Description
A Brutalist flat with a contemporary layout
This duplex, designed by architect Renée Gailhoustet, was completely renovated in 2015.
The main living area of 74 m² opens onto a loggia of 4 m² and a terrace of 12.5 m², and comprises a lounge, dining room and kitchen. The kitchen and bathroom are on the west side, while on the east side there is space for two bedrooms overlooking a private terrace. Upstairs, the 12.5 m² bedroom opens onto a second 12.5 m² private terrace.
The triple-exposure terraces have a depth of soil of 40 cm, allowing for all kinds of planting, from vegetable gardens to trees and shrubs.
Il est situé dans la partie résidentielle privée du quartier de la Maladrerie, au coeur d’Aubervilliers, à 8 minutes à pied du métro ligne 7 Fort d’Aubervilliers.
Contemporary graphic design
A built-in bookcase is built around the staircase and extends into the bedroom that can be accessed from it. The furnishings are characterised by raw materials: raw concrete revealing the original structure; raw oak parquet contrasting with the soft green of the planted environment, as well as bold colours on a black and white background. A reinterpretation of Renée Gailhoustet’s Brutalist language, this design is in natural dialogue with the original structure and contributes to the flat’s exceptional character.
La Maladrerie: an urban utopia
Renée Gailhoustet designed the Maladrerie district between 1975 and 1985. A veritable urban utopia, the complex extends over 8 hectares and takes the form of a sculptural hill overgrown with vegetation. It includes a small private residence, 900 duplex or triplex flats, 40 artists’ studios, a home for the elderly, shops and facilities.
Each flat has a floor plan free of load-bearing walls, allowing residents to design their home as they wish, as well as a garden or at least an open-ground terrace for gardening.
Renée Gailhoustet
One of the few women architects of her generation, Renée Gailhoustet was born in Oran in 1929. She studied philosophy at the Sorbonne and was active in the Jeunesses Communistes before turning to architecture. At the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, she joined the studio of Marcel Lods, André Hermant and Henri Trezzini, the only one that accepted women at the time. There she met the architect Jean Renaudie (1925-1981) in 1952. She set up her own practice in 1964 (which closed its doors for good in 1999) and was appointed Chief Architect for the renovation of Ivry-sur-Seine town centre in 1969.
Renée Gailhoustet has completed a number of social housing projects in the Île-de-France region. Inspired by the work of Jean Renaudie and the theoretical work of the Team X group, she has developed building typologies that go beyond the functionalist standards inspired by Le Corbusier: tiered buildings with complex, interlocking geometry, offering a wide variety of housing.
In 2022, the Raspail Tower in Ivry-sur-Seine, the first project of his career, was listed as a historic monument, and Le Liégat was awarded the Label Architecture Contemporaine Remarquable.
Renée Gailhoustet’s work has been rewarded, albeit late in her career, both nationally and internationally. She has received numerous awards, including the Medal of Honour from the Academy of Architecture in 2018 andthe Berlin Grand Prix for the Arts the following year. In May 2022, she won the Architecture Prize for her “extraordinary contribution to social housing in France […]” by the Royal Academy of Arts in London. More recently, in October 2022, Renée Gailhoustet was awarded the Prix d’Honneur by the Ministry of Culture for her body of work, a few months before she passed away in her flat in Ivry-sur-Seine on 4 January 2023.
