Discover Réunion : Architecture (and design)

Creole art of living

Frail in appearance, the first dwellings on the island were actually straw huts capable of resisting the onslaught of time because they were made with local materials perfectly used according to their properties: vetiver as excellent insulator, straw to absorb rainwater... This original architecture, also recognizable by its gable roof, can still be seen in the islets of the circuses, particularly that of Mafate. The first settlers were inspired by marine carpentry and put in place wooden frameworks, favouring resistant species such as mat wood or iron wood, carving the wooden shingles or tiles covering their houses from tamarind wood. Helped by a climate of prosperity, the settlers made their dwellings evolve. The oldest house on the island, the Adam de Villiers house in Saint-Pierre, with its mansard roof, classical façade and austere stone, is a perfect reproduction of the models in vogue in metropolitan France at the end of the 18th century. Then, a resolutely Creole art of living and living was quickly established. Between East and West, Reunion Island will mix these influences in a type of dwelling proudly bearing its mixed identity: the Creole hut, which actually designates many forms of housing. Small wooden or sheet metal huts, bourgeois urban villas, sumptuous colonial residences or even holiday resorts in the Hauts called "change of air villas", all these houses or "huts" share common characteristics. From the West, they have derived a rectangular plan, a symmetrical interior layout with a large central hall to which a corridor leads, distributing bedrooms and small lounges, a high, steeply pitched, hip hip roof and, above all, a neoclassical décor with colonnades and mouldings. From the East, they imported the varangue, directly inspired by the colonial residences of Pondicherry. This veranda, first imagined as a protection against the sun, gradually became a real living room with its rattan furniture waiting for visitors. Hospitality is the cornerstone of Creole culture, but it is also accompanied by a real cult of intimacy. The large residences are protected by a baro, a large gate decorated in wrought iron, then by an abundant garden, then by the varangue of the facade, the last space before entering the intimacy of the home. They also often have a ghetali or kiosk set out at the corner of the garden, allowing one to see the street without being seen. This game of dupes can be found in the facades-screens wider than the main building, thus leaving nothing of the reality of the home to be seen. Nature and protective varangue are also found in the more modest boxes. All these houses are also very functional: the kitchen is separated from the rest of the house to avoid the risk of fire and the arrangement of the rooms in a row and the vasistas or openwork panels at the top of the partitions allow constant ventilation of the house. The Creole huts, on the other hand, are distinguished by their decoration. The colour of the walls and shutters varies, as do the omnipresent carved and sculpted wooden motifs, the famous mantling. These cut-out friezes running around the roof are the emblem of Creole architecture and the expression of the owners' personality. Among the most beautiful examples of Creole huts are the Maison Foucque in Saint-Denis, the Maison Folio in Hell-Bourg, the Maison Déramond-Barre in Saint-Denis and of course the Maison Villèle in Saint-Gilles-les-Hauts.

Religious Mixing

Reunion's rich religious heritage bears witness to the incredible syncretism that has taken place on the island since its origins. Towns named after saints dot the coastline like the shining beads of a rosary, offering fine examples of Catholic architecture. In Saint-Denis, you can admire the imposing neoclassical cathedral, as well as the cures or priests' dwellings, sumptuous mansions with varangues and colonnades. Among the many examples of Catholicism, don't miss the Chapelle du Rosaire in Saint-Louis - the island's oldest religious edifice - the highly baroque Eglise Sainte-Anne, whose abundant decoration of moldings and statues gives the whole structure the appearance of an Indian stupa, or the Chapelle Pointue in Saint-Gilles-les-Hauts, which combines the allure of a pagoda with a neo-Gothic silhouette. Alongside these grand edifices, the island's small heritage also tells us a lot about the way religion is practiced on the island: chapels, calvaries, oratories and ti bon Dié populate Reunion's lands, as do the little red niches placed along the roads in honor of Saint Expédit, a not very Catholic saint! Alongside them, the mosques proudly bear the values of Islam. The Noor al-Islam mosque in Saint-Denis, dating from 1905, is the oldest in France. Accidentally burnt down, it has been superbly restored in marble. As for the one in Saint-Pierre, it impresses with the majesty of its dome. Islam and Catholicism also interact with Hinduism, celebrated in the superb Tamil temples. Rather modest in scale, these temples gradually grew in size, with the prosperity of the new generations reflected in both the façades and the sumptuous interiors. Sculpted decorations and shimmering polychromy characterize these temples, which are arranged and ordered in the purest respect of Hindu rules, while employing certain Creole features in terms of roofing (open terrace) or painting (coloured friezes)... the perfect art of syncretism. Among the most beautiful temples are those of L'Éperon in Saint-Denis and Le Colosse in Saint-André.

