French Architect Renée Gailhoustet Receives the 2022 Royal Academy Architecture Prize

Written by Maria-Cristina Florian
Published on June 01, 2022

French architect Renée Gailhoustet has been awarded the 2022 Royal Academy Architecture Award for her pioneering work designing public housing and neighborhoods in and around Paris. The award is given annually by London's Royal Academy to individuals or practices whose idea or body of work has positively contributed to the public.

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Renée Gailhoustet is one of the few woman architects of her generation to achieve national and international recognition. Born in Oran in French Algeria in 1929, she enrolled in École Nationale des Beaux-Arts de Paris, and gained her diploma in 1961, starting her forty-year career. After founding her own firm in 1964, she went on to produce a succession of diverse projects essentially involving public housing projects that integrated a wide array of facilities into the same macrostructures.

The architect’s body of work reflects her interest in creating architecture as a social and cultural practice. The jury appreciated Gailhoustet’s buildings as they demonstrate an aspiration for structures and urban environments that are cohesive yet underpinned by diversity. They integrate dwelling and nature at the heart of the city and champion collaboration in the design and urban development process.

In 1962, while working at the firm of Roland Dubrulle, she began to work on the urban renewal of Ivry-sur-Seine, becoming the chief architect of the project in 1969. As stated on Frac Center-Val de Loire's website, she included duplex apartments with double-height spaces, vast openings, and privatized green terraces in an attempt to transform architecture into a political and social tool used to improve the well-being of its inhabitants. In addition to her numerous projects in suburban Paris, like Aubervilliers, Saint-Denis, and Villejuif, she also developed two urban renewal plans for Reunion Island.

French Architect Renée Gailhoustet Receives the 2022 Royal Academy Architecture Prize - Image 4 of 14 — Aubervilliers by Renée Gailhoustet . Image © Marc Pataut

Renée Gailhoustet’s achievements reach far beyond what is produced as social or affordable housing anywhere today. Her work has a strong social commitment that brings together generosity, beauty, ecology, and inclusivity. This award highlights housing design as one of the most pressing and complex issues of our time by inviting the public to rediscover the work of one of the most committed and prolific practitioners of the 20^th Century – an architect who pioneered a new approach to housing design and was an early adopter of important principles such as generous public space and nature in the city. - Farshid Moussavi RA, Chair of the 2022 Royal Academy Architecture Awards Jury.

The Royal Academy has also announced the four architecture practices nominated for the Royal Academy Dorfman Award, which celebrates new ideas that highlight the future potential of architecture. British studio Apparata, Japanese practice dot architects, Peru-based non-profit organization Semillas, and Indian architecture firm Wallmakers have been selected. The winner will receive £10,000 prize money to support the development of their practice.

French Architect Renée Gailhoustet Receives the 2022 Royal Academy Architecture Prize - Image 11 of 14 — Apparata. Image Courtesy of Apparata

This year’s Royal Academy Architecture Award jury is presided by Farshid Moussavi. The other members of the jury are Director of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture Farrokh Derakhshani, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Hisham Matar, artist Cornelia Parker, Director of the Institute of Contemporary Art for the University of Pennsylvania Zoë Ryan and Peter St John, architect and co-founder of Caruso St John Architects.