Paris Expo Architecture et Utopie Competition

In Urban Design

Posted: Aug 18th, 2009 / Last Edited: Jun 1st, 2010 Print

Description

The potential reuse of abandoned sites in and around Paris inspired by the Paris Architecture et Utopie Competition commissioned by the Aedes Gallery in Berlin for an exhibition in Paris. General ideas were sought for specific areas of Paris, to define issues and develop strategies to transform context and revitalize use. Our entry involved development of a kilometer-long quay parallel to and between the Seine and a major highway. This fifteen-meter-wide strip is itself a transitional site, potentially a link to an adjacent urban development project. We began by using this interstitial space to develop tension and activity at the land/water. We sought to transform an area that once served the pragmatic interests of commerce and industry.

This is one of the first projects in which we used land forms are used as both transitional devices and as mechanisms to reshape topography, forming boundaries to lend coherence to new districts. These interstitial forms became a second skin, or layer of ground, through which a series of objects protrude. Two systems of organization emerged: that of the ground form and that of the relational structures. This permitted smaller buildings, which in turn increased flexibility in the development of heterogeneous urban interventions. Various programmatic elements were accommodated among these systems and objects. Our proposal buried infrastructure beneath the second ground plane, producing an unobstructed surface and decreasing the perceived building density.

The augmented ground forms a bridge providing access to the river and to the interior of the site. The Seine is transformed from purely industrial use into the nexus of diverse, interrelated activities. Imposed upon this base, and juxtaposed with it, are components accommodating circulation and mechanical infrastructure. These are informed by grids of the city that interact with the site’s periphery, as well as by axial points referring to markers such as the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe. This abstract framework, with its multiple references to the structure of the city, is the departure point for an urban model.
The potential reuse of abandoned sites in and around Paris inspired by the Paris Architecture et Utopie Competition commissioned by the Aedes Gallery in Berlin for an exhibition in Paris. General ideas were sought for specific areas of Paris, to define issues and develop strategies to transform context and revitalize use. Our entry involved development of a kilometer-long quay parallel to and between the Seine and a major highway. This fifteen-meter-wide strip is itself a transitional site, potentially a link to an adjacent urban development project. We began by using this interstitial space to develop tension and activity at the land/water. We sought to transform an area that once served the pragmatic interests of commerce and industry.

This is one of the first projects in which we used land forms are used as both transitional devices and as mechanisms to reshape topography, forming boundaries to lend coherence to new districts. These interstitial forms became a second skin, or layer of ground, through which a series of objects protrude. Two systems of organization emerged: that of the ground form and that of the relational structures. This permitted smaller buildings, which in turn increased flexibility in the development of heterogeneous urban interventions. Various programmatic elements were accommodated among these systems and objects. Our proposal buried infrastructure beneath the second ground plane, producing an unobstructed surface and decreasing the perceived building density.

The augmented ground forms a bridge providing access to the river and to the interior of the site. The Seine is transformed from purely industrial use into the nexus of diverse, interrelated activities. Imposed upon this base, and juxtaposed with it, are components accommodating circulation and mechanical infrastructure. These are informed by grids of the city that interact with the site’s periphery, as well as by axial points referring to markers such as the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe. This abstract framework, with its multiple references to the structure of the city, is the departure point for an urban model.
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