A street in Paris that is lined with pastel-coloured houses. Photo by Patrick Nouhailler/Wikimedia Commons files

Construction workers are putting the finishing touches on an unusual housing project in northern Paris the conversion of a disused above-ground car park into 83 state-subsidized, affordable apartments.

Soon a selection of people who meet eligibility criteria, such as students, those on low-incomes or single-parent families, will move into the new apartments on rue Nollet, helping them overcome a chronic shortage of housing in the French capital.

Architects resolved the puzzle of how to make liveable spaces out of the dark, concrete interiors by punching out the middle to create an interior courtyard with a garden, resulting in two parallel buildings with windowed facades.

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