Creole art of living
Frail in appearance, the island's first dwellings were in fact "paillottes" (straw huts) capable of withstanding the ravages of time, as they were made from local materials perfectly suited to their properties: vetiver as an excellent insulator, straw to absorb rainwater... This original architecture, also recognizable by its gabled roof, can still be seen in the islets of the cirques, notably Mafate. The first settlers took their inspiration from marine carpentry and built wooden frames, preferring hard-wearing species such as mat wood or ironwood, and carving shingles or tiles from tamarind to cover their homes. Aided by a climate of prosperity, the settlers developed their dwellings. The oldest on the island, the Adam de Villiers house in Saint-Pierre, with its mansard roof, classical facade and austere stonework, is a perfect reproduction of the models in vogue in mainland France at the end of the 18th century. A resolutely Creole art of living was soon to emerge. Somewhere between East and West, Réunion Island blended these influences into a type of dwelling that proudly bears its mixed-race identity: the Creole hut, which in reality refers to many different types of dwelling. Whether small wooden or tin huts, bourgeois urban villas, sumptuous colonial residences or "change-of-air villas", all these houses or "huts" share common characteristics. From the West, they have drawn a rectangular floor plan, a symmetrical interior layout with a large central hall leading to a corridor distributing bedrooms and small salons, a high, steeply pitched hip roof and, above all, a neoclassical décor with colonnades and moldings. From the Orient, they imported the varangue, directly inspired by the colonial homes of Pondicherry. Initially conceived as protection from the sun, this veranda gradually became a real living room, with rattan furniture awaiting visitors. Hospitality is the cornerstone of Creole culture, but it is also accompanied by a veritable cult of intimacy. Large residences are protected by a baro, a large, ornate wrought-iron gate, then by an abundant garden, and finally by the front porch, the last space before entering the intimacy of the home. They also often have a "guétali" or gazebo at the corner of the garden, providing a view of the street without being seen. This game of deception is repeated in the screen façades, which are wider than the main body of the house, revealing nothing of the home's reality. Nature and the protective varangue are also to be found in the more modest huts. All these homes are also highly functional: the kitchen is separated from the rest of the dwelling to avoid the risk of fire, and the layout of the rooms in a row and the vasistas or openwork panels at the top of the partitions ensure constant ventilation of the house. Creole huts, on the other hand, are distinguished by their decoration. Walls and shutters vary in color, as do the ubiquitous carved wooden motifs known as lambrequins. Among the finest 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-scale heritage also reveals a great deal about the way religion is practiced on the island: chapels, calvaries, oratories and ti bon Dié populate the Reunion countryside, as do the little red niches placed along the roadsides 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 to be seen on the facades as much as in the sumptuous interiors. Sculpted decorations and shimmering polychromy characterize these temples, which are arranged and ordered in the purest respect for Hindu rules, while employing certain Creole features in roofing (varangue - open terrace) or painting (coloured friezes)... the perfect art of syncretism. Among the most beautiful temples are those of Éperon in Saint-Denis and 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!
