The former chapel of the Sisters is now a dedicated space for meetings or events, some rooms have become offices, and what was the adjoining school now hosts exhibitions… in this 19th-century monastery where the Clarisses lived, in Roubaix, the chapels and cells gradually change function. It is the association Saisons Zéro, directed by Amélie Busatto, that now brings this place to life. “Thanks to temporary events and a program, there is also an inn where up to fifteen people can sleep in the former Sisters’ rooms. And finally, we have offices and workshops,” she explains. None of these uses of the place were planned in advance: they were tested, abandoned, or chosen through temporary occupation.
When the last Clarisses sisters left the monastery in 2008, the city of Roubaix bought it. With its red bricks and neo-Gothic style, the building is also classified as a historical monument, but it remained empty for eleven years. “In this monastery project, the idea was first to disagree with the fact that there are so many empty buildings that cost the community so much, and that so many people need space. There is a problem between these two statements,” explains architect and president of the association Saisons Zéro, Simon Givelet.
For these 6,500 square meters, the city did not have a renovation program or budget. But for the architects, this should not prevent them from starting to do things. Hence the idea of putting the building back into service through gradual, reversible, and inexpensive transformations.
“One of the big changes in the way of proceeding is to accept not knowing what we want to do upon arrival. And that does not prevent us from starting. And also to intervene not intensively, but extensively,” summarizes Simon Givelet. “That means occupying the site. We do not know in advance what we are going to do, but the question is what do we do today with three wings containing fifteen cells of less than ten square meters in Roubaix? Nobody could say “we will do this or that.” However, we can test. And so, this is what we call open programming. We test uses and those that are relevant, find an economic model, are rooted in the neighborhood, meet a need, those we consolidate, and that creates the program. Today, we have someone creating African sauces. No one would have said at the beginning that a micro-industry would be set up here. This is something we could not have foreseen. A room for free speech for women in the neighborhood is not something we would have planned in advance. However, by being connected to the neighborhood, we realized it was a need. And that is quite simple to say. However, to do it is a bit different because it will disrupt all the usual scripts, operating procedures. Because in fact, we do not have a protocol adapted to this approach.”
The “heritage mandate”
For example, to intervene on a historical heritage building, a complete, long, and heavy building permit is required. However, this temporary occupation project of the building requires precise and punctual work in the short term, explains architect Nicolas Quenson.
“We will accommodate ceramic ovens in this room for the artists who are here. So we have some small additional works, a small electrical adaptation. We must renovate the old door, which can regain its waterproofness. We do not do this in any way. So we must show that this project will not harm the image of the building.” So the association invented and proposed to the authorities an intermediate level, the “heritage mandate,” to more broadly secure interventions on the building.
The place has also become a laboratory for energy-efficient renovation, where materials are tested, as well as furniture for offices and rooms. Looking in particular at past arrangements.
“To host travelers in a non-isolated place, we think, hey, canopy beds, that might be clever, or enclosed beds found in Brittany or Savoie. We test these devices, as we evolve them over time. Today, we have a model of this canopy bed with a very isolated winter version, a summer version with a mosquito net, which has a heating in the mattress and allows us to accommodate people while spending 200 watts per bed.”
At the heart of this pilot project is the idea of defining replicable methods elsewhere to facilitate the reuse of the many vacant buildings in the municipalities.
