Keywords

1 Demolition(s)

“[The book’s] concern was with why society does not value its good buildings, to try and think out why good buildings, even when they—like new housing—are something society needs, are subject to senseless destruction.” Peter Smithson [1]. The destruction of significant buildings without heritage protection is not a new phenomenon in the history of architecture, ranging from the demolition of public buildings such as John Soane’s Bank of England in the 1920s, Victor Baltard’s Halles in Paris in the 1970s, to the ongoing demolition of mid-twentieth century architecture, especially public housing, such as Allison and Peter Smithson's Robin Hood Gardens or the ville nouvelle de Toulouse Le Mirail by Candilis, Josić and Woods, to name just a few.

Beyond the specific reasons behind the destruction of a given building, we can argue that demolition often implies a lack of temporal distance to recognize the architectural and cultural value of buildings [2], coupled with an apparent need to replace somehow obsolete buildings with up-to-date architecture that responds to contemporary functional, aesthetic, or financial needs [3].

In the case of post-war public housing, we could add a strong stigmatization of certain neighborhoods related to systemic social problems, together with a lack of maintenance and the weakening of public investment in favor of the private real estate market since the 1980s. This combination of factors leads to the devaluation of a heritage generally subject to strong real estate pressures, and fuels political discourses that justify demolition as a “solution” for urban renewal [4].

Although many post-war housing projects in Europe embodied innovative and experimental approaches, and several examples demonstrate their potential for transformation through different strategies of energy renovation, typological reinterpretation, enhancement of original qualities or residents’ participation—such as Tour Bois le Prêtre (Paris, 2011), Kleiburg (Amsterdam, 2016) or Le Lignon (Genève, 2022)—, demolition is unfortunately still considered commonplace. This results not only in the loss of architectural heritage, much-needed affordable housing, and a major source of embodied carbon, but, most importantly, in the destruction of communities built over decades.

In this context, architects have an important role to play in countering the lack of architectural and social values that generally underpin demolition policies, particularly in relation to public housing. Far from a nostalgic or purely preservationist approach, or a lack of recognition of failures to improve, the interest in this question—both “aestethic and ethic” [5]—, lies in recognizing the architectural, social, and environmental value of what already exists, and the potential of architecture to be transformed.

In addition to design-based strategies, architects can also contribute to challenging demolition processes and building new narratives through research, publications, photographic essays, films [1, 4, 6, 7], or other forms of collective action, bringing the “not to demolish strategy” [8] to the forefront of the architectural and political debate.

2 Toulouse Le Mirail and France’s Urban Renewal Policy

“Le Mirail was an incredible architectural project, studied by universities all over the world. To demolish it would be catastrophic. We can restore, reimagine. It's done elsewhere, but why not here? “ Cathérine Beauville [9].

In 1961, the project by Candilis, Josić and Woods won the international competition to build Le Mirail, a new district of Toulouse for over 100,000 inhabitants. Three neighborhoods of the original project were built—Le Mirail with the university, Reynerie and Bellefontaine.

The project was defined by the relationship between three different housing typologies—the villas patio, the petits collectifs and the tripodes—and by the articulation of various types of public spaces—the dalle, a continuous pedestrian space connecting the three neighborhoods, the coursives, open-air elevated corridors connecting different buildings, and a system of natural public spaces between the buildings [10].

Although since the 1980s, the increase in social problems and the lack of maintenance have led to a strong stigmatization [11], Le Mirail bears witness to the modernist idea of “housing for all” [12] and of “a planning culture with a social idea as its generative core” [13]. Far from being obsolete, the original qualitative value of the project, both at the architectural scale (housing typologies) and at the landscape scale (common green spaces), is more than relevant today [14]. Both the quality of housing and the positive environmental impact of natural spaces in the city are at the core of today’s so-called “sustainable neighborhoods”. (see Fig. 1).

Fig. 1.
figure 1

The Messager and Poulenc buildings and the natural public space threatened with demolition, Toulouse Le Mirail, 2023 (Photograph by Adam W. Pugliese, 2023).

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Since 2003, the district has been part of France's National Urban Renewal Program (PNRU) developed by the National Agency for Urban Renewal (ANRU), which aims to transform 600 so-called “fragile neighborhoods” through the rehabilitation, demolition, and construction of new housing, by both public and private actors. By 2030, this program will have financed the demolition of 270,000 social housing units nationwide [15].

In the case of Le Mirail, the Reynerie and Bellefontaine neighborhoods have been facing the demolition of a significant part of their housing and public spaces for almost twenty years and are currently facing the planned demolition of 1,421 dwellings, along with 780 trees and 3.7 hectares of green space [16] (see Fig. 2). Le Mirail university, designed by Candilis, Josić and Woods in 1964, was demolished and replaced by a new building. Although this demolition affects the unprotected heritage of Candilis, Josić and Woods, it was done independently of the ANRU’s urban renovation policy and is therefore not the subject of this paper.

Fig. 2.
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© 2023 HEIA-FR/JMA-FR, Tracés).

