I was very early for a happy meeting today, so I decided to stop by my favorite spot downtown: La Potinière. This place always makes me feel at home, especially since Analakely has become somewhat inaccessible to me, both emotionally and physically. I used to spend hours here earlier this year when we were working on the Gare Soarano project now a very dynamique Digital Center for Youth, and I’m really looking forward to anyone, anything, willing to hire a nice, lovely, and skilled architect—someone very competent at renovating old stones and bringing life back to this part of the city.

La Potinière itself holds a lot of memories for me. I think it used to be called Papa Emmanuel, and there was another place in Antaninarenina—Pâtisserie Suisse—that competed with Hôtel Colbert’s pâtisserie. But La Potinière was always our Neny’s favorite. Dad worked nearby, so my childhood Wednesdays were basically spent going from Albert Camus to Honey to La Potinière, then walking past the three old theatres where grandmas sold candies and ice cream, and on to rue Paul Dussac. I’ve heard that in the ‘70s, the area had even more going on—babyfoot, bowling alleys, arcades. Those days are long gone now.

I often wonder what’s going to happen to Talaha Rarihasina, with it crumbling so badly. I also heard they’re about to demolish the ECHO building, though at least they did an amazing job renovating the old PTT building into a contemporary art gallery, Fondation H, about two years ago. It gives me hope that not everything has to fall apart.

I was especially excited to take part in the Atelier SICAM renovation back in 2016, turning it into an electronics and houseware megastore. Hey! At least it gets a fun function now! We preserved 75% of the building’s structure. Honestly, we thought nobody else in town could match those early 20th-century Eiffel-like steel frames—it was so solid. Back in the day, places like Tsaralalana, Isotry, Behoririka, Ambondrona, and Tsiazotafo were walkable neighborhoods. You could live, work, and have fun right in the heart of Antananarivo.

Mahamasina, Ankadivato, Ampasapito… those were more like outskirts, where you’d visit well-established relatives in nice, modern European-style houses. Now, once you cross Antanimena, it feels like a no man’s land. Are there even streets? It’s all crazy boulevards now, soon to be doubled by a cable car line, shaping what they call the New CBD in Ankorondrano. I like to call it Little Dubai because everyone and their cousins is flocking there, for HVAC comfort and snobbing the low cost of renting commercial spaces in the Analakely neighborhood — which are from 3.92 EUR to 7.84 EUR per square meter per month — since they can afford triple this amount flotting in flooding areas.

Among us architects, there’s always an ongoing debate about our favorite neighborhoods to work in. For me, it’s always been Analakely and its surroundings, and it always will be. About a month ago, my dear friend invited me to her show of Danse de Salon in Ambatomena. Of course, I had to attend the most authentic happening possible. The crowd was small but so intense, full of people with the highest self-esteem, dancing their very best tango and other styles. Thanks to my friend, I gathered enough positive energy to take on the toughest challenges in the weeks after her show.

Naturally, I greeted her afterward with the most delicious ice cream at the new hangout everyone’s talking about in Ambatonakanga, La Glacerie. I wish I could bring my kids more often, but the last time we strolled from their favorite hairdresser, Curly Aho, to Antaninandro by the tohotohobato steps, we were followed by pickpockets. I didn’t even notice at first, too busy minding the tohotohobato steps, but it was quite traumatizing for them.