a self-managed senior cooperative for aging together

In Bérat, in Haute-Garonne, a senior citizens’ cooperative has come together to grow old together. Neither a nursing home nor a hospice, La Ménardière—a beautiful mansion—has, under their initiative, become a shared, self-managed retirement community.

Living well, with complete financial independence, requires finding an inventive management model that ensures the financial stability of this (utopian?) venture, which is resolutely open to as many people as possible, thanks to activities  - a small cinema-theater, painting, sculpture, crafts, and writing workshops, etc.…  offered and led by local residents as part of their daily lives, in collaboration with residents of Bérat and beyond, welcoming without exception all those who wish to contribute their share of diversity, humor, and subversion 

La Ménardière is an estate of just over 2 hectares: featuring an 18th-century mansion, a swimming pool, outbuildings, stables, and a park…

  Inside the house: a dozen private apartments (one-bedroom units, studios) are spread over two floors, accessible by elevator. 

The ground floor is shared by all residents: kitchen, dining room, music room, library… we cook and eat together there as the mood strikes, we entertain guests there, we gather there….  The large house opens onto a spacious park ideal for concerts under the stars in the summer. 

Outside: the caretaker’s house and the orangery. The stables will soon be converted into a cinema-theater open to the public and are already a venue for exhibitions:  they open onto a flower-filled garden where the buildings that once served as farm sheds have been transformed into a summer cinema/theater, a sculpture workshop, etc... 

The garden itself is a venue for events and gatherings: readings, meetings, communal meals… on the other side, a small house and a swimming pool within an enclosure bordered by fig trees allow for the organization of workshops, parties…  without disturbing the peace of the house’s residents.