Making History

Ametal’s custom solution makes adding VT to historic Parisian apartment buildings possible with little noise and disruption.

Improving accessibility in historic buildings that were built with specific requirements for the time by people who never dreamed of the idea of modern vertical-transportation (VT) systems has its challenges. Limited shaft space with insufficient headroom being a major one. But custom solutions like the ones offered by Ametal Lift Components, which is based in Turkey, have added lifts that work with, not against, these space limitations.

The Need

When speaking of Parisian architecture, the term “Haussmannien” may come to mind. By the middle of the 19th century, the city could no longer support the health, transportation and housing needs of its growing population. To remedy this major problem, Napoléon III appointed Georges-Eugène Haussmann, commonly known as Baron Haussmann, as the prefect of the Seine, a role that required him to oversee an ambitious series of public works projects.

Haussmann was known to be a no-nonsense, effective official – he loved straight lines and order. From 1853 until 1870, Haussmann outfitted Paris with new water and sewer pipes, train stations and, most famously, a network of uniform boulevards crossing through the heart of the city. With his new plan, buildings wouldn’t be more than six stories tall, would be proportionate to the width of the street and would be made out of the same stone to create uniformity. He treated buildings not as independent structures, but as pieces of a unified urban landscape.

In Haussmann’s Paris, the streets became much wider, growing from an average of 12 m to 24 m wide, and in the new arrondissements, often to 18 m.

The most famous and recognizable feature of Haussmann’s renovation of Paris is the Haussmann apartment buildings that line the boulevards. Today, there are more than 40,000 housing units that were built during the Baron Haussmann period, and these buildings represent around 60% of the capital’s buildings.

The façade is the essential element of the Haussmann style. The interiors of the buildings were left to the owners of the buildings, but the façades were strictly regulated to ensure they were the same height, color, material and general design, and were harmonious when all seen together.

Haussmann-style apartment buildings have nine characteristics:

• Made of pièrre de taille (a light gray hewn stone with its quintessential decorative flourishes)
• A carriage entrance
• Guard stones at the entrance
• The first floor of every Haussmann-style building is an entresol, meaning it isn’t on the ground floor and doesn’t have the same soaring ceiling height of the other floors. This first floor was primarily used by merchants and shops.
• The second floor is the grandest: Also called the étage noble, this floor has the highest ceilings (3.2 m). From the exterior, you will notice that the étage noble has grand balconies and, in its interior, the most ornate moldings.
• The second floor was reserved for the nobility: high enough to be away from the public but without the inconvenience of too many flights of stairs. The second floor is where the richest Parisians lived.
• The third and fourth floors are slightly less grand: As you move up the building, the ceiling heights are reduced.
• The sixth floor was for the servants.
• Rooftops had to be at a 45° slant: Haussmann wanted to make sure that all streets had access to sunlight.

With Paris’ large number of historical buildings, there are thousands in the city that need elevator modernization. Due to the aspects of Haussmann-style apartment buildings, specifically, VT solutions must be considered thoughtfully and meet specific requirements.

The Fix

The custom-designed Ametal Aries 250 MR-D Drum Traction Lift System is made to be installed in areas with limited shaft dimensions and insufficient headroom, often small stairwells of historic buildings. The system facilitates VT by making optimal use of the car’s internal area without requiring counterweights. The system utilizes inverted L or inverted U type car frames, with machine rooms located below or next to the bottom of the lift shaft.

In buildings where the dimension of the last floor is less than 3,000 mm, the drum elevator is a good solution because the drum machine, which is the drive group, can be installed in the machine room at the bottom of the shaft, which is the most convenient way for the elevator to serve the apartment on the last floor of the building. Installing the drum machine at the bottom of the shaft also helps keep the noise caused by machine operation isolated from the cabin and the building.

The Aries 250 car and car frame’s minimal dimensions require customized designs. The extensions of the car frame, below and above the car, are designed for limited shaft space: a minimum of 200 mm for the shaft pit and 2,600 mm for the last floor. Due to this, a balustrade is not used on the top of the car. However, folding-type balustrade designs are available when necessary.

In buildings with a taller top floor, 3,500 mm or greater, machine-room-less options can still be used. However, the sound can still be heard in the cabin and on the floors, making the gearless drum motor a better alternative, especially for residential buildings.

Drum elevators can be installed in the steel construction, made in accordance with the interior design of the building, in the gaps left between the stair steps, which usually turn and rise.

A different ambiance can be created by using glass on the steel construction shaft walls, and at the same time, a panoramic cabin can improve the view during travel. The capacity of a cabin without a counterweight can be designed as 180 kg (2 persons), 240 kg (3 persons) or 300 kg (4 persons).

Ametal’s main goal is to determine the requirements, plan the lift, manufacture with high quality and deliver the lift on time with CE certification. Lift assembly is also possible. Aries 250 MR-D Drum Lift Systems aim to provide lifts to facilitate safe and standard compliant (specifically with EN 81-20 article 5.2.5.7 and EN 81-21) VT for buildings.

One example of this specific solution is the custom-designed Ametal Aries 250 MR-D Drum Traction Lift System with a bottom-of-shaft machine room that was installed at 4 Rue des Chartreux, a Hausmann-designed apartment building, in Paris. The lift was installed to improve accessibility for the apartment’s residents and guests. This lift has a capacity of 180 kg with a speed of .63 m/s. It travels 18,000 mm with seven stops, and the last floor height is 3,400 mm. The lift was produced and sent to the Paris apartment in September 2020. It was installed by Sanei Elevator Co. Ltd. and certified in early 2021.

References:
www.unjourdeplusaparis.com
en.wikipedia.org
ruemag.com
mymodernmet.com/haussmann-paris-architecture