Swedish design studio Claesson Koivisto Rune will present a modular table system with plug sockets within the structure during Stockholm Design Week next month (+ slideshow).
Designed for Swedish furniture brand Offecct, the Xtra Large table can be extended to create a giant workspace. Claesson Koivisto Rune designed the system so a single piece of furniture could be used to create a flexible office space.
The table can be expanded over time and once it gets to certain size it can be used by employees working independently at one end while a meeting is held at the other.
“We wanted to create a hybrid between a meeting table and a writing desk; a table big enough to work undisturbed with your laptop but still be able to start up a conversation with someone sitting opposite,” said studio co-founder Eero Koivisto. “Even if there is a meeting taking place at the far end of the table.”
The table surface of each module is held up by two chunky cylindrical legs and braced by a square beam, which contains power sockets at each end. Electric wiring runs through the beams and down through the legs to keep the workspace free of cables.
“We have maximised a regular table with all the functions demanded in a modern office today,” said Koivisto. “You could say that this table is the equivalent of a Hercules aeroplane.”
This boxy wooden cabin with an assortment of circular and rectangular windows was built by Hungarian studio T2.a Architects in just two days in a forest outside Budapest (+ slideshow).
Bence Turanyi of T2.a Architects designed the Photographer’s House for his friend, photographer Zsolt Batar.
The architect used prefabricated and cross-laminated timber panels to construct the house, meaning it could be put together extremely quickly and easily.
Both the architect and the photographer brought different ideas to the project, but their overall aim was for “a building which looks good and unique, is of excellent quality, and can be built during very short time and for a reasonable price”.
“When two different ways of thinking meet, the result is something completely new,” said Turanyi. “Our conversations about art, architecture and design were brought to life in this house.”
Rectangular windows stretch around each corner of the building, while smaller square and circular windows are positioned along the sides.
There are two floors inside the cabin; an open-plan lounge and dining room make up most of the ground floor, while a pair of bedrooms and bathrooms can be found upstairs.
Wooden panels line walls, ceilings and floors throughout the house, and floor-to-ceiling windows offer views out into the surrounding forest.
Architect Bence Turanyi and photographer Zsolt Batar decided to unify their artistic and professional visions, and the result of their work is an extraordinary house in a forest. The idea behind the building was to create harmony among man, nature and economic aspects. The sustainable wooden house breathes together with the surrounding trees, and its life is documented by the artist who lives in it. The house was one of the favourites of the international jury for Hungary’s Media Architecture Prize 2013.
If I would have to tell one story to define contemporary Hungarian architecture, among the finalists of 2013, it would definitely be the story of Bence Turanyi’s house – this is how Daniel Kovacs, member of the professional jury of the Hungarian Media Prize 2013 commented on The Photographer’s House.
The birth of this exceptional building is the result of the co-operation between an architect and a photographer, which is much more than a traditional client-architect relationship. Owner of the house, renown architectural photographer Zsolt Batar is an old friend of Bence Turanyi. The two brought ideas and ways of thinking from their own areas, and unified them in a common project.
“When two different ways of thinking meet, the result is something completely new. Our conversations about art, architecture and design were brought to life in this house.” – says Bence Turanyi about the crossover experience. For Zsolt Batar, the house is not only a home, but also a source of inspiration. The series about the house has become an important milestone in his artistic career: he records the relationship of the house and the forest day by day, in every season.
Architecture is in a new and challenging situation nowadays thanks to significant changes in the economical and social environment. We still need well-structured, quality houses, but often there is a choice among sustainability, technology and price. The creators wanted a building which looks good and unique, and is of excellent quality, while it can be built during very short time and for a reasonable price. A mere week passed between sending the digital data to the manufacturer and the completion of structural assembly on site, while the House was built in two days. The structural framework of the House is made of prefabricated, cross laminated and glued timber panels (CLT).
The Photographer’s House is a unique example of slow design: you can get your hands dirty while you collect wood from the forest to heat the fireplace, it sharpens all your senses thanks to the vivid presence of the forest, and it creates an emotional bond among man and nature. The House literally breathes together with forest, while in the inside there is the constant smell of wood. And this special smell is part of the living structure of the building. In wintertime, the fireplace heats the house, while during summer nights cool breezes from the woods are let through the open windows.
Architect: T2.a Architects Location: Pilis forest, near Budapest, Hungary Architect in charge: Turanyi Bence Collaborator: Pinczes Eva Area: 120 sqm Year: 2012
Microscopic views of flower petals informed the rippled timber facade of this flower kiosk in west London by British firm Buchanan Partnership (+ slideshow).
