15-20 Hospital, Paris

The renovation of the Quinze-Vingts national ophthalmology hospital will be carried out on an occupied site. It reconciles functional, environmental and economic constraints without altering the identity and qualities of this unique site. Visibility of entrances, clarity of volume and efficiency of routes are designed to optimize flow management. In keeping with pre-industrial strategies of reuse, certain emblematic elements of the facades, such as the sunbreakers and metal facade frames, will be meticulously removed, cleaned and powder-coated before being reused and reassembled on the new envelope. The interventions are envisaged as an architectural palimpsest in which a new style is superimposed on the original, playing on complementarity rather than identical restitution or a dichotomy between the old and the new.