Power Architecture

Colonial power can be seen not only in the sumptuous villas of the grand estates, but also in the urban planning of Saint-Pierre and Saint-Denis. Their city centers were designed according to a rigorous checkerboard pattern, with streets and avenues intersecting at right angles, reflecting the desire to tame this untamed land and organize it according to European urban codes. It is in these centers that we find evidence of this political and commercial power. The prefecture of Saint-Denis is one of the finest examples. A former storehouse of the Compagnie des Indes that became the residence of the governors, it is now a small palace in the glory of French administration. Town halls, former trading stores and shopping arcades all bear witness to this colonial history.

But power is also industrial. Still little-known, this heritage is inextricably linked to the history of the island, whose sugar factories have in many places changed its face. Far from being mere warehouses, these factories were true estates comprising machine sheds, warehouses, stores, mills, forges, kitchens, a hospital, workers' housing, temples and chapels, and, further away, the owner's villa. As machines were perfected and space and production techniques rationalized, these factories continued to expand, populating the lush vegetation of Reunion with their tall chimneys and wooden beams, some of which are now listed and protected. The new Chaudron factory in Saint-Denis is undoubtedly the most famous example of this industrial architecture. Here you can see the island's oldest windmill, which was manufactured in England and transported in parts. Inseparable from bridges, roads, harbors and railroads (the ^19th-century Grande Chaloupe station in Saint-Denis is one of the oldest examples of this railway heritage), these factories are also linked to a reflection on workers' housing. The Cafrine district of Saint-Pierre is home to examples of longères, long rectangular masonry buildings laid out in strips and used to provide low-cost housing for hired hands and their families. Longères, straw huts and wooden houses formed veritable workers' camps, reminiscent in many ways of the mining towns of mainland France. In the inter-war years, efforts were made to improve living conditions for workers, with the design of workers' housing estates with detached houses built in the traditional Creole style and set in the center of a plot with a garden. Examples can be seen on the former Savanna sugar estate in Saint-Paul.

Developments and outlook

In 1948, a devastating cyclone left thousands of people in Reunion homeless. It was this tragedy that inspired architect Louis Dubreuil and industrialist Maurice Tomi to invent a modern, modular type of housing that respected Creole heritage, was weatherproof, easy to produce and build, and accessible to all, including the most modest. The "Case Tomi" was a veritable revolution in the history of housing on Reunion Island, and is still very popular today. The most modern feature of the "Case Tomi" is undoubtedly the integration of the kitchen and bathroom. But constant demographic pressure meant that more and more had to be built. The 1960s-1970s were the years of concrete. SATEC huts, cubes of concrete, sprang up all over the island and led to the development of new housing estates, encroaching ever further on farmland. But these huts at least have the merit of still using Creole elements, the varangue in particular. Jean Bossu, a pupil of Le Corbusier and Auguste Perret, also tried to maintain this dialogue between modernity and Creole heritage in his buildings, as in the Les Remparts residence in Saint-Denis, where the walk-through apartments feature loggias, openwork walls and service courtyards. Unfortunately, this dialogue broke down with the advent of large-scale housing projects, which no longer have much to do with the Creole context and culture. These prefabricated concrete buildings give rise to new neighborhoods such as Chaudron in Saint-Denis or Ravine Blanche in Saint-Pierre, or even new towns of little character. This is a situation that many of Reunion's architects are now trying to counter by imagining green, sustainable architecture that respects ancestral know-how and perpetuates the Creole tradition of harmonious dialogue with nature. It's no longer a question of making the most of space at all costs, but of living better. Réunion, a new land of experimentation!