Pavillon de l’Arsenal officially launched Studiolo, an open program of micro-exhibitions that can be seen from Boulevard Morland. It is inaugurated with the presentation of “This Is Not a Door,” a project led by the architects Vincent Parreira and Marie Brodin (founder and associate, respectively, of AAVP), Noé Basch and Aurélien Furet (founders of Mobius), and the nonprofit organization Ares.
Their experiment was produced as part of the FAIRE accelerator, with doors that were recovered from the site of the former Saint-Vincent-de-Paul Hospital, thanks to the support of Paris & Métropole Aménagement. It serves to demonstrate the potential of occupational rehabilitation through the reuse of building waste.
For Vincent Parreira and Marie Brodin, the construction sites of Greater Paris are not only a valuable source of materials that can be designed with, but also a resource for vocational rehabilitation. Acting on this conviction, alongside Mobius, France’s largest supplier of materials coming from reuse, in 2019 they started identifying, classifying, and referencing all removable components that were present in the buildings slated for demolition on the Saint-Vincent-de-Paul site.
The 1,200 doors, selected for their serial character as well as their materiality, were removed from site thanks to the deconstruction market set up by the developer, Paris & Métropole Aménagement, and then transported to Mobius’ workshops in Rosny-sous-Bois. Using this homogenous resource, Atelier Architecture Vincent Parreira designed furniture for everyday use—doors, tables, bird houses, and lamps—and then manufactured the first prototypes with Mobius. The transformation allows for the extraction of 60 m3 of waste as furniture, as well as the simultaneous training of 8 people under the guidance of Ares, a nonprofit focusing on social and economic rehabilitation.