Welcome to the Cité Expérimentale de Merlan, an extraordinary testament to a time when postwar France grappled with rebuilding and reinventing its housing landscape. Imagine yourself in a world where the devastation of war was a daily reality, where the simple act of finding a place to live was a challenge. Right here, in this quiet neighborhood in Noisy-le-Sec, you are standing on the site of a grand experiment.
After the Second World War, the destruction of homes was immense. With over 400,000 homes destroyed and 1.5 million damaged, the government was faced with a housing crisis. Here in Noisy-le-Sec, the situation was particularly dire as the town was heavily bombed during the war, losing many homes.
The answer to this housing crisis came in the form of experimental building projects, which sought to find new and innovative ways to rebuild quickly and efficiently. The Cité Expérimentale de Merlan was one of these projects. Started in 1945, it was a unique collaboration between architects from various countries, including France, Switzerland, Sweden, Finland, the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.
This experiment led to a diverse group of houses, each with a different building method and design. Some were even pre-fabricated, and shipped in pieces from other countries. It was a fascinating fusion of French post-war aesthetics and global design principles!
The Cité Expérimentale de Merlan was initially intended to house 150 families, but due to various delays and difficulties, only 56 of these houses were eventually built. Amazingly, each house had a garden, which was pretty unusual for the time. They were built on generous plots of land with the main house taking up only one-fifth of the space, leaving the rest for gardens. This was a significant departure from the cramped conditions that many Parisians and other European cities faced in the 1950s.
The houses were built with a wide range of materials, including wood, metal, and concrete. The different materials and techniques were put to the test, under the watchful eyes of architects, engineers and urban planners. The whole process involved a lot of observation for the best possible outcome, documenting the performance of each house under various conditions.
The experiment was also a social one. The families that lived in the houses had to agree to two visits a week during the phase of the experiment. This gave the planners a chance to gauge the success of their design and construction methods. They wanted to see how the families used and adapted to the new way of living.
Some of the houses still stand today, a testament to the ingenuity and drive of the post-war generation. The Cité Expérimentale de Merlan offers a unique glimpse into a period of French history, a time of innovation, reconstruction, and perhaps, a little bit of hope.