Urban Design ● Design Research ● Transdisciplinary Research
Metropolitan urbanity fosters cross-cultural interactions.
“Euratlantique” is an urban masterplan project designed to establish Bordeaux as a leading European city. It was triggered by the arrival of a new high speed train linking Paris, Toulouse and Bilbao. The challenge consisted in reorganizing an ill-defined 800 000 m2 area adjacent to the historic city center.
The objective was to compose a patchwork of distinctive neighborhoods each with a specific program: business, nightlife, culture, shopping, and housing. The strategy consisted in leveraging the site’s current diversity by outlaying the borders of each fragment and focusing their identity on a specific function.
A framework for the development of a final mass was then defined for each district. Their distinct geometries marked their respective identities, while they each presented public features to attract populations from other neighborhoods.
Eventually the central business district was compared to London’s Canary Warf and Berlin’s Potsdamer Platz.
The existing urban fabric is disjointed, with infrastructure creating impassable valleys between the small grain of older residential neighborhoods. The proposed intervention soothes these differences into graduated transitions with distinctive identities and open air spaces for vegetal growth, light, and fresh air.
A set of diagrams developed by various techniques enabled to represent and understand how the different neighborhoods work and interact together.
The Central Business District (CBD) drives the Euratlantique’s economic development. Located some 500 meters away from the new train station, people come from accross Europe to settle business deals and attend conferences.
The CBD is structured around a central public park in which pavilions hosting amenity programs such as a cinema, a daycare, a sportshall and restaurants attract a varied population. It is a landmark of dynamism for the Euratlantique area where people meet and mix.
Standard volumes are based on a typical layout and natural light considerations.
Bordeaux inscribes itself within a global network of leading economic cities.
The urban park foster a balance between dynamism and calm, reminiscent of Central Park in New York City.
'Le chêne,' pronounced [leuh-sheh-n' means oak tree in French, my native language.
