Prepared for the Venice Biennale 2018, by Aoibheann Ní Mhearáin and Mary Laheen, as part of the group exhibition 'Close Encounters: meetings with remarkable buildings' this model interprets the Jeanne Hachette complex in Ivry sur Seine by the architect Jean Rénaudie. The model focuses on the ‘gift of the terraces'; these terraces are a gift to the apartment dweller, bringing nature close to their everyday lives, and creating a rich and layered experience of light internally, while the abundant planting is also a gift to the city. The multiplicity of the terraces and the way they interconnect and overlook each other reflects the core ideas of interdependence in communal living that the architects strove to express. The model demonstrates the physical nature of these terraces and its planting, the interlocking and connection to the urban realm, as well as the effect of light that has been mediated through leaves and branches, on the interior of the apartments; the model is a landscape and a lens.