Lacaton & Vassal
Climate Retrofit of Social Housing (France)
Paris, France
Highlight
Transforms social housing with light extensions and passive winter gardens instead of demolition.
Extended description
Lacaton & Vassal is a French, Pritzker-winning practice known for the principle 'never demolish'. It upgrades social housing through light extensions, passive winter gardens and low-cost strategies that improve thermal comfort and space. Reported energy reductions of around 30–40% and retrofit costs roughly half those of demolition-and-rebuild are achieved without raising rents, offering a socially just, low-carbon model for renovating the housing stock.