She was known for her work in the suburbs of Paris. Renée Gailhoustet, whose name is associated with many social housing units in the Ile-de-France, died on Wednesday January 4 at the age of 93, announced the mayor of Ivry, where the urban architect resided. A death confirmed on Saturday January 7 by the Ministry of Culture.
Renée Gailhoustet died overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday in Ivry-sur-Seine, the place of her main achievements. “His funeral will take place on Monday January 9 at 3:30 p.m., at the Parisian cemetery of Ivry”announced Friday the PCF mayor of the city, Philippe Bouyssou, on Twitter. “She put her expertise and her profession at the service of social housing. She conceived it as a space for exchanges, encounters and well-being, placing the human being at the center of her achievements »greeted the elected.
She put her expertise and her profession at the service of social housing. She conceived of it as a space for… https://t.co/AnAXRXnY4p
Communist activist in the 1960s, a rare architect to live in one of her HLM creations in Liégat, Renée Gailhoustet worked for forty years to express her social commitment through her vision of collective housing. “With the aim of contributing to the reflection on the quality of housing in the productivist France of the “glorious thirties”, she was one of the first women to exercise the profession of architect in her own name, designing and building ‘ambitious projects in the outskirts of Paris’paid tribute on Saturday the Minister of Culture, Rima Abdul Malak, in a press release. “She led a demanding and prolific reflection on the individualization of social housing, refusing the standardized construction of that time”she added in a press release.
A building designated as a historical monument
Among his major achievements: the renovation of the town of Ivry-sur-Seine, place of his main achievements, with in particular the Raspail, Lénine, Jeanne-Hachette and Casanova towers, as well as the Spinoza, Le Liégat and Marat ensembles. It is also behind the construction of nearly 900 housing units in the Maladrerie district of Aubervilliers (Seine-Saint-Denis), laid out in the form of concrete pyramids that also leave room for plants. In Saint-Denis, it has also endeavored to preserve the industrial character of the buildings of the ZAC de la Montjoie.
In recognition of her work, in October she was awarded the Grand Prix national d’architecture (GPNA) honorary prize for her entire career. She also received the Medal of Honor from the Academy of Architecture in 2018 and the Berlin Grand Prix of the Arts in 2019.
Several of the ensembles it has built benefit from the “Remarkable Contemporary Architecture” label and its first construction, the Raspail tower in Ivry-sur-Seine, was listed in 2022 as a historical monument.