This project deals with the importance of housing a facilitator of community and social interaction. Set at the base of the Var Valley on the outskirts of Nice, France, the site is rich with ecology and fresh water runoff from the Southern tip of the Alps, but it is wrought with discontinuity and division of use, flanked on either side by a highway and large commercial development.  This proposal responds to these issues by defining a contrast between a stark, defensive exterior-facing facade and a soft, open interior.  Configured around a hierarchy of semi-public atriums and public courtyards, the formal strategy seeks to soften social divisions and property lines using a subtractive geometric strategy that breaks down the typical housing block into discrete units separated by open space.