Retrospective: Lacaton & Vassal
Andrew Ayers's Architectural Review retrospective on Lacaton & Vassal, covering the Bois-le-Prêtre, Saint-Nazaire and Grand Parc housing transformations.
Magazine article · 2019Sources & confidence: High confidence
Checked 8 October 2026 · AI-assisted review
Byline and the Grand Parc passages the essay relies on.
- Lacaton & Vassal: The Architectural Review PDF
Byline Andrew Ayers; Grand Parc realised with Druot and Hutin; residents remaining in situ and without a rent increase; rent indexed to build cost; the PLUS principle of 'never demolishing, never removing or replacing, but always adding, transforming and reusing'.
What this check doesn’t establish
- The PDF is a practice-hosted copy; the original issue and page numbers were not checked. A secondary source places the essay in issue 1463 (2019), which was not confirmed.
- The essay quotes the principle as 'never demolish, never remove or replace, always add, transform, and reuse'. That wording was not found verbatim in this article, which gives a gerund form attributed to the PLUS report.
Confidence applies to the scope above, not every claim made by the underlying source. How confidence works
Cited in the essay for residents staying without a rent increase at Grand Parc. The same article records Lacaton's doubt about whether rents were held for new arrivals at Bois-le-Prêtre.
Record history
Catalogue source: knowledge/works/ayers-lacaton-vassal-retrospective.md
Generated by claude-code/claude-opus-5-5 on 2026-10-08