Natali Céspedes, Estelle Delavy, Gabriel Dos Santos, Vincent Dumont, Alvina Ferrera, Samara Zuber, Toulouse le Mirail built project, demolitions since 2000s and planned demolitions, 2023 (drawings by students

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While these so-called “urban renewal” processes could be an opportunity to improve the existing neighborhoods based on their architectural and social qualities, prioritizing the preservation of existing buildings and communities, questioning certain aspects of the original projects and transforming them in collaboration with the inhabitants, they are rather an opportunity to implement a top-down demolition policy with little regard for the loss of heritage, environmental impact, and social consequences.

In addition to Le Mirail, several social housing projects in France of recognized architectural quality but not listed, are now threatened with demolition, such as La Butte-Rouge garden city in Chatenay-Malabry by Bassompierre, de Rutté, Sirvin and Arfvidson (1931), the Époisses in Beçanson by Maurice Novarina (1967), or La Maladrerie in Aubervilliers by Réné Gailloustet (1975), to name just a few, illustrating the main impact of this policy on the destruction of the social housing heritage of the twentieth century.

In this context, several local collectives and associations of residents, architects and social actors, among others, have come together to prevent further demolitions, creating a national collective called “Stop aux demolitons ANRU” and launching a petition calling for a “moratorium on demolitions”, opening a necessary debate on the urgent need to move beyond tabula rasa approaches.

3 Pedagogical Approach

The course “Transformation Strategies” at the HEIA-FR aims to address this issue in architectural education by proposing a collective research, exploration and analysis to challenge the demolition and identify the potential of transformation of mid-twentieth century architecture, particularly social housing, by recognizing its architectural, environmental and social existing values.

Through documentary and field research, the students’ work, developed since the spring semester 2023, aims, as a first case study, to make a sensitive inventory of threatened buildings and public spaces in the Reynerie and Bellefontaine districts of Toulouse Le Mirail.

This pedagogical approach is based on the following six principles that aim, on the one hand, to broaden the analytical scope and tools for envisioning transformation projects based on the highlighted qualities, and, on the other hand, to provide the students with a methodology aimed at questioning demolition processes and contributing to counterbalancing biased images that are often used to justify demolition.

Revealing the cultural and historical value of the project. Through documentary sources, the students analyzed the historical context, the competition process, the architectural and urban principles, the construction systems and the reception of the work at the time, leading to highlight the architectural principles of the project that are still present today. (see Fig. 3).

Fig. 3.
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© 2023 HEIA-FR/JMA-FR).

Fabian Billon, Coline Bonnafous, Marie Donzé, Issa Kashivagui, Francis Labhard, Maxence Launay, Rémi Mauduit and Stéphane Vallon, Analysis of the cultural and historical value of Toulouse Le Mirail, 2023 (work by students

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Revealing the landscape value of the neighborhood. Through the graphic analysis of the evolution of the project, the students analyzed the landscape principles of the original project in relation to the natural conditions of the site, and their potential in the transformation of the neighborhood. (see Fig. 4).

Fig. 4.
figure 4

© 2023 HEIA-FR/JMA-FR).

Marine Hayoz and Killian Piguet, Analysis of the existing landscape and landscape concept of Toulouse le Mirail, 2023 (work by students

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Revealing the architectural and typological value of the dwellings. Through the redesign of the buildings, the students identified the different housing typologies, understanding their spatial and structural qualities and principles that allow for potential transformations.

Revealing the lived experience [16] value of the inhabitants. Through visits, photographies and video interviews with residents, the students highlighted on the one hand, the perception of the quality of life in the apartments and the neighborhood, and on the other hand, the impact of twenty years of demolition, disinvestment and degradation, and the form of institutional social violence induced by this situation. (see Fig. 5).

Fig. 5.
figure 5

© 2023 HEIA-FR/JMA-FR).

Pierre Crevoisier, Alexandre Olszak and Corentin Weber, Revealing the lived experience value of Toulouse le Mirail during a video workshop with Maxime Faure and Adam. W. Pugliese, 2023 (work by students

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Revealing the environmental value of structures and natural areas. Through LCA (Life Cycle Analysis), the students will be able to quantify the embodied grey energy of the building structures to be demolished and the environmental impact of demolition policies.

Uncovering the key stakes in the demolition process. Through the analysis of the public inquiries and institutional communications, the students begin to analyze the political, economic and legal issues and the role of different actors behind the demolition process.

4 Conclusion

Questioning demolition and redefining the notion of value should become central themes in architectural education and in the work of architects in the years to come.

In the absence of heritage protection, the architecture of the second half of the twentieth century is potentially under threat, especially that which has been stigmatised and considered worthless. In this context, some of the outcomes of this pedagogical experience will be the following:

To develop a critical approach to complex and inextricable demolition processes as future professionals, by being confronted with the contradictions and the consequences of these processes through an in-situ and in-depth approach.

To reverse biased representations by raising awareness of the intelligence of the original projects, developing a sensitive and holistic view to highlight the existing values on which to build on contemporary transformation projects.

To build alternative narratives and publicly challenge demolition-oriented decision-making processes by placing architecture and social issues at the center of the public debate on urban regeneration processes.

To contribute to the development of an expanded notion of heritage, that embraces the architectural, environmental and social values of both extraordinary and ordinary architecture.

Historically, the European city was built by reinterpreting the existing architecture in the light of the issues of a given era. In the face of climate change, it is essential to build the city on its architectural and social heritage, revealing its qualities and imagining new projects, discourses and levers for action, to transform cities in a truly sustainable way.