Discover Renée Gailhoustet and her radical approach to socially engaged housing

If uniformity typically informs social housing, Renée Gailhoustet, the pioneering Algerian-French architect (1929-2023), proposed something richer.

Efficiency, and its close cousin uniformity, have long been the defining logic of modern residential architecture, translating to repeated layouts, familiar footprints and buildings designed to perform with predictability. Arguing that architecture that’s unique isn’t just for the affluent but is deserving of the masses, Gailhoustet took tailor-made spaces out of the realm of privilege and luxury and transported them into that of the wider community, famously proclaiming, 'I don’t believe in typologies. I believe in life.'

Enter the world of architect Renée Gailhoustet

Open until 21 March 2026, ‘A Thousand and One Ways of Living’, a new exhibition at London’s Architectural Association, revisits Le Liegat, Gailhoustet’s labyrinthine social housing complex located in the working-class Paris suburb of Ivry-sur-Seine. This important case study of her work was completed in 1982. It presented an unconventional vision of social housing, delivering over 1,500 unique apartments with tailor-made floor plans, all within budget – quite literally, providing more than a thousand ways to live.

Curator of the exhibition, Nichola Barrington-Leach, says: 'Gailhoustet’s philosophy is rooted in the principle that everyone, regardless of income, class or circumstance, is deserving of beauty, care and dignity.' Building on her research on Le Liegat, the show brings together drawings, spatial study models by design studio NVBL, and photographs by Sacha Trouiller and Valerie Sadoun, centring on the residents' experience, as much as the architectural craft that made it possible.

Ascending the stairs of the Architectural Association, a 1:1 paper model snakes between two exhibition rooms. Barrington-Leach explains: 'It's very hard to understand Ivry-sur-Seine without experiencing it in person, so we built a partial piece of one of the residences.' Through a medley of models, photography and installations, the exhibition conjures a range of altitudes, reminiscent of Le Liegat apartments themselves. Gentle paper doorways and openings suggested by the installation invite viewers into small, acute nooks and intimate solo views of the exhibits.

Meanwhile, an elevated platform references the raised levels featured in every Le Liegat apartment, allowing for ʻgreen terraces which had at least 40cm of soil, enough for gardens to flourish’ and meaning that trees could populate the 10,000 sq m complex. The result is a kaleidoscopic layer cake of apartments and lush vegetation. Aside from the human aspect, Barrington-Leach notes, ‘Her buildings and masterplans also became landscapes and ecologies as well as residences.’

Despite an architectural practice that consistently challenged conventions, Gailhoustet only received her first major award at the age of 88. With the architect working alongside Raymonde Laluque, the commissioning urban planner, Barrington-Leach says: 'It required two strong women for Le Liegat to happen.'

With an approach to housing that is profoundly humble, 'A Thousand and One Ways of Living' explores radical principles that cater to communities with a purposeful generosity. Where architectural form becomes secondary to a sensitive understanding of variety in lived experience and access to prime views, bespoke interiors and lush gardens are not an indication of income or status, but simply a requisite of care.

'Renée Gailhoustet: A Thousand and One Ways of Living' is on show at the Architectural Association in London until 21 March 2026