocks. Biot is known for its ceramics and glassblowing traditions, sothemunicipality commissioned artist LucaMengoni to work with local artisans and create what Einaudi describes as asculpture within the square.From the piazza, a ramp and a curved setof stairs provide access to the spaces below (there is a lift too), which include a multipurpose meeting space on the lower ground floor, and an archive at basement level. The multipurpose space is striking at the back of the room, a large glazed lightwell reveals the weathered rockface that sits at the foot of the chapel above. Einaudi calls this space the crypt of the chapel. In addition to the archive and a room for municipal functions, the building also provides access to the car park.Despite its monumental architectural language, the structure mostly blends into the wider urban fabric of Biot. Perhaps thisis the result of meticulous sensitivity toscale, or the conscious decision to use onesingular material concrete. Einaudi describes how the surrounding buildings were constructed with limestone and the architects wanted to use a modern material that provides a similar palette.This considered approach is also evident in Atelier EGRs social housing work across France. In the village of Jouques, outside AixenProvence, they designed 12 homes for lowincome families in 2019. The project is in a rural area with a lavender field on one side and a forest on the other. The ambition was to start developing the site as part of a wider masterplan; the structure needed to be simple and low cost. Built around an enclosed communal garden, the scheme is simple and repetitive; the architects wanted to create a sense of rhythm inspired by the narrow rustic housesin the area.Atelier EGR is gearing up to unveil two more social housing schemes in the south of France. They are also working on a home for older people, with adjoining gardens and patios like the Jouques project, it focuses on bringing the landscape inside the scheme. Atelier EGR hopes to create work that is rooted in context, simple, affordable and, importantly, for everyone.