After winning a competition with a proposal in collaboration with French architect Bruno Michel from BUREAU D'ARCHITECTURE, AP Valletta started working on the design of a new lift extension for the Avicenne Hospital in Bobigny, Seine-Saint-Denis, in the northern suburbs of Paris.
Located within an existing courtyard at the corner of the building, the extension sits at the heart of this important heritage complex. Opened in 1935 as the Franco-Muslim Hospital, the hospital was built to cater for North-African immigrants who had flocked to the Paris area. It was renamed Avicenne in 1978 and is now a university hospital catering for the local population. The hospital campus area is 9 hectares, and consists of multiple buildings which were built over the years, as the hospital expanded.
The project, conceived as a new volume which is distinctively contemporary and independent, and simultaneously respectful and discreet in a delicate heritage context, is now nearing completion.
