Awakening the ecological potential of brownfield sites
Bioregions have recently regained the attention of regional policy-makers following alarming forecasts about their ecology. These areas are under additional pressure at their rural-urban edges, where growing needs for housing, agriculture and other civic activities take the form of suburban expansion or infill densification. Examining such contexts on the French coast, the two projects ask whether the social and ecological potential of these spaces can be reactivated. By proposing a sorting house, the first initiative explores architecture through the sequencing of debris extraction in a region. The second project considers the transformation of an industrial zone into a sustainable development park and its impact on the life of the town and of the bioregion as a whole.
Speakers
- Hervé LAURENDEAU, architect EPFL
Home, with what remains: a sorting house as a form of occupancy right
North of La Rochelle, the project studies the reversal of human colonisation in marine “dumping” zones. The priority is to make the most of what already exists, both at sea and on land, by treating rural ports as (almost) ready-made infrastructure for cleaning up and redistributing waste. A route for the end-of-life materials extracted from the bay was devised alongside the creation of a single new building on the site: a sorting house whose form and programme reflect the sequence in which stakes and shells, among other debris, are removed from the mud of the bay.
- Viktoryia BARAVIKOVA, student, ENSA Marseilles
ALTEO. Redevelopment of the post-industrial Alteo site into a sustainable development park
The Arc valley, a Mediterranean bioregion, is home to the river of the same name, which crosses the Bouches-du-Rhône. Water quality deteriorates sharply in the Pays d’Aix area, where the Luynes is the most polluted tributary of the Arc. Gardanne, upstream, has inherited a rich industrial history. Flood risk is a major challenge for the bioregion and for Gardanne. The project aims to reduce these risks and improve the water quality of the Luynes. It proposes relocating the polluting production of the ALTEO plant, de-sealing its land and converting it into a sustainable post-industrial park combining residential, economic and recreational functions.
Respondent
- Emmanuel CHAZE, Urban planner, Executive Attaché, Praille Acacias Vernets (PAV) Project, State of Geneva
REGISTRATION
Please register via the following link.
