Olaf Grawert

And I want to show you one of their projects, which proves that it's a real alternative, so that renovation and transformation are a real alternative.

And we are back at the house, which is a social housing in France, the Grand Parc in Bordeaux, 530 apartments that Lacaton-Vassal, together with Dureau and Utein Architects transformed.

How?

All the residents stayed in the house while the building was renovated.

They worked with prefabricated elements that were craned in.

These elements arrived and were stacked in front of the existing building like a shelf, almost like a bookshelf that stands in front of the old.

What they did in a second step is they opened up the old facade.

They replaced the tiny old windows with big sliding doors, opening the interior to these new winter gardens.

flooding the space with light and air, but also creating a generosity.

It's a social gesture also.

You create generosity for those who didn't have it before and amazing views.

And the numbers behind it are really stunning.

Half a day to place the prefabricated element,

Two days to cut open the old facade, two days to plug in the new facade and one week to renovate the interior.

So it takes two weeks to improve everybody's life, to cut down the heating bills and to boost local businesses working on renovation.

And all of it at a third of the costs of a standard new apartment.

So 55,000 euros for the renovation of one apartment compared to 165 for new construction.

And a standard new apartment would never have the winter gardens and it would never have the generosity that they can provide in their work.

which is a proof that the most sustainable house is the one already built.

And that's also the moment where I invite everybody to imagine that this could happen all over Europe.