The Institution Nationale des Invalides occupies a site and a location that are exceptional. The challenges of this renovation are related both to functional issues and to the historic heritage. We pay constant and equally intensive attention to functionality (the content) and to architectural heritage (the container). Our approach is to improve the medical operation and the flow patterns of the institution, to ensure its preservation and, if possible, to enhance the historic monument but also improve care for the patients and quality of life for the residents and provide improved legibility of the heritage and access to certain historic rooms.

Heritage, needless to say, is a major factor in this operation, since the institution has been a hospital from its origin. The space is a given; the architectural programme is a variable. The architectural programme must adapt to the existing spaces and the creation of new elements must be conceived of with a view to respecting and enhancing the heritage. The modernisation of the facilities and the work done to achieve the regulatory conformity necessary for fire safety and accessibility for disabled persons are designed to have as little visible impact on the building as possible.