We continue our Social Housing Revival series with a look at the Caserne de Reuilly, the transformation of a 19th-century barracks in Paris into hundreds of affordable homes that is emblematic of the city's effective approach to retrofit housing.
Located in the 12th arrondissement of Paris, the project was completed in 2020 for the country's largest social landlord, Paris Habitat, which manages some 124,000 homes in and around the city.
The Caserne de Reuilly now provides nearly 600 homes ? half social and student housing and the remainder a mix of assisted and rent?controlled housing ? alongside a nursery, artist's studios, shops and community spaces, all organised around a public courtyard at its centre.
Office KGDVS was among the studios to slot new apartment blocks alongside the old barracks building. Photo by Bas Princen. Led by French studio h2o architectes, six European teams were invited to contribute to the project: LIN Architects, Agencie Anyoji-Beltrando, Charles-Henri Tachon, Office Kersten Geers David Van Severen (Office KGDVS) with NP2F, MIR and Lacroix Chessex.
The recent history of housing in Paris is one familiar to many European cities: soaring rents and land prices have long been forcing residents into the suburbs, while the blocks built during the postwar period suffer from poor maintenance and standards.
In Paris, the concentration of affordable and social housing in its urban peripheries and suburban "grands ensembles" has historically made t...