Schatzinsel

The architecture residency is a cultural project creating the conditions for a meeting between a representative architect accompanied by one or more other professionals, and populations, elected officials, residents, local actors, on a territory and in a given context. A representative architect and his partner are welcomed for 6 weeks where they are immersed. They live and work on site. The residency aims to help open the eyes of residents and local actors to contemporary issues linked to the identity of cities and territories. It must also spark debate on architectural production, uses and lifestyles as well as the links between housing and the local environment, whether urban, natural or agricultural.

Located on the République block, the Maison du tourisme building was completed in 1975 and inaugurated in 1976. Its central location, close to Place Grenette and Les Halles, begins a set of pedestrian streets serving the historic district of Grenoble. Today in 2023 this building offers a mix of activities (library, conference room, post office, store) and a diversity of public spaces (passageway, terrace) but it meets neither current energy expectations nor the quality spaces expected for the services it offers. This situation produces an impression of urban and citizen disengagement. The objective of the residence is to bring out ideas to revalorize the entire Republic island.

Architects Luc Doin and Marie Ludmann imagined the future, rehabilitation or transformation of this block for multiple uses. Thanks to an immersion for 6 weeks divided into 3 sessions, they were able to highlight the specificities of the place and its integration into the neighborhood, in order to bring to light ideas on its evolution and its possible new functionalities. Discover in this exhibition which retraces the development of the residence, all of the work of Luc and Marie and explore the “treasure island” and its different scenarios imagined by the residents, putting into perspective the specific character of this very central district, both historical and dynamic.