Saint-Sauveur Station

In 2023, the Lille city council launched a grand and atypical urban transformation plan for the Saint Sauveur district. The transformation of the former railway establishment built in 1858 became one of the symbols of its cultural policy to create a place prioritizing conviviality, hospitality, and creativity. A non-ostentatious place welcoming to all audiences. Due to a mandate, the project had to be completed in record time. To meet the challenge, two key principles were decided: in the absence of a programming study, the rehabilitation would be reduced to the strict minimum without technical excesses. A low-tech approach was assumed. Secondly, to outpace the eight months allocated for studies and construction, it was decided to use in-house companies, meaning utilizing quotes from companies made for other projects and still valid.

The teams mastered the art of repurposing and ready-made. The architectural project was composed, in the manner of a surrealist exquisite corpse, of elements picked here and there from previous negotiations. In hall A, the fluorescent lights that define the ceiling of the main space came from a public car park under construction. Likewise for the paint. The furniture, on the other hand, responded to an order for a nearby school group. Simple and economical. In hall B, dedicated to exhibitions, concerts, and Sunday flea markets, the emphasis was placed on serving the invited artists to offer them so-called "capable" spaces, free and functional.