Buchanan Partnership used a combination of digital and handmade fabrication techniques to build the St Helen’s Gardens flower stall in Ladbroke Grove.
Horizontal timber slats were CNC-cut with wavy profiles to create a rippling effect around the facade. These were then layered up and bolted to a galvanised steel structure that sits on the lozenge-shaped concrete base.
The studio wanted to look beyond conventional floral motifs for the small commission. “We took inspiration from electron scanning microscopic images of flower petals, which reveal tiny three-dimensional ridge patterns across the petal surface,” said architect Kyle Buchanan.
The kiosk doors rotate open during the day, creating space to prepare and wrap the flowers on the Accoya timber countertop.
Stainless steel letters spelling out “THE KIOSK” sit on the roof of the structure.
The flowers are displayed on shelves that are placed on the surrounding pavement, and are stored and locked in the kiosk at night.
This project came about as part of a change of use application for a neighbouring shop, which had previously been a florist. Initially turned down by planners, the project won approval after gaining huge local support.
“London has an interesting history of kiosk buildings, including the ornate ironwork public toilet on Foley Street and the police station in Trafalgar Square, which is in the base of a lamp post and was the smallest police station in the world when it was manned,” he said.
The project is one of the first completed by the practice’s recently opened London office.
Here’s a project description from Buchanan Partnership:
Flower Kiosk
A new permanent flower kiosk in Ladbroke Grove, built using digital and handcrafted fabrication techniques.
This project, for a permanent flower kiosk in Ladbroke Grove, came about as part of a change of use application for the neighbouring retail unit, which had previously been used as a florist.
The concept for the rippling CNC-cut timber layers of the facade resulted from an ambition to reinvent the conventional idea of a floral motif.
We took inspiration from electron scanning microscopic images of flower petals, which reveal tiny three-dimensional ridge patterns across the petal surface. These ridges intensify the colour of the flower and act as a graspable surface for bees and other insects.
Using both digital and traditional fabrication techniques, the ridges are referenced in the external form of the kiosk, so that the nano-condition of the petal is translated into a contemporary interpretation of the floral motif in the architecture.
The lozenge shape of the kiosk rotates to be open during the day, creating space to prepare and wrap the flowers. The flowers are displayed on shelves that are placed on the surrounding pavement, and are stored and locked in the kiosk at night.
Contract value: £47,000 Location: St Helen’s Gardens, London Client: Mountgrange Heritage and The Cundall Partnership Fabrication: William Hardie Design Planning Consultant: Ian Fergusson of Turley Associates Structural Engineers: Tall Engineers
Dutch architecture studio OMA installed tessellated wood curtains as part of its design of the Paris flagship store for French fashion label Maison Ullens (+ slideshow).
Maison Ullens’ first Paris store was designed closely with the brand’s founder to ensure the interior complimented the attire on show.
“The project was developed through a close and personal relationship with Mrs Ullens,” OMA partner David Gianotten told Dezeen. “Therefore the interior design of the store became a good combination of the modern architectural style of OMA and the brand philosophy of Maison Ullens.”
The designers divided the space into public and private areas using a wall covered in ivory-coloured onyx stone. In the entrance space, a single statement garment is hung from a brass hook on a section of the onyx wall below the brand’s logo.
Golden panels line the doorway between the two display rooms on one side of the wall. Garments are on show in the first central area and accessories are presented in the other room.
The tones in these spaces are muted to show off the clothing and so the interior remains appropriate for future fashion trends. “The colours of the materials were kept neutral, except for the brass accent,” said Gianotten. “Therefore the collection and the interior will shape and re-invent the identity of the space based on the fashion seasons.”
Surrounded by dark wood walls, the area at the back of the store is divided into a series of small spaces that contain a fitting room, a small bar and a lounge for entertaining private clients. The store opened this week on Rue de Marignan in central Paris, to coincide with the city’s haute couture fashion week.
This house in the Dutch city of Almere by Swedish architect Johan Selbing and Swiss landscape architect Anouk Vogel is completely covered in reflective glass to allow it to blend in with its surroundings (+ slideshow).
Selbing and Vogel designed the private house for a plot in an experimental housing development in Almere – a city that was only established in 1976 but now has over 195,000 residents – in response to a competition brief calling for a building that would relate to a site within a forest clearing.
The house’s simple boxy shape is constructed from an aluminium frame that supports panels of toughened mirrored glass, with a mirrored composite panel running around the top and bottom edges of the facade.
