Photos by Norbert Anna
Layers of Living
Graphic design for an Exhibition, 2025. In a world of uniform architecture and standardized cities, Renée Gailhoustet dared to dream differently. Centering her designs on diverse lived experiences, she imagined an architecture that both fostered and explored the dignity and diversity of living. Gailhoustet translated her ideals into built form, creating housing complexes that unfolded as lived landscapes rather than rigid structures. If Gardens offered everyday encounters with nature, rooms adapted to residents shifting needs and individuality, while walkways and courtyards encouraged chance meetings and shared experiences. In her architecture, spatial qualities were never ends in and of themselves, but the conditions that made community, interaction, and individuality possible. Gailhoustet’s architecture was guided by three interwoven principles that intersected to create environments responsive to life itself. GREENERY softened and enriched daily existence, embedding nature into walls, terraces, and courtyards so that housing could offer not only shelter but delight and renewal. HUMAN CENTRALITY ensured that dwellings supported rather than prescribed ways of living, allowing residents to adapt, transform, and personalize their surroundings as extensions of their own lives. FORM & GEOMETRY provided order and rhythm, yet always unfolded into diverse, layered spaces that encouraged encounters, privacy, and the coexistence of difference. Together, these principles shaped more than buildings: they shaped conditions for community, dignity, and freedom within (social) housing. Guided by the belief that housing should nurture difference rather than impose uniformity, Gailhoustet crafted environments where people could grow, connect, and adapt their surroundings to their lives. Rejecting the rigidity of mass housing grids, she created unique, responsive spaces that celebrated individuality within community. Layers of Living invites you to see the built environment anew through her eyes—where unity is found in diversity, where nature and concrete meet in harmony, and where every design decision is shaped by the lived experiences and voices of those who call it home.