"Construire pour se reconstruire"
The project :
The mission of the partner organizations is to provide reception, accommodation, support and/or social integration for people or families experiencing hardship, with a view to helping them regain their personal and social autonomy. The beneficiaries of these workshops may therefore be victims of violence, people struggling with alcoholism and drug addiction, people in extreme poverty, and so on.
The workshops start from the person’s needs, taking into account the disposition of their apartment, their expectations in terms of functionality and tastes.
Over the course of the workshop cycle, the participant is introduced to design methodology (specifications, sketches, models, production of plans) and discovers the rudiments of carpentry applied to the construction of his or her object (layout, wood cutting, machining, assembly, etc.).
We have set up a storage area in our workshop, providing us with a bank of materials for the project. Wooden panels, old furniture and various boards are creatively put to use to give them a second life.
These workshops offer a number of advantages :
- giving people the opportunity to project themselves in their own home, and thus help them settle in for the long term
- l’aider à trouver de la légitimité en lui permettant de reconnaître la valeur de ses envies, ses besoins, ses goûts, ses rêves
- aboutir un projet à moyen terme, se sentir capable et éprouver de la fierté face au résultat.
- permettre une montée en compétences techniques qui nourrit l’estime de soi, et qu’il sera possible de valoriser dans la suite de leur parcours
- proposer un cadre, adapté et bienveillant, mais qui n’est pas l’environnement d’une structure sociale, pour inviter à une posture d’initiative et de responsabilité plus proche de celle attendue dans la vie professionnelle (assiduité, ponctualité, établissement de rapports adaptés avec les différents membres de l’association)
- recréer du lien social à travers des temps de convivialité, des rencontres
Indeed, we believe that the process of social reintegration depends on changing the way we look at people in difficulty. The exhibition, which showcases the objects created in the form of models, enable us to understand the journey of each participant and the genesis of the projects. The first edition was held in November 2021 at Grenoble’s downtown library. The second took place in 2024 at Grenoble City Hall’s exhibition hall, La plateforme.
to promote solidarity-based management of intellectual property. By distributing the instructions for the object they have created free of charge, beneficiaries also become actors of solidarity.
Workshop procedure :
1. Meeting
A friendly get-together brings together Entropie members, the workshop participant and the advisor from the social structure providing support. It helps to establish an initial bond of trust, and to formalize the project by clarifying the person’s expectations and specific needs.
2. Design
The Entropie team visits the person’s home to help them imagine the object to be built, and to guide them in their functional and aesthetic reflections.
The object is sketched and then modeled in 3D. The beneficiary can take part in each stage as he or she sees fit.
3. Construction
Step by step, you build your own object through a cycle of workshops. They are accompanied individually by a member of the association, and learn to handle the tools safely. They can choose to work in the association’s workshop in the countryside for a relaxing getaway, or prefer to build their object on our premises in Grenoble for greater flexibility.
4. Delivery
Once built, the object is transported to your home and assembled together!
Stages of the project :
Entropie has taken on the task of raising the necessary funds to lighten the workload of the social partners and make the scheme entirely free of charge for the participants. The project is financed mainly by corporate foundations, and to a lesser extent by local communities.
We work with a large number of social structures in Isère: Totem service, CHRS du Relais Ozanam, the Bons Enfants boarding house, the “France horizon” association, the “un chez-soit d’abord” structure, the local women’s center, “le Lîeu”…
For ecological and economic reasons, our objects are built from recycled materials. We store recycled elements (wood panels, old furniture…) in our material bank, enabling us to design projects according to what we have on hand. With creativity and ingenuity, we give these materials a second life.
Everything is detailed above…
At the end of the workshop, as with all Entropie projects, a step-by-step construction manual is produced and distributed in open-source format, to promote shared management of intellectual property. This way, the object can be reproduced, improved and shared…
The projects are exhibited in the form of reduced-scale models in a public place, to showcase the work carried out by the recipients and their life stories. The aim of these exhibitions is to help change the way the general public looks at people in precarious situations.
Assessments are systematically carried out at the end of the workshop with the person who has benefited from it, to find out about his or her experience, and some time later to study the impact the workshop has had on his or her career.
A few first-hand accounts...
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Our operating partners
France horizon, accompanies people in situations of social vulnerability – housed or homeless, isolated or with their families, refugees or asylum seekers, minors or adults – towards accommodation, temporary support or transversal accompaniment towards access to housing, professional integration or access to healthcare.
Un chez soi d’abord, is a government program that works with homeless people with severe mental health problems who are not covered by conventional services. The support offered is designed to facilitate social, health and civic recovery, by providing direct access to ordinary housing, followed by a process of social reintegration.
Solexine, an association founded in 1996, embodies solidarity by helping people in difficulty to express themselves through art and collective action. They offer workshops led by professional artists, organize collective reflections, cultural projects and festive moments. The association offers a variety of artistic workshops, shared meals, cultural outings, exhibitions and cultural events, while encouraging member participation through a monthly house council.
Point d’eau, is a day center for the socially disadvantaged and/or homeless. A cup of coffee, a load of laundry, support and a listening ear, advice on your rights, a shower… these are just some of the services offered in this place of living and hospitality, designed to promote dignity, restore self-esteem and help people return to the mainstream.
Association providing housing support for people in social, professional and personal difficulty. The relay’s solutions are adapted to the specific needs of each individual, offering both emergency accommodation for a few nights and very long-term accommodation. In addition, the relay’s field of action is diversifying and developing, to provide support to its public in the various steps towards social reintegration.
Le Lîeu of the Parlons-en association, winner of the City of Grenoble’s 2017 participatory budget, is a space for debate and projects self-managed by residents of the street and the city. Located in the Saint-Bruno neighborhood, it’s a place to meet, do-it-yourself, get information, help each other, think, cook, have a coffee…
La pension de famille des bons enfants of the Habitat et humanisme, is an approved home for around twenty people in very difficult circumstances. It is designed to meet the need for a family-style living environment, to enable the reintegration of isolated people whose fragility and life circumstances prevent them from accessing mainstream housing. Here, people can restructure their personal lives at their own pace, and prepare for access to other types of housing and activities.
Femmes sdf, Le local des femmes, is a day center dedicated to women who are homeless and in precarious situations, so that they can rest in a protected and secure environment. The association’s aim is to shed light on their specific experiences, to change the way society looks at these women, to give them a place, and to support them if they so wish, so that they can gradually break away from homelessness.
Totem is a service shared by the Centre de Soins Infirmiers Abbé Grégoire, Oiseau Bleu, Un toit pour tous and Relais Ozanam. It is part of the “Housing First” policy, which sees housing not as the end point of social support, but as the starting point for a path to integration. Totem supports people who are often referred to as the “excluded”, i.e. those who, for various reasons (alcoholism, drug addiction, dog owners, etc.) cannot or no longer access “traditional” accommodation facilities, and who wish to access housing. Totem is our first partner in the Construire pour se reconstruire project.