Design Studios 2020–2025
For the past six years, the Transition Workshop has been offering an intensive two-week study session on a neighbourhood in transition, in collaboration with the Office of Urban Planning of the Canton of Geneva. Several multidisciplinary teams, made up of TW participants (architects, urban planners, landscape architects, engineers, geographers, etc.), draft development scenarios through the prism of the ecological transition.
The originality and added value of the Design Studio lies in the particular method invented within the Fondation Braillard for the integration of theory and practice, based on the multi-year experience of its team in the scientific monitoring of international consultations for the ecological transition of cities and territories (Consultation Grand Genève and Luxembourg in transition.
See below briefly, the study cases and the results and for each one of the Transition Workshop editions.
2025 | ECOLOGICAL DENSITIES III, THE CITY WITHIN THE CITY
Soothing the southern tip of Plainpalais–Place des Augustins
Canton of Geneva | City of Geneva
Once on the edge of the old city of Geneva and today one of its most vibrant neighbourhoods, the southern part of the former municipality of Plainpalais is a mosaic of forms, eras, colours and flavours. Dense and central, it must contend with both road traffic and heat islands – its main artery is currently being turned into a green avenue. How can we bring calm to the city within the city?
2024 | ECOLOGICAL DENSITIES II, NATURE IN THE CITY
Renewing the urban centre of Versoix
Canton of Geneva | Municipality of Versoix
Between lake and mountain, between air and road routes, between cantonal and international borders – giving the city back to its residents and to nature.
2023 | ECOLOGICAL DENSITIES I
Forward-looking visions for the south façade of Geneva International Airport
Canton of Geneva | Municipalities of Grand-Saconnex, Meyrin and Vernier
Overlaying new developments upon the city itself through transition strategies combining revisited urban forms, cradle-to-cradle methods and bio-sourced materials, green infrastructure, renewable energies, alternative mobilities, collective amenities and urban agriculture.
2022 | CITY & NATURE
Geneva’s city-landscape, another way of cultivating the land
Canton of Geneva | Municipality of Perly-Certoux
Revisiting the Geneva countryside for a moderate densification, focusing on the protection of landscapes and local agriculture, without forgetting biodiversity, soft mobility and social participation.
2021 | THE POST-OIL CITY
What does the future hold for the Vernier oil reservoirs?
Canton of Geneva | Municipality of Vernier
Moving away from the fossil-fuel era by converting its infrastructures in favour of a post-carbon, eco-responsible and exemplary Geneva.
2020 | TRANSITIONAL URBAN HOUSING
The Marronniers neighbourhood between renovation and innovation
Canton of Geneva | Municipality of Grand-Saconnex
Pacing the evolution of residential neighbourhoods, by forging the ecological qualities of the site, conserving its embodied energy, building with carbon-free materials, introducing soft mobility and citizen engagement.
