Architects Léa Cottreel and Rosalie Robert based RREEL in 2023 as a Paris-based architectural apply specializing within the intervention of present buildings. As Léa and Rosalie each maintain the DSA Structure and Heritage from Énsa-PB in Paris, the agency is concentrated on the restoration of protected buildings and the conversions of rural or industrial heritage buildings. With an experience in buildings constructed within the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, RREEL was the suitable agency to name upon for the restoration of condo designed by Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret in 1931 and 1934. The Molitor constructing, situated within the Boulogne-Billancourt area simply outdoors the sixteenth arrondissement of Paris, was designed with 10 flats on the decrease flooring, and two flats on the highest flooring which functioned as Le Corbusier’s personal residence and studio (the condo continues to be managed by Fondation Le Corbusier at this time). The decrease flooring flats had been initially offered by the actual property firm Paris-Parc des Princes with inside layouts which had been freely chosen by the patrons, due to the progressive free plan developed by Le Corbusier.
When the shoppers, a pair from Slovakia with a ardour for structure, purchased the condo as a Parisian pied-à-terre, there have been seeking to restore the design and qualities of Le Corbusier’s work after the unique format had been utterly eliminated in a 1970’s renovation. As with all tasks, RREEL initiated the restoration by means of thorough historic analysis into the Le Corbusier archives held on the Fondation Le Corbusier. “The inspiration was concerned proper from the beginning of the mission,” Rosalie explains. “We confirmed them the flat at each stage of the mission. We shared the discoveries of unique supplies with them as we eliminated the Seventies coverings. They offered us with recommendation and information of Le Corbusier’s work and we visited the Le Corbusier studio flat a number of occasions to watch the supplies and furnishings particulars.” As with different tasks, the ensuing design challenges modern requirements and offers which means to the preservation of structure. Of the Molitor condo, the architects clarify, “The brand new inside is conceived as a dialogue of a number of distinct objects, whose shapes, colours, and supplies give a historic and poetic echo to the prevailing constructing.”
Pictures by Mary Gaudin for RREEL.
The 625-square-foot condo is split into three rooms: the bed room, the widespread room, and the workplace, along with the kitchen and loo. (See the speculation for Le Corbusier’s unique format in comparison with the Seventies replace and RREEL’s model on the finish of this submit.)
