One may raise their eyebrows hearing the philosophy of the French architects Anne Lacaton and Jean Philippe Vassal whose practices are opposed to demolishing buildings to build new ones. The Pritzker-winning architects’ approach is particularly unusual in Korean society where the wholesale reconstruction of apartment complexes to be taller, newer and more luxurious is a common and positively regarded way to raise home and property values. “We do not think it is necessary to demolish and start from scratch to add value.
Density and quality can also be achieved by transforming what already exists. That is what we are always trying to do,” said the architect duo in a written interview with The Korea Herald. “There are many very positive aspects to this approach.
Contrary to popular belief, redesigning, extending and updating is not more expensive, it is in many ways more interesting and allows us to solve many problems while adding new qualities,” the architects said. The more than 30 private and social housing projects the architects have completed are all part of the same philosophy – “use existing buildings as a starting point to extend their life rather than demolish them.” “The housing projects we carried out at the beginning of our practice are still very important, like the Latapie house (1993), the Cité Manifeste in Mulhouse (2005) and the house in the forest at Cap Ferret (1998),” they said.
Their 17-story and 96-unit social housing project “Tour.