La Poste du Louvre Renovation Project

Description

Before the work, the block occupied by the post office of the Louvre was closed on three of its sides, opening to the city only on the side that gave access to the post office. This project tries to make permeable, we could say to perforate, this monolithic block by creating galleries that cross it from one side to the other like those existing in the 1st and 2nd districts of Paris. This creates a dialogue between the social fabric of the neighbourhood and the uses of the building that is inspired by the post office itself with its lobby open to the street of the Louvre. For this reason, we have reproduced the arrangement of the existing public arcades in its façade in the other three of the block. Only the corners are preserved in their current state.  The main facades of the ground floor are set back from the stone façade. This arrangement gives value to the architecture of Gaudet1, while at the same time providing sheltered pathways such as the ones on Rue de Rivoli. This work to revalue the architectural heritage is continued in the interior of the block with the conservation, restoration and enhancement of the original metal structure. The goal is the transformation of an industrial complex into an urban complex, moving from a single use to multiple uses, transitioning from the closed to the open.  The organization of uses is developed horizontally, as is traditional in Haussmannian buildings. Logistics services are located in the basement. On the ground floor, under the arcades, are housed the shops and the old post office and its different areas. On the upper floor, the offices are organized between the street frontage and the courtyard and are crowned by an industrial platform reserved for postal sorting operations. And on the roof, a hotel with a garden and terrace will be undertaken within the template of the Parisian roofs, along with a public belvedere that offers unprecedented views of the city.  The interior galleries that start from the arcades converge in the interior of the block in an open space around which we implant other uses such as the Museum of the Foundation of the Post Office next to the former post office, one of the hotel's restaurants, shops...  The architecture of this patio is nourished by the metallic structures designed by the architect Gaudet.  In conclusion, two strategies are proposed, one based on the transformation of an industrial complex into an urban complex by the establishment of a network of passages, arches and porches, and the other, in the restructuring—the conservation of the structure of stone and steel designed for a single activity—that of the post office—which evolves towards a mix of functions, thus towards multiple uses.  (Description provided by the architects)