Reinventing Without Betraying

Over the years, this emblem of modernist architecture had been severely altered by successive interventions. The challenge was to restore the original spirit while meeting today’s requirements: thermal performance, accessibility, and new uses to accommodate the LiVE professional reintegration center.

The architects carried out meticulous architectural archaeology to revive the building’s original identity, working from the few remaining archival images. The historic structure was preserved, and the façades were restored and redesigned with new orientations to respond to the current urban context.

The façades underwent highly detailed work to recover their original lightness. Transparency and cross-views create a constant dialogue between interior and exterior, allowing natural light to filter through at every moment of the day.

On the pond side, the forecourt—realigned with the main façade—now features an accessible ramp in exposed-aggregate concrete sourced locally, designed as a landscaped element. Inspired by Mies van der Rohe’s Farnsworth House, two stairs combining concrete and metal complete this modernist legacy with restraint.

.