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12 - Cité internationale universitaire de Paris
12 - Cité internationale universitaire de Paris
17 Bd Jourdan, Paris
The Cité internationale universitaire de Paris (CiuP) is a foundation that groups together a number of housing estates for students. By building an international university residence, the ambition was “to offer French and foreign students quality housing and study conditions, but also a living environment conducive to meetings and daily multicultural exchanges” and came from a reaction to the trauma of the First World War, and wanting to appease and strengthen international relationships, but also as a response to the housing crisis of the time. The residence started in 1925 and hosts today more than 10 000 students in 43 houses.
The first house opened in 1925, and by 1927, half of the estate was already built. In less than 15 years, 19 houses were built, in styles revealing the architectural eclecticism of the inter-war period. The outbreak of the Second World War in 1939 marked a halt in the development of the Cité internationale. At the end of the war, the CIUP launched a vast campaign to restore its grounds. In 1948, they quickly embarked on a new era of construction: 12 houses were built in the 1950s, followed by 5 others in the 1960s. This period of expansion saw the deployment of the international style, through constructions signed by famous architects and urban planners: Le Corbusier, Lucio Costa, Claude Parent and many more. In 2012, a new land agreement was signed and marked the start of the Cité internationale development project, which was scheduled to run until 2020. During that time, 8 more houses were built. Today a new program, Cité 2025, is in place, and plans to build 10 additional estates.
A stroll through the 34-hectare park of the Cité internationale universitaire de Paris leads to the discovery of its buildings, jewels of early 20th century architecture. It has an exceptional architectural, artistic and landscape heritage. From Le Corbusier to Laprade and Claude Parent, from Charlotte Perriand to Jean Prouvé, from Foujita to Le Phô.
