Commitments
1. Our approach
Since 2015, the Atelier d’Architecture Antoine de Gironde has been restoring and transforming historic buildings (17th to 20th century) in Versailles and the Île-de-France region. Our responsible approach is not based on any doctrine. It comes down to one rule: know the building before intervening, then decide case by case.
A rubble-stone wall is not a concrete wall, and a plaster façade is not a cut-stone façade. Ready-made recipes (“insulate everything”, “everything bio-based”, “replace everything with high-performance products”) give poor results on historic buildings. We do not champion any material for its own sake: we look for the right one, for this wall, in this building. We think in the long term: a material is judged on its lifespan, its maintenance and whether it can be repaired in thirty or fifty years, not only on its cost on the day of the works. The buildings we restore are already several centuries old: our interventions must be able to accompany them for a long time to come.
2. Know before intervening
Every assignment starts with a survey, archive research and a diagnosis: construction methods, condition of materials, pathologies, layers of render, original colours. At the Maison du Modèle, rue des Tournelles in Versailles, this reading revealed an 18th-century cut-stone façade beneath the renders, then the original colour of the carriage entrance. The more precise the diagnosis, the fewer surprises, extra works and wasted material.
3. Sources and studies
Our choices rest on three sources: reading the building and its history, public studies, and the experience of our building sites. For energy performance, we refer in particular to the advice sheet of the French Ministry of Culture on the thermal renovation of historic buildings: prior diagnosis, materials that let walls breathe, maintenance of joinery before replacing it, suitable ventilation. The ATHEBA programme, for its part, reminds us that buildings from before 1948 have their own thermal and hygric characteristics. These references guide the decision; they do not replace it.
4. What our building sites have taught us
Cement is not used by reflex: on historic buildings, renders and joints are formulated from the diagnosis and preliminary tests, with plasters and limes compatible with the substrate, and then written into the technical specifications. We validate on site before applying everywhere: sample panels, dry samples, tests on scaffolding. A colour or render rejected after the fact means starting all over again.
5. Materials and reuse
We favour restoration over replacement. On polychrome brick chimney stacks, bricks are repaired or reused rather than replaced. Roof timber members are kept and reused when their condition allows. On rue Mansart in Versailles, the meulière stone rockwork of a plinth (about 40 m²) was taken down and relaid with new or compatible reclaimed stones and a custom-formulated lime mortar. We paint exterior timber joinery with linseed oil: this choice is not aesthetic, it is technical and heritage-driven, because the oil penetrates the wood without trapping moisture the way an acrylic film does. Timber joinery is made from French wood. We encourage our clients to choose low-pollution materials, including in the event of fire: for example, a steel bathtub rather than an acrylic one. Our own studio on rue de Fontenay, in an 18th-century building, applies these principles: lime-cork render, terracotta tiles over underfloor heating, concealed services, reinforced structure. On our building sites, we make sure waste is sorted.
6. Independence and follow-up
The architect acting as project manager sells neither materials nor works and receives no commission: his only interest is the client’s. Work orders are priced and signed before execution, using our site-monitoring tool Compas. The Atelier is insured with MAF, holds the RGE qualification, and supports applications for the Fondation du Patrimoine label (Maison du Modèle is labelled). The Atelier is a winner of the 2023 Prix du Ravalement of the City of Versailles. We welcome interns and pass on our diagnostic and site-monitoring methods. Assignments are carried out by Antoine de Gironde, architect registered with the Ordre des architectes (no. 084305).
7. What we do not claim
We do not hold a CSR label and we do not publish a carbon footprint that we have not measured. We only display what we practise. When a general rule does not suit a building, we tell our clients. These commitments are those of the Atelier: they are neither a certification nor a study specific to your project.
8. Updates and corrections
This page is updated when our practices change or when a cited source changes. The publication date appears at the top of the page.
9. Contact us
To report an error, ask for clarification or talk to us about your project: contact@antoinedegironde.com.
Commitments published on 1 November 2026
