Architecture and Regeneration

(Disused Building in the Center of Angoulême) — Ongoing Project

General Intention

This dossier examines architectural regeneration as a cultural and ethical act.
Through the project L’Hôtel du Vivant and other contemporary references, it explores how living architecture reconciles matter, memory, and the living world.

Outline of the Dossier

I. From the Crisis of Modernity to the Emergence of a Living-Based Approach

I.1. The exhaustion of the productivist model

Modern architecture has long embodied humanity’s control over nature. Today, this productivist vision collides with ecological crisis and a growing loss of meaning.
This shift invites a renewed relationship with matter, time, and memory: rehabilitating rather than building, repairing rather than producing anew.

I.2. Toward an ethics of care and the living

In response, an architecture grounded in connection and slowness emerges. The architect becomes a mediator between the elements of the world.
Drawing on the philosophy of care (Tronto), ecological thought (Descola) and the notion of resonance (Rosa), architecture becomes an inhabited ecosystem. (These references are provisional, pending deeper study.)
The project L’Hôtel du Vivant illustrates this approach: bringing breath back to a dormant site without erasing its traces.

II. Regenerating Places of Everyday Life: From Architectural Sign to the Experience of Dwelling

(“Everyday life” remains provisional, as its relevance to the project still needs to be confirmed.)

II.1. Reading traces: the semiology of regeneration

Every place carries signs and memories that the architect must learn to interpret.
To regenerate is to read, understand, and extend these layers.
Projects such as the Stamba Hotel or Café Crew demonstrate how reinterpreting the past can catalyze a new life for existing structures.

II.2. Dwelling the living: an anthropological experience

Dwelling is not simply occupying space; it is a way of existing and cohabiting.
By reintroducing light, matter, and the body into the design process, regeneration becomes a sensitive and collective experience.
It transforms spaces into living environments capable of restoring the relationship between humans and the world.

Key Concepts and Notions

Regeneration: a living, continuous process of transformation.
Dwelling: existing in the world between memory and experience (Heidegger, Bachelard).
Palimpsest: the architectural layering of time (Rossi, Barthes).
Care: responsibility and attention towards a place (Tronto). (Provisional.)
Resonance: the living connection between humans and the world (Rosa). (Provisional.)
Presence: the sensory dimension of space (Zumthor).

Architectural References

Stamba Hotel (Adjara Group, Tbilisi) — A former Soviet printing house transformed into a hotel and cultural hub. The project blends industrial memory with new urban vitality through raw concrete, vegetation and transparency.

Café Crew (Montréal) — A monumental former bank turned into a community café. The preserved columns contrast with wood and light, creating a warm and inclusive environment.

Peter Zumthor — Through works such as the Therme Vals and the Kolumba Museum, Zumthor reveals the presence of time within materiality. His architecture aims to be felt rather than imposed.

Lina Ghotmeh — Stone Garden reconnects urban memory and nature. Her work is organic, porous, and historically grounded.

Kengo Kuma — Advocates for the disappearance of the architectural object in favor of environmental continuity, foregrounding air, light and delicacy.

Lacaton & Vassal — “Never demolish, always transform”: an ethic centered on durability and respect for the existing.

Theoretical References

Heidegger — “Building, Dwelling, Thinking”: dwelling as care for the world.
Bachelard — The Poetics of Space: the house as a poetic and intimate experience.
Barthes — Empire of Signs: place as a system of signs to be interpreted.
Descola — Beyond Nature and Culture: moving beyond the nature/culture divide.
Rosa — Resonance: reconnecting with the world through attentiveness and slowness.
Tronto — A Vulnerable World: care as a central human practice.

Orientation of the Development

Architectural regeneration goes beyond technical rehabilitation.
It becomes an act of culture and awareness, connecting past and present, matter and memory, humans and the living world.
Through the Stamba Hotel, Café Crew and L’Hôtel du Vivant, this dossier argues that regenerating a place means re-establishing connection — a way of inhabiting the world with sensitivity and precision.