Studio Associato Bernardo Secchi Paola Viganò

Architecture | Urbanism | Landscape

studio

Rennes, Brittany region capital, is a fast growing city and, as a consequence, is subject to a strong housing and equipment demand . The query of the assignment was for a new city part design (140 ha, 4500 new housings, 100.000 m2 of service, the necessary equipment…) in a previous military area characterized by an important natural asset. Based on a careful observation of places and topography, the project claims the necessity of considering the different ways and styles of life and mix them (''mixité'' concept); it considers the orientation of different buildings and their projected shadows, first step for a in-depth study of energetic problems. That's why this peculiar project stands up against the rhetoric of iconic architectural solutions and try to give an answer to the functional, social, and visual complexity of contemporary society. A project of this scale, that mobilises a number of actors and means, can not be realized in a short time; it requires a flexible and strategic approach that allows an phase implementation. For this reasons parts of the project are conceived as definitive, for example the design of the open spaces giving a strong structure to the urban space, other parts, like buildings and private gardens, as more flexible units, where future changes can happen. In the first case the project principal element is the 'green stream': a system of large open spaces that links the centre of the city to the country side through the Courrouze area; in the second case it is the sequence of private spaces, semi-private and public gardens: the patchwork of mixed uses placed side to side with the different building types.