Project description by jury

This renovation and transformation project of an abandoned farm in the center of Siewiller, a small town in north-east France, creates housing for elderly people. The proposal includes the retrofit of four existing volumes positioned to form a U shape, and the design of a new structure to enclose and focus the complex around the resulting courtyard converted into the core of the shared domestic experience. Beyond the residential units, the common house accommodates spaces for some public facilities, including an office for social services, a small library and a multipurpose room. The courtyard is also designed to occasionally host private or public events, like small local festivals.

As a Main category prize winner in the regional Holcim Awards 2020, Rural Catalyst in France automatically qualified as a finalist in the Global Holcim Awards 2021.

View Global Holcim Awards Entry – Rural Catalyst in France

The built environment has a significant role to play in addressing climate change and enabling the transition to a net-zero and more inclusive future. The Holcim Awards for Sustainable Construction global winners showcase the cutting edge of approaches to sustainable design, green architecture, and materials innovation. In the 6th cycle, a project from Switzerland won the Gold Award at both the regional and global levels. The global prizes were presented at a handover ceremony at the International Architecture Biennale in Venice, Italy. The regional Holcim Awards Main category winners for Europe were recognized at the same event.

Building new sociable places into rural territories

For a long time, rural territories stayed far away from architectural and political consideration. In the second half of the twentieth century, the car and the TV radically changed the way of life of the countryside’s inhabitants. The transformation of an abandoned farm in the town center gives us the possibility to create a new sociable place. The old house becomes the common house of Siewiller, hosting some public services (office for social services, a small library, a multipurpose room). It becomes a place that every inhabitant can use for some events. The inner courtyard, open on all peripheral spaces, extends the concept of common house by a shared outside space. The metamorphosis of an old farm into a place where everyone live daily is a way to push this heritage into the future.

The project is based on a construction with local materials, built up by local agents. Our focus is on three points:

• The first one is to avoid new construction by reuse as much as possible the existing capacities of the buildings.
• The second stand is on the use of material that store carbon (wood, straw) and to avoid the ones that emit carbon (classic concrete, baked bricks). The thickness of the bale of straw makes the new building passive, without any consumption for heating.
• The third one is to avoid as much as possible the ecological cost of transportation, for material as much as for people. All material used in the project (straw, wood, lime) can be found in close range of the site (50km).