What if Dirt came back?

The societal conception of dirt, tied to hygiene and morality, marginalizes bodies, labor, and spaces outside normative standards. Since 1880, cleanliness has shaped architecture, from Le Corbusier’s whitewashed ideals to the hygienist separation of functions. Between 1880 and 1950, cleanliness was actively taught, particularly to lower-class women. This project reimagines Le Grand Montfleury, a suburban housing complex in Geneva (1960–1980), as an infrastructure that accommodates dirt rather than erasing it.

The transformation begins with a fictional catalyst: a mysterious bacteria dissolves plastics, causing widespread sewage and garbage leaks.

Waste piles up as authorities impose an embargo, to prevent the propagation of this unknown bacteria. Property values dives, enabling the residents and maintenance workers to reclaim ownership, transforming the complex into subsidized housing.

Architectural interventions manage and utilize dirt within the buildings and landscape. Each floor features a shared, unheated water garden—an entry space for four flats—where grey water flows through filtration plants beneath a raised metal mesh floor. Water descends via glass-brick chutes to phytofiltration ponds, cleansing 250 cubic meters daily before flowing to Lake Geneva.

Compostable toilets are added to façades, with chutes for collecting waste. After an initial composting phase at the building's base, compost matures off-site before being exchanged with farmers as fertilizer. Apartments are reconfigured for ventilation, integrating water gardens and composting systems. A curved wall separates flats from gardens, transitioning from wood-insulated structures to concrete for support and glass bricks near water and light.

By reimagining Le Grand Montfleury as an infrastructure to accommodate dirt rather than exporting it, residents develop a practical tolerance for dirt. This lessens the need for constant upkeep and doesn’t export all dirt produced but rather uses and transforms it.

Communal facilities are expanded: ground-floor storage for caretakers, rooftop sun-heated laundry, and pavilions for recycling, compost preparation, and worker spaces. Façades and ponds provide habitats for insects and birds.

Project by: Lily Blanchard

Teaching team: Anna Puigjaner, Dafni Retzepi, Ethel Baraona Pohl, Lisa Maillard, Pol Esteve Castelló, He Shen, Yufei He

Coexaminator: Khensani Jurczok-de Klerk

Free Master Thesis: Autumn 2024