“The Mirror House is a private villa with a facade consisting entirely of reflective glass, which acts as a camouflage and an obstruction of the view of its interior,” explained the architects.
Doors sits flush against the facade and are only noticeable thanks to handles that project from the surface and a change in the ground level that rises to meet the height of the floor inside the building.
An entrance at the the side of the building leads into a compact interior with a home office at one end and master and guest bedrooms at the other.
Sliding partitions between these rooms and the open-plan kitchen and living space can be opened or closed to meet different requirements.
“Long sight lines in the interior make the house appear larger from the inside, and anchor it to its surroundings,” the architects pointed out.
Surfaces are covered in pale birch multiplex panels that compliment the light-filled interior and views of the nearby trees.
Built-in storage covers one wall and is punctuated by a secret window that looks onto the street but is invisible from outside.
Selbing and Vogel were one of twelve winning entrants in the design competition. They were invited to construct their building but had to source a client to pay for it.
“In dialogue with the client, the competition proposal was worked out to the smallest detail, taking a demand for optimum accessibility into consideration,” the architects added.
The Mirror House is a private villa with a facade consisting entirely of reflective glass, which acts as a camouflage and an obstruction of the view of its interior. The floor plan has been designed to be as compact as possible, with the possibility to adapt to different lifestyles. All interior walls are covered with a birch multiplex panel, whose warm appearance contrasts with the elegant and strict glass facade.
After De Realiteit and De Fantasie, the third edition of small experimental housing settlements in Almere has been launched under the title De Eenvoud. The brief of the competition called for an individual house with a strong relation to its surroundings. The twelve winning teams were given the possibility to realise their designs in an open area in the forest of Noorderplassen-West, but had to find the buyers of the houses themselves.
The Mirror House is a private villa with a facade consisting entirely of reflective glass, which acts as a camouflage and an obstruction of the view of its interior. The floor plan has been designed to be as compact as possible, with the possibility to adapt to different lifestyles. In dialogue with the client, the competition proposal was worked out to the smallest detail, taking a demand for optimum accessibility into consideration.
The original concept with a slightly raised floor (for a better view), sliding doors, built-in cupboards and a single-level layout, has therefore been further refined. Long sight lines in the interior make the house appear larger from the inside, and anchor it to its surroundings. All interior walls are covered with a birch multiplex panel, whose warm appearance contrasts with the elegant and strict glass facade.
Photo essay: British photographer Alastair Philip Wiper toured the interior of one of the largest slaughterhouses in the world to create this series of images documenting how pigs are turned into pork, sausages and bacon (+ slideshow).
Danish Crown is the world’s largest exporter of pork, killing approximately 100,000 pigs a week to cater to the growing global demand for meat. Alastair Philip Wiper visited the company’s abattoir in Horsens to capture a behind-the-scenes look at the entire process, starting at the pens where the pigs arrive and moving through the spaces where the animals are slaughtered, butchered and packaged for sale.
Wiper says he “finds it difficult to tolerate those who love eating meat, but cannot bear to think about, or look at, the slaughter and death of that animal”, so each image in the Danish Crown Slaughterhouse is intended to reveal the entire butchering process, made visible by the transparency and openness of the spaces.
I am not a squeamish person. I love food, I love meat, and I particularly love pork. In an ideal world, we would all get our meat from the guy in our village whose family has lovingly cared for their animals over generations, given the animals the best possible life, fed them only the best food, read them a bed-time story every night and given them kilometres of space to roam free in before being humanely and ceremoniously slaughtered by the patriarch of the family. Unfortunately most of us don’t live in that world, and while there is a strong case for a serious discussion about whether or not we really need to eat, or should be eating, as much meat as we do, that is a discussion for another day.
The reality is that the society we live in craves meat, on a massive scale. Where there is a demand there will be a supply, and finding out how that supply is met is something that all meat-eaters should be interested in. As a food lover, I am firmly of the belief that people should think about, understand and respect their food (that includes vegetables!) and part of that respect is rooted in where the meat on your plate comes from and how it died. I find it difficult to tolerate those who love eating meat, but cannot bear to think about, or look at, the slaughter and death of that animal. It seems disrespectful towards the animal, and if I wanted to get really eggy about it, I’m not sure if such people should be allowed to eat meat at all. So it was with great anticipation that I looked forward to my visit to the Danish Crown slaughterhouse in Horsens, touted as “the most modern slaughterhouse in the world”.
Danish Crown is the world’s largest exporter of pork, supplying pork to customers all over the world; 90 percent of the pork slaughtered in Denmark is exported, with the UK being the biggest market. Completed in 2004, the slaughterhouse at Horsens kills approximately 100,000 pigs per week, making it one of the largest in the world. There are 1,420 people employed there, and the slaughterhouse receives around 150 visitors per day.
The slaughterhouse has been designed with openness in mind; a viewing gallery follows every step of the production, from the pigs arriving, to the slaughter itself, to the butchering and packaging. I was genuinely surprised at the level of openness at the plant; Danish Crown wants to invite people in and say “look, this is how we do it”.
The first part of the process is called the “black” slaughter line, and is in stark contrast with the minimalist, office-like corridors that surround the slaughtering area. We started off in the space where the pigs arrive – holding pens where up to 3,800 pigs (3 and a half hours worth of slaughtering) will sit for 1-2 hours before they are slaughtered. “Listen to that” says my guide, Agnete Poulsen. “Listen to what?” I think. “There are thousands of pigs in here, and you can hardly hear a sound. Have you ever heard the noise that ten pigs can make? It’s incredible. These are very calm pigs, and that’s the way we want them to be. This room has been designed to calm the pigs down before they go into the slaughterhouse. If the pigs are stressed when they are killed, the quality of the meat will not be so good.”
From there, the pigs are gently herded in small groups by a series of moving walls into a gas chamber, where they are rendered unconscious by C02 gas. A minute later, they tumble out of the chamber on to a conveyor belt from where they are strung up by their legs before being stuck in the carotid artery and bleeding to death.
The pigs continue on their journey along a long line, strung up by their legs. They disappear into a cabinet, where an automatic saw chops their body in half. Then a series of workers remove different organs from each side of the body – one lucky guy’s job is to remove the brain, the next one the heart, and so on. Needless to say, there is a lot of blood. As I mentioned earlier, I believe it is important to understand how an animal is butchered, and even try it yourself; but, I think to myself, I couldn’t do this for a living. “Do you psychologically profile the guys who do these jobs? How do you know they won’t crack up after a couple of weeks?” I ask Agnete. “Not at all” she replies. “They get used to it very quickly. You would too. We don’t force people to do this, they are happy to do it. It’s an honest job.”
All of the organs collected in this process move on to different sections of the plant where they will be processed further – there is always a part of the world where something we don’t eat here is a delicacy. From the “black” slaughter line, the pigs are hung for 16 hours in a refrigerated room, before moving on to the next line for general butchering by hand, then packaging, before being loaded on to trucks and whizzed off to far-flung places. At each step of the process, different parts of the pig are stamped, scanned and recorded, so that each piece of meat in the supermarket can be traced right back to the farm that it came from and the time it was slaughtered.
The slaughterhouse at Horsens was truly one of the most fascinating places I have visited on my travels. It is an experience that will leave a mark on my daily life, and help me to understand, just a little, about another important aspect of my food. As you can probably tell, this is not an in-depth exposé of an industry, and my experience is not enough to knowledgeably critique the process of delivering Danish Crown bacon to your breakfast table; nor can I account for the processes of Danish Crown outside what I saw in Horsens. But I was pleasantly surprised by the openness of the plant about its operations and methods, and it is clear that when they designed the slaughterhouse they were thinking ahead in terms of what consumers will want to see from food producers: more transparency.
And while I can’t comment on the conditions of the lives of the pigs before they get to the slaughterhouse (the vast majority of which come from Denmark), I can only make an educated guess that, through my own experience as a resident of Denmark, the laws that govern the treatment of pigs would be about as strict or stricter as they would be anywhere else in the world. Anyone with any knowledge on that would be welcome to chip in. I am happy to admit that I finished my tour with a sausage in the canteen.
The window of London department store Selfridges has been dressed with a selection of new inventions by British designer Dominic Wilcox, including a reverse listening device and binoculars for viewing the future (+ slideshow).
Crystal Beard
Dominic Wilcox chose ideas from his Variations on Normal collection of absurd but logical inventions for the window display, which is part of Selfridges’ Festival of Imagination.
Tea Cup with Cooling Fan
“The theme I was working to was extremely broad, simply ‘Imagination’,” Wilcox told Dezeen. “I started adding ideas into my sketchbook one at a time and eventually filled a few pages with a rough outline of thoughts. Once I started selecting materials and making the ideas into real objects they naturally changed and developed.”
Potted Umbrella
His handmade sparkling beard is made from 2000 crystals and a Wedgwood cup and saucer has been modified to include a fan for cooling a piping hot brew.
