Abbesses Nursery

• Date 1986-1993
• Address Rues des Trois Frères, 47-51 et la Vieuville, 3 et 5 ; Passage des Abbesses, 10 – 75018 Paris (France)

The construction of the Abbesses crèche bears witness to the international reputation gained following the Hors-Château urban regeneration project. In 1986, the City of Paris’s property management agency sought to ‘ redevelop ’ two blocks situated near Place des Abbesses. Planned as a joint project, the scheme would initially focus on the block bounded by Rue des Trois Frères, Rue de la Vieuville and Passage des Abbesses. In addition to the crèche, the scheme includes rental housing. Designed around an internal courtyard, the project was based on extensive preliminary research that enabled Vandenhove and his team to familiarise themselves with the architectural characteristics of this Parisian neighbourhood, whilst taking into account the context, notably marked by the proximity of Square Jehan Rictus and the varying elevations of the Montmartre hill.

Logically, Vandenhove situated the nursery along the square, away from the hustle and bustle of the street. The ground floor is organised on either side of an atrium separating the administrative and service areas (linen room, laundry, kitchen, etc.) from those intended for the children. The first floor, meanwhile, is reserved for sleeping areas, which can accommodate 60 beds. Following an L-shaped layout, it extends into another building dedicated to rental accommodation. On the top floor, a small section houses two flats.

The residential complex extends towards Rue des Trois Frères, centred around an inner courtyard accessed via the large terrace facing the square.

In a particularly dense urban fabric, Vandenhove favours a design language that reflects the distinctive characteristics of Parisian architecture, particularly in the choice of materials and colours. The façades are entirely clad in white render and topped with a zinc roof. However, other elements give the project a historicist character, notably Ionic-inspired columns and bossed pilasters that mark the bays.

Guest artists: Robert Combas, Aki Kuroda, Léon Wuidar.

• Description of the collection

  This particularly comprehensive file contains photographs of the site prior to construction, correspondence, sketches, several preliminary designs, as well as all the plans, sections and elevations submitted for planning permission.

• Volumetry 7 boîtes d'archives (0.84 m)
• Bibliography

  Charles Vandenhove, Selected Projects, Brussels, AAM, 1986, pp. 29–40

  MÉZIL, Éric, Charles Vandenhove, art in architecture, Ghent, Amsterdam, Ludion, 2005, pp. 90–91

  VERSCHAFFEL, Bart, ‘Charles Vandenhove, œuvres / works / werken 1954–2014’ in Charles Vandenhove Architecture / Architectuur 1954–2014, Tielt, Lannoo, 2014, pp. 30–32 and 178–185

• AUTHOR AND DATE OF THE ENTRY Sébastien Charlier, 2022