The city of Geneva is characterised by a high commercial building vacancy rate, including arcades, production workshops and office spaces. After considering this in view of local needs, in particular for temporary housing and more specifically student housing, we have decided to work in collaboration with La Ciguë, a housing cooperative for people in training that aims to develop a student housing programme in vacant office buildings.

The first axis of the studio focuses on the recognition of ordinary heritage. For this purpose, the Camille Martin Foundation has made premises located at Rue des Maraîchers 5 in the Jonction district available to us. The objective is to reveal the potential of this built heritage through a survey, mobilising a range of tools and analytical perspectives resulting from a discussion prior to the start of the exercise.
The second axis focuses on the definition of a fantasised idea of student housing. Living, working and studying, as well as sharing, hosting and producing lie at the heart of our reflection. The management and governance of the place also have to be imagined, since the modalities of living together govern the success of such a project.
The third axis focuses on reuse. How do interiors, architectural tools and usual layouts influence reused materials or furniture? Conversely, how does the use of reused materials and furniture influence the design of interiors?

The unusual nature of this studio involves occupying the building on Rue des Maraîchers 5 throughout the semester. Thus, the space was initially be appropriated for work, production and living purposes. If Rue des Maraîchers 5 is to become a place to live and work, it also became a place to host discussions with speakers, who will be invited to share their experience and thereby fuel our reflection. Finally, Rue des Maraîchers 5 was the place where the students’ projects were displayed at the end of the semester.