Bugle Alarm Clock
An umbrella with inbuilt flowers pots is designed so the user can water their plants and stay dry at the same time. The Reverse Listening Device – shown in the short movie above – allows the wearer to listen to sounds on their left side in their right ear and vice versa. “It was interesting to use the device and find out that it actually worked well,” said Wilcox.
Future and past-viewing binoculars
He created a pair of binoculars through which the user could view the future and past, simply by inputting their chosen date and looking through the eyepieces.
Spiked Tap
An alarm clock with a brass bugle attached to the side is powered by mini compressor to create a noise loud enough to ensure you wake up.
Spiked Teapot
Metal objects are given a punk makeover by covering them in spikes include a faucet, a teapot and a hip flask.
Spiked Brandy Hip Flask
Wilcox proposes attaching small aeroplane wings to the sides of London’s black cabs to alleviate the city’s traffic congestion.
Flying Taxi
A suitcase with legs so it can walk on its own instead of being dragged along and toothbrushes with maracas on the bottom to make cleaning teeth more musical also feature in the display.
Walking Suitcase
The items are suspended in the window beside bubbles of text to explain their functions.
Shiny aluminium-clad walls allow this small house in Almere by Dutch studio MONO to reflect the colours of its setting (+ slideshow).
Named Rebel House, the single-storey residence was designed by MONO to be deliberately alien to the typical brick buildings of the local neighbourhood.
“The house looks like a spaceship which touched ground to mother earth,” said architects Gijs Baks, Jacco van Wengerden and Milda Grabauskaite. “It seems to want to leave any moment again.”
The house was constructed on a tight budget, so low-cost corrugated aluminium was used to clad all four walls. The same material also covers doors, allowing them to blend into the facade.
The interior surfaces of the walls are fronted with timber to give the appearance of warmth to the open-plan living spaces.
A grid of shelves stretches across one of these walls to accommodate a kitchen, storage areas and a large window seat.
The rest of the space is loosely divided up by the presence of a boxy bathroom that integrates extra storage areas and a sliding partition to screen off the bedroom.
Double doors open the house out to the garden, where the architects have added a triangular shed clad with the same aluminium panels.
Rebel House liberates itself from existing prejudices, and appears radically unconventional for a house. The house looks like a spaceship which touched ground to mother earth. The corrugated aluminum sheeting reflect the sun and the surroundings, and create an extreme lightness. The house seems to want to leave any moment again.
Both this dream and the raw realities of site parameters and proximity to its boundaries, budget limitations and the desire for low maintenance were crucial in the design development of Rebel House.
In contrast to the exterior the interior is warm and convivial. The timbered walls integrate a kitchen, an open cupboard and a deep windowsill as a ‘hangout’. The detached box houses all services of the house. Living around it is a continuous experience. The hidden, double doors open the house to the garden. The triangular, aluminium shed in the garden seems to provide an anchor for the house and completes the composition.
Client: private Architect: MONO (www.mono.eu) Location: Almere – The Netherlands Area: 77sqm Team: Gijs Baks, Jacco van Wengerden, Milda Grabauskaite Stuctural Engineer: On Man Interior Fit Out: Thomas Meubels
An events space designed by Rem Koolhaas’ OMA has opened in the basement of London department store Selfridges, featuring a circular amphitheatre, vivid green columns and a stripy monochrome floor (+ slideshow).
The Imaginarium was designed by OMA as “a school of imagination” and will be used to host a series of lectures, debates and activities as part of the Festival of Imagination taking place over the next six weeks.
The space centres around the semi-circular sections of the main amphitheatre, which were built on wheels so that they can be moved into different configurations. Pushed together, they form an intimate enclosure for up to 72 people, but can also be separated to surround a mobile stage.
The hollow structure of the seating is clad with translucent polycarbonate, allowing light to shine through from dozens of fluorescent lighting tubes installed within.
Elsewhere, cube-shaped stools are laid out in a grid to create another seating area, but can be moved into different layouts to suit various events and activities.
The floor of the space is painted with an Op Art-style pattern of black and white stripes that were applied using a road-painting machine.
Surrounding columns are painted in a shade of green often used to overlay a background in televised news and weather reports.
The perimeter walls are covered with mirrors that disguise the boundaries of the room.
The Koolhaas-designed auditorium is one of three Imaginariums installed at Selfridges‘ department stores across the UK. All three will host daily events during the Festival of Imagination, which is intended to “explore the power of the mind”.
Selfridges launches the Festival of Imagