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Trailblazing French social housing pioneer Renée Gailhoustet passes away aged 93

2023-01-10T18:31:00-05:00

Noted French modernist and social housing pioneer Renée Gailhoustet passed away on January 4th at her home outside of Paris, the nation’s largest newspaper, Le Monde, reported earlier on Tuesday.

Known for creating the master plan for Ivry-sur-Seine; the 1972 Cité Spinoza housing complex in the same town; Le Liégat (where she also resided); and the La Maladrerie development in the suburb of Aubervilliers, Gailhoustet’s designs in the typology were critically important in their divergence from the Corbusian model of planning that predominated in the country in the decades following World War II.

After attending the École Nationale des Beaux-Arts de Paris, Gailhoustet began her own practice in the French capital in 1964. From there, she gained recognition for her innovative, socially-conscious contributions to urban renewal projects in Ivry-sur-Seine, Villejuif, and Saint-Denis that mirrored approaches later taken up by architects like Moshe Safdie in their insistence upon more humane...

Renée Gailhoustet takes home the 2022 Royal Academy Architecture Prize

2022-05-31T12:42:00-04:00

Renée Gailhoustet has been named the winner of this year’s Royal Academy of Arts Architecture Prize in recognition of her work surrounding urban planning and social housing in her native country of France.

The jury commended Gailhoustet for her “strong social commitment that brings together generosity, beauty, ecology, and inclusivity.” The 92-year-old’s breadth of significant works spans from early projects such as the master plan of Ivry-sur-Seine, which includes the Cité Spinoza housing complex completed in 1972, to the La Maladrerie development in Aubervilliers, and, finally, the Le Liégat, where the architect has resided since its completion in 1977.

“By using innovative geometries and mixing uses in her buildings, Gailhoustet has created a compelling argument for blurring the boundaries between interior and exterior, and, collective and individual,” part of the jury statement explains.

Within the long and storied history of social housing i...