Programe

Complete renovation, buildings, gardens and surroundings, of the Cité Moderne built in the 1920s by Victor Bourgeois.

About

Architecture is misery

With these words, Victor Bourgeois foresaw the meaning to be given to architectural design in the immediate post-war period. It was an attitude to the social urgency of housing and the context of scarcity that prevailed during this period of reconstruction. What social and cultural meaning could the architectural gesture have had at that time?

The renovation of the complex is an opportunity to synthesise the ambitions of Karbon'; developments that find their meaning in the social commitment, the historical context and the climatic regime.

This posture forces a threefold search for the minimum act:

Permanent consultation with the actors involved in the project, with an empathetic approach to the building and its inhabitants, seeking to reconcile respect for the heritage and renewed legitimate needs;

Research into materials, with the study of hollow concrete revealing its insulating properties and supplemented by hemp-lime concrete in order to create a massive and collaborative wall complex;

A continuous reading of the building and its evolution, minimising demolitions and systematically recovering reusable materials;

The renovation of the Cité Moderne sets out the fundamental meaning of contemporary intervention. It begins after 3 successive contracts, rue de la Fondation, place de l'Initiative and rue de la Gérance. Trial and error necessary for a global strategy and the application of biosourced materials in a public construction

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Status

Ongoing building work

Year of conception

2021

Year of delivery

2031

Client

Comensia scrl

Cité Moderne
1082 Berchem-Sainte-Agathe

Plus d'informations
Karbon' architecture et urbanisme