C.A.R.P. Alexandria

The brick house, dated 1912, built in an eclectic style, with storage attic and tin roof, is placed near the sidewalk, with two rooms called hall in archive plans, from which other spaces get indirect natural light and access. The life of the house was spent in the courtyards with outbuildings, vines, trees and edible plants. In 2003, the building was declared a class B heritage building, recognizing the value of the exterior decoration, the carpentry, the old stove. In 2020, when the house was bought, it had received a large porch with concrete slab, windows had been blocked, a small, atypical door appeared. When the new owner, a C.A.R.P. (mutual aid house for retired, a non-banking financial institution, depending on the members community), called the architects, they already knew why they bought the house. They wanted the new headquarters to grow a community: to provide good spaces for employees and for social activities with members. They had already been in discussions with the Regional Culture Commission and knew that if they needed more space, the expansion could be done with a separate building. The intervention project had multiple demands to balance. To begin with, a series of decisions modified the heritage house to remove the elements that had altered it over time and bring in other elements for the new function of offices and socializing space for the community. Then, the design options of the new building, that was going to receive strictly the financial function. And finally the fence and courtyard, that become the connection between the two buildings and the street. Three types of users and yard areas have been defined. Visiting members use the front yard – with trees, plants and brick benches, always having access to the new house and occasionally to the attic of the old house when there are community meetings. The employees - the executive side - enter their workspaces in the new house through the back yard. The administrative side enters through the front yard, directly into the old house, on the ground floor. The courtyards and the fence thus become fluid elements through which the users communicate, are treated with the same attention as the two buildings. The complex financial situation in which the construction site operated made many decisions go towards cost optimization. However, the quality of materials and systems for the future life of the old house, the new building, the courtyards and the fences have never been compromised.