“Reinventer Paris”. This was the bold wager of the competition of the same name, launched in 2015 by Paris City Hall. The winner of the competition, the structural and architectural renovation project for La Félicité, formerly Cité Morland, brilliantly deconstructs the idea that you can’t make something new out of something old. Proof that innovation is always a good idea!
Just a stone’s throw from the Seine and Boulevard Morland, the new project by David Chipperfield Architects, CALQ, Michel Desvigne, Ólafur Elíasson and Sebastian Behmann of Studio Other Spaces opened in 2022: Félicité. Under the cool 7 m high vaults, dozens of residents and tourists come to enjoy the eleven new operations. Here, a restaurant. There, a food market, a sports centre, and even a day care. Once shunned by businesses and described as a desert by the local population, this district is now delighted to be back on the map of Paris’ 4th arrondissement.
From brutalism to optimism
Gone are the dilapidated, labyrinthine offices of the Paris prefecture’s administrative site, replaced by greater clarity! A practical central alley links the 40,000 m² of shops, housing, offices, youth hostels and a chic hotel. On the green roof are spaces dedicated to urban agriculture, irrigated by the building’s own grey water, in a closed circuit. To top it all off, Emerige, the property developer behind the project, is also committed to a genuine idea of social diversity. In addition to the 164 rental homes and 34 private properties, 70 social housing units are available. Who says living together doesn’t have a bright future ahead of it?
