Architecture & Change: The Conversation Between Old & New in Architecture as Examined in the Montmartre House, Paris, France

Buildings and the cities they make up are in a state of constant change. Temples become churches, palaces become apartment complexes, and railway stations have been turned into hotels and museums. Paris is an example of a city which reuses existing buildings, and on a smaller scale as the city changes over time, buildings are split in half, windows become doors, and row houses become apartments. In its centuries long evolution, Paris has developed into one of the most beautiful cities in the world full of an architecture of reuse and renovation of existing structures. As this process of reuse occurs, the history of a building is revealed as its original materials, structure, and scars are uncovered and celebrated.

In the Montmartre House, the building's original vaulted brick structure is exposed. This traditional structure, along with new partitions and rooms, form a modern house in which new and old contrast, enhancing each other and creating a new architecture. The aim is not to reconstruct the old brick building into what it once was, but to use it in conjunction with modern construction methods and materials and continue the subsequent reuse and transformation making this house a reflection of the architectural spirit of Paris itself.