Cité de Refuge (Le Corbusier, 1929) following renovation.
Main entry, south façade, Nov. 2015
© ADAGP-FLC / Cyrille Weiner
Designed by Le Corbusier et Pierre Jeanneret for the Salvation Army, everything is extraordinary at the Cité de Refuge (12, rue Cantagrel, Paris 13ème): innovative architecture (its pilings, a rooftop garden, horizontal windows, an open plan and free façade), as well as its social aim, very ambitious for the time and based on a unique financing program.
Initiated by the Salvation Army over 80 years ago, the project continues today, welcoming and helping to re-establish those most in need, thanks to a renovation completed in November 2015.
This remarkable restoration, a conservation project with a benevolent objective, is the result of the joint intervention of the Salvation Army Foundation, the Fondation Le Corbusier, the Résidences Sociales de France-Immobilier, OPERA Architectes, François Chatillon architectural agency, COTEC….
François Chatillon, Managing Architect for Historic Monuments, leads the project in association with architect Vanessa Fernandez, (Hunt Fellow 2010), AMO historical research advisor. To read the project presentation (in French) authored by Fernandez, follow this link.
enrmhprize.org 