The City of Toulouse wishes to convert a former 17th century hospital into a living space open to residents. The future “City of Arts” must participate in the overall transformation of the Saint Cyprien district to make it an extension of the city center. CENTQUATRE-PARIS, Beaux Arts Consulting, the architecture agency Encore Happy and Fidal were commissioned to define an ambitious cultural project promoting the appropriation of the place by the inhabitants and allowing a multiplicity of uses and contents.
The fieldwork carried out enabled the group to bring out a common vision around the notion of hospitality. In reference to the history of the La Grave site, long dedicated to welcoming the most vulnerable populations, the term hospitality here takes on a broader and more contemporary meaning. It refers to all the modalities of use and relation to the populations to build a living place animated by the presence of its visitors.
The spatial and urban qualities of the site have been put into perspective with the programmatic aspirations carried by the City in order to design a project “anchored” composing with reality and transforming constraints into strengths and opportunities. The group sought to preserve the original identity of the building while “demusifying” it so as to create a multidisciplinary living space. More than a monument to visit, the objective is to make La Grave a plural and interdisciplinary place, open to its neighborhood and its inhabitants.
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