04 - Pavillon d’Arsenal

04 - Pavillon d’Arsenal - A. Clément - 1879

21 Boulevard Morland, Paris

The Pavillon de l’Arsenal, opened in December 1988, is located in the historic heart of Paris, a stone’s throw from the Bastille, the Marais and the Seine. The building was built according to the plans of the architect Clément in 1878-1879 at the request of a private individual. The Pavillon is purchased by the city in 1954, and renovations were undertaken by architects Reichen et Robert in 1988 to open the exhibition space.

Exhibition : CONSERVING ADAPTING HANDING

Carbon emissions are associated with all stages of a building’s life from design to use. The construction industry is one of the highest contributors to climate change and the best way of reducing this footprint is therefore to shift away from demolition and rebuilding, to conserving existing structures and adapting forms and materials in order to hand down buildings that are sounder in their operation and their urbanity to future generations.

Through the analysis of some forty award-winning renovation, rehabilitation, or adaptive reuse projects, the permits of which were filed in Paris between 2020 and 2022, the exhibition and publication (curated by architects Alexandre Labasse and Jean-Sebastien Lebreton) intends to report on these new production methods that bring together climate change issues, heritage considerations, and programs tailored to contemporary expectations. The multiple responses, revealed through scale models and drawings, provide an overview of the fundamentals for the Parisian architecture of the future.

Through the prism of the economy of means, the respect for the work of previous generations, and taking a long-term approach to the buildings that contribute to and enact the city, hybrid objects are being invented, which are both sparing in their implementation and their use. These constructions hold the promise of better addressing global warming and the increased scarcity of resources. 28