Transform the building so as "not to create ghettos of old people"

Francis Rambert is the curator of this focus on projects designed to keep old people in the heart of the city or village.

Question: In 2060, more than 17% of the population in France will be over 75, compared to 9,5% currently according to INED. How to respond to the challenge of population aging and gerontogrowth?

Answer: Among those over 80, 83% are independent, and of the remaining 17%, only half are in nursing homes. With this exhibition, we defend the thesis that it is possible to stay at home as late as possible in good accommodation, whatever its size.

The question of aging well together raises that of the integration of older people into the city. How not to make ghettos of old people? It is a question of thinking differently about the question of housing.

Architects know how to develop living projects with a space that is as livable as possible and is something other than a corridor that distributes rooms.

In Barcelona, ​​300 meters from the Gothic cathedral, there is a residence for the elderly designed as part of a transformation of a market, a project that illustrates a city's determination to say: our elderly deserve even more care. 'Warning".

Q- Does the town planning of large complexes in France allow this adaptation to the 4th age?

A- In the post-war boom period, France had to be re-equipped, there was a huge demand for housing and so we built very quickly. The upkeep of these large ensembles can raise questions, as can the public space, which is sometimes a little forgotten or badly treated. But some projects are working very well, as evidenced by the rehabilitation of the Grand Parc district in Bordeaux.

An additional structure was built in front of the existing building, which enlarged the accommodation. There are still elderly people present at the time of construction in the 60s.

There is no need to kick these people out on the grounds that their homes have supposedly become obsolete.

The fact of not demolishing makes that you can inherit a situation that you improve. We can reclaim a space in a built landscape to create social conditions for living together. The existing assets can be transformed, which was also the case, for example, of the Grande Poste in Strasbourg (rehabilitated in particular into offices and a residence for seniors).

Q- Is collective housing the solution?

A- Some people don't want to live alone or no longer want to live in large apartments. The architecture must adapt to this.

In Maisons-Alfort, the city has decided to set up facilities for old people in the heart of the city, in the middle of a park itself surrounded by 60s town planning, made up of towers and bars. In the building, the common areas are dilated so that the corridors become places where you want to sit and chat with the neighbors.

It is also possible to adapt sites that are sometimes very urbanized. Thus in the XNUMXth arrondissement, in Paris, in a former industrial wasteland with piles of housing around, three different programs are articulated: a social residence for battered women, equipment for early childhood and an Ehpad. Everyone lives in different temporalities but they can meet. It also brings the neighborhood to life.

The mix is ​​to mix generations at all levels, as in Nancy where, in a small town, an existing and abandoned building has been transformed into three apartments for the elderly and two for younger families. Generational diversity and dialogue are therefore entirely possible.