“We are far from perfect”, began the voice on the phone. The man wanted to avoid any misunderstanding. They had moments of doubt, financial difficulties. They sometimes argued, too. For all these reasons, and because they are not settled in a hamlet among the goats either, but in one of those towns where the shops are closing, the trains no longer stop, and where the young leave, meeting the inhabitants of La Convention, a former convent in the center of Auch, in the Gers, made sense.
Twelve families, including a dozen children and three architects, occupy an old building – six levels, two large south-facing terraces, a view of the lower town – completely renovated by them and with a functioning that ranks them among the few thousand of participatory housing identified in France. A minority, but these different ways of housing inspire urban planners and architects, who see it as a way to save buildings, recycle places, and pool goods and resources.
They weren’t aware of all this at first. If certain groups are formed before finding a place, in Auch, it is the place that federated. Frédéric and Sylvie Rouzès, a couple with two children, were looking for a bigger house where everyone would have their own bedroom. But in the region, when it’s big, it’s for sale, and they don’t want to own it. They think about looking with a friend, father of three children, until the day when Sylvie gets more annoyed than usual: “But you really don’t have anything greater?” » The real estate agent takes her at her word, he “something really big”.
“There is something to do”
Friends are visiting that weekend. Here they are, just curious to visit this place with incredible volumes, it is said. The convent welcomed penitents in the 17the century. The chapel is from the period. A religious school took over, then the Labor Exchange and, finally, a medico-educational institute, which the maze of stairs eventually dislodged. Promoters wanted to transform it into a luxury hotel but broke their teeth on the local urban plan. The property, on sale for six years, has lost its value. “Three hundred thousand euros, notary fees included”, announces the real estate agent. “There is something to do” slips an architect friend.
The meetings are linked every ten days, the emails accumulate, the fatigue too
A year and a half elapses between this visit and the signing at the notary. A first meeting is held. Around the table, there is Valérie Tachon, alone with a child, who is interested in a collective project. She knows Jean-Marc Jourdain, architect, who quickly confirms that it is possible. The idea makes its way, the circle expands. Not everyone knows each other. Seven of them end up commissioning a feasibility study. The place is in one piece, you have to subdivide it, have an idea of the sharing of spaces, quantify the common works.
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