GRAND PARC BORDEAUX

Grand Parc Bordeaux retro-fit
A low cost, high impact European model

Employing their trademark luxury in simplicity Lacaton & Vassal have revived the unloved Grand Parc block in Bordeaux by changing its face and restoring interiors: a fast, low budget scheme with no displacement and minimal waste or environmental impact.

Original facades are replaced with a new layer of winter garden providing an impressive public front, more internal space, improved energy efficiency and glorious views across the city from each apartment. In total 530 flats were refurbished in 12 to 16 days, at around €50,000 per unit, roughly half as much as a new-build scheme.

Compare and contrast with the approach in London where un-maintained local authority blocks on large areas of green space are seen not as homes to be improved but opportunities for private profit. Elephant and Castle is a case in point with the Heygate and Aylesbury estates razed, communities split and residents relocated for dense new blocks with minimum so-called affordable rents.

Travelling in Europe I am struck by the difference in attitude to building and managing urban communities. In France and Spain there is active commitment to making the city liveable with open spaces, modern markets, small scale industry, trams and cycleways fully integrated with commerce and civic activity. In the UK profit rules, with no widely-heard public debate on the value or relevance of the developer-led built environment, and little room for the kind of clear design-thinking exhibited at Grand Parc.

UK, could do better; at least we are now discussing the benefits of renovation over demolition with Marks & Spencer on Oxford Street making headline news as a battleground between the two, and Retrofirst, the AJ campaign to prioritise maintaining and repurposing our building stock.

Lacaton & Vassal Bordeaux logements
2019 EU Prize for Contemporary Architecture Mies van der Rohe Award
Photos Grand Parc new facade & winter gardens, Aylesbury Estate SE17 demolition