SUSTAINABLE RENOVATION OF THE LARGE-SCALE HOUSING ESTATES, BUILT IN FRANCE OF THE 1950s AND 1973s

misbe2011 Tracking Number 75

Built massively in France between 1953 and 1973, large-scale housing named “grands ensembles”1 was considered at its construction as the future of modern housing. It was one of the solutions to the France housing crisis raised after the Second World War. The first inhabitants of these districts were very happy to live in these spacious, airy and sunny apartments surrounded by green spaces. But over time, the life quality in this social housing has suffered degradations (social, urban and architectural). Now, these large-scale housing estates are associated with segregation, nuisances and danger zones. We can find the same problems in other large-scale housings around the world (Helleman G, 2004). Consequently, the improvement of the living conditions in this urban housing, through sustainable renovation, is now a priority for urban policy. The main challenge is to ensure a global improvement at different levels: socio-economic, architectural and environmental. Unlike the first renovations (started in 1980), considered as “standard operations” (replacing windows, renovating of building front…). This communication introduces the results of three case-studies of large-scale housing estates situated in Nantes (France): Dervallières (1952/1965), Breil Malville (1955/1967) and Malakoff (1967/1971). The first aim of this work is to produce the knowledge of architectural and urban quality in this kind of housing like: sunshine quality, wind speed, sound atmosphere, landscape, etc. The second aim is to propose design and decision help tools dedicated to renovation projects. This research is based on the confrontation of results obtained by multidisciplinary approaches. We carried out a sensitive approach through surveys (questionnaires, interviews), where inhabitants expressed their perceptions of their areas life. Then, a physical approach using simulation tools allowed us to explain micro-climatic phenomena (sun, wind, humidity, air and temperature). The last approach named “expert”, consists in exploring and analysing the architectural aspects of three-districts. Finally, this work allowed us to identify the atmosphere2 typology, which characterizes the studied large-scale housing, taking into account the renewal operations and the atmosphere provided by architect-designer. We also propose evaluation grid with user criteria for evaluating the architectural and urban atmosphere in this large-scale housing, and for environmental diagnostics before a renewal operation. References: HELLEMAN Gerben., 2004, "The renewal of what was tomorrow’s idealistic city" Amsterdam’s Biijlmermeer high-rise, Great Britain, Elsevier Ltd, p. 3-17 1* The French name 2* Atmosphere can be defined as the interaction between physical phenomenal and spatial environment perceived by the occupant for this space (Augoyard J-F, 1999, the atmosphere: fundamental concepts and interdisciplinary problems, "Atmosphere" courses). Overall, the atmosphere is the perception which we have of our multi-sensory environment: sound, microclimate, visual, olfactory…