With the advent of “Paris en Grand” (Roland Castro’s study on the Greater Paris), Frédéric Druot’s commitment is more relevant than ever. Since 2008, together with Anne Lacaton & Jean‑Philippe Vassal and without any institutional framework, he has been working on a prodigious study advocating the conversion of the existing housing stock of the Paris region.

 

 

 

What was the origin of this “Plus Paris” study?
When the Greater Paris was launched in 2008, housing was completely overlooked and very little was considered for existing buildings. And yet, if we take the experiment of Bois-le-Prêtre as a model [ed. conversion of a 96 apartment occupied tower, Paris 17th arrondissement, 2011], codesigned with Anne Lacaton and Jean-Philippe Vassal, this shows that the existing area can be increased by 20%, creating 30 to 40 additional good quality apartments without demolishing. Few architects can dispense with demolition. They often build on remains. This was the starting point of our study on Paris and its neighbouring suburbs.

What does this work involve?
We studied the whole of Paris and its 22 bordering municipalities. We reported 1,648 situations that could be “upgraded”, thus avoiding demolition. These “situations” are plots where an urban planner is not required for the architectural intervention. This relates to what I refer to as “archibanism” or “urbatecture”, which is a way of questioning construction methods. We can work on a case by case basis if the two disciplines are not dissociated. By adapting the method used for Bois-le-Prêtre, we concluded that we could rehabilitate and convert 450,000 existing apartments and create 135,000 additional new housing units.

What is the outcome of this study?
This inventory lasted six years and I paid for it entirely — it is a true commitment. Yet, although our approach won the Faire Paris award in 2017, there has been no tangible outcome. There is no political aspiration, just a few unsatisfactory meetings based on this study on the problems of housing and heritage, with the public and private stakeholders. We did discuss the question with the APUR (Parisian Agency of Urban Planning), with the office of Jean-Louis Missika (Deputy mayor of Paris in charge of urban planning, architecture, Greater Paris projects, economic development and attractivness), but nothing has come of it. The deconstruction policy encouraged by the ANRU (National Agency of Urban Renewal) is inefficient, but powerful. I am aware that I have committed myself to something that is strategically naïve, but how can you gain a perspective on housing and city issues, if you do not immerse yourself in the vast legacy we have to build on? I remain an enlightened pessimist, even though.

 

This article has been published on AA No427, available on our online shop.