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buisson saint-louis
Paris Xe
Design brief


Reconversion of a heritage wooden industrial neighborhood public laundry facility:

• 14 housing units including 2 triplex, 10 duplex and 2 on ground level.

• Common shared meeting room and facilities.


Data sheet



The future owners formed a private housing society "Le Lavoir du Buisson Saint-Louis"

Area : 1 650 m2/HO 1 300 m2

Design phase : 1979

End of construction : 1983

Architect : Bernard Kohn, together with Dominique Tessier, architectural assistant and in charge of site supervision.

Engineers : ARUP France, Georges Rouch, acousticien

Control : Socotec

Contractors : Main structure Tursic Sarl plus ten sub contractors.


Buisson Saint-Louis

A movie of Claude Baïotti and Philippe Mollon-Deschamps


Design its housing environment

Le lavoir du Buisson Saint-Louis 1 Le lavoir du Buisson Saint-Louis 2


le bâtiment du Buisson Saint-Louis au début des travauxcoupe transversale Buisson Saint-Louisouvriers du chantier du Buisson Saint-Louisfuturs habitants participant à des visites de chantier au Buisson Saint-Louisle chantier du Buisson Saint-Louis dans une phase déjà avancéevue générale du Buisson Saint-Louisentrée du Buisson Saint-Louis, sous le porche depuis l'axe principalun des escaliers du Buisson Saint-Louis menant aux étagesde l'intérieur d'un logement du Buissson Saint-Louis, vers la cour principale et vue sur un autre logementde l'intérieur d'un logement du Buissson Saint-Louis - vue sur la cour principaleune fenêtre du Buisson Saint-Louis donnant sur un petit jardin privatif -  à noter les étagères permettant de vue intérieure du Buisson Saint-Louis


Buisson Saint-Louis



Buisson Saint-Louis is an example of an exemplary use of participative architecture.

It is both an architect’s and the inhabitant’s dream come true: at the same time: together design the ideal living environment. The future inhabitants first chose the site, then the architect to interpret their wishes.

The site of a nineteenth century industrial "laundry" house, a permanent little paradise in the middle of a cosmopolitan and working class neighborhood that has never stopped evolving socially.

A long, passionate project, where pasted on rough brown paper, everyone brings, at the architect’s request, pictures of details, of atmospheres, of objects or places that are cherished.

These are discussed together, as well as being integrated into drawings, and models.


And thirty years later?


A generation was born and raised in Buisson Saint-Louis. These young people don’t want to leave this place. Their parents taught them about self-management. They had to face the tough desire to last by confronting maintenance and management issues. To this day, only one family has left.

It’s a kind of vast and compact nautical like house, a well studied assemblage and labyrinth of apartments wrapped one next to the other, with façades making a large use of glass, opening unto interior and exterior spaces, courtyards, patios, tiny gardens, fountains, stairs, platforms, columns, terraces, ramps, central alleyways, corners and tucked away spaces worthy of a true adventure park for all uses and users.

Today when we again speak about participative democracy, the renaissance of “collective individualities”, alternative ways of thinking, of living, and of living in the world, why not go even closer, and visit this participative architectural experiment full of meaning and humanity?



Situated on a long narrow dense urban lot, the "lavoir" was made up of two 19th century traditional wooden frame structures. The structural elements of the main building has been preserved and reinforced while the facades have been totally redone. Foundations, which had been basically insufficient were built.
Les fondations absentes ont été réalisées sous chaque poteau.



Rebuilt entirely in wood and masonry, the front smaller building takes up the pre-existing volume. The apartments are closely interwoven and some link both the front and the rear of the building. The facade éléments followed the corresponding interior organizations and were designed as to allow the existing wooden structure to be seen.