Renovations of Le Corbusier’s Villa Savoye: A Challenge for Generations of Architects
© Cristina Sanchez Algarra and Ioana Iosa
To mark the 2026 National Architecture Days, a group of second-year master’s students from ENSA Paris-la Villette, who took the seminar “Built Cultural Heritage: Expertise and Reuse in France and Abroad,” is organizing a discussion forum focused on the numerous restoration projects the Villa Savoye has undergone from the 1960s to the present.
These restoration projects also provide an opportunity to examine approaches to historic monuments, the diversity of professions in architecture and heritage preservation, and, more broadly, to address the environmental, political, and social challenges involved in preserving exceptional buildings and sites.
Featuring:
- Laurent Alberti, Chief State Architect and Urban Planner, Curator of National Monuments, Center for National Monuments;
- Matthieu Gillet, Chief Architect for Historic Monuments and Heritage Architect;
- Bénédicte Gandini, historian at the Le Corbusier Foundation and the secretariat of the Permanent International Conference;
- Élisabeth Marie-Victoire, an engineer at the Research Laboratory for Historic Monuments (LRMH / Ministry of Culture), part of the government’s scientific and technical oversight agency.
This roundtable discussion serves as a continuation ofthe exhibition “Decoding the Villa Savoye,” on view at the Villa Savoye in Poissy.
Designed by students at the school under the guidance of instructors Ioana Iosa and Cristina Sanchez Algarra, the exhibition is open to the public from October 17 to November 14, 2026—with free admission—and offers insights into the history, architecture, and transformations of this masterpiece by Le Corbusier.
In partnership with
Detail of the official visual for the 2026 National Architecture Days – © Ministry of Culture / Steve Scott
About the National Architecture Days
Organized by the Ministry of Culture, the 11th edition of National Architecture Days will take place on Thursday, the 15th, and Friday, the 16th (two days set aside specifically for young audiences as part of the “Look Up!” initiative ”), Saturday, October 17, and Sunday, October 18, 2026. These days are intended to bring together initiatives that help all audiences discover architecture and the professions within the field.
This year’s theme will be: “Rehabilitate: Building the Future.”
