Architecture Article

The project concerns the first house in a row of four terraced dwellings, built along a narrow plot. Originally conceived as modest workshops made with ordinary materials, typical of the fabric of Bagnolet, these structures have gradually been converted into family homes. They belong to that fragile typology of small workers’ houses—descendants of a precarious form of housing, sometimes close to the shack—whose transformation demands the utmost care. The existing dwelling consisted of a single living space on the ground floor, with two low-ceilinged bedrooms and a bathroom tucked under the eaves, where the height ranged from 1 m to 1.80 m. Following the birth of a second child, the clients wished to alter the roof to expand the attic space.

The former Telegraph Building in Tbilisi is a monumental piece of Georgia’s Soviet-era heritage. Designed in the 1960s by architects Lado Alexi-Meskhishvili and Teimuraz Mikashavidze and completed in the 1970s, this Brutalist landmark was awarded the State Prize of Georgia in 1983 along with the architects. Once serving as the city’s central post office and telegraph office, it was more than just an infrastructural hub, but also a nerve center for communication and a vital civic space where the community gathered, making it a powerful symbol of connection and public life.