Converted from Synagogue de Delme Contemporary Art Center in France, the Gue(ho)st House is a gallery with a ghostly exterior that reflects its past functions as a prison, funeral home, and school. Due to the deterioration, the 19th-century Synagogue needed a renovation to attract more attention. So, the French architects Christophe Berdaguer and Marie Péjus decided to turn the building into a ghost house to pay homage to its long history.
The architects first covered the old building with polystyrene blocks, softening the structure’s edges. Secondly, they covered the building with two layers of sprayed polyurethane resin to make its surface waterproof. The final step of painting the yellow resin white gave the structure a ghostly feeling. Nevertheless, the building deteriorated over time and requires renovation today.
The name Gue(ho)st House is a reference to the famous wordplay by the French-American artist Marcel Duchamp: A Guest + A Host = A Ghost. That is, the gallery is the host while the visitors are the guests and both gather in a ghostly house.
