Organized in partnership with the CAUE of Paris, public tours revealed the behind-the-scenes of this ambitious project. The former gendarmerie barracks, built in 1909, enters a new phase of its history after a three-year transformation. It now offers a mixed-use complex, a true neighborhood within the city, including 50 social housing units, a new nursery with 36 cribs, a maternal and child protection center, a social accommodation and reintegration center with 53 rooms, and a support housing residence with 26 units.
These events, held as part of the European Heritage Days, gathered around thirty visitors. Teams from Paris Habitat and the architectural firm Brunnquell & André shared the challenges of this operation, which aims to preserve the site's heritage value while adapting it to contemporary uses. This project fully illustrates Paris Habitat's ambition to develop new housing options by leveraging existing structures and promoting green spaces and mixed uses.
“"These exceptional visits have opened wide the doors of a former military site, an urban castle once hidden from view. Its successful transformation shows, on the one hand, that conserving does not mean freezing, and on the other hand, that we can reinvent a place by building on its existing qualities, through observation and experimentation. By crossing its threshold, the public, struck by the peaceful atmosphere of the place, discovered a new chapter for the Caserne Chalvidan, the result of a triple ambition: heritage, social, and environmental."
Beyond the diversity of facilities and welcomed publics, this project demonstrates a new way of conceiving the city, based on shared spaces, joint management of uses, and social diversity. The tour is now freely accessible autonomously via the Détour application from the CAUE de Paris, featuring audio capsules with project stakeholders to extend the discovery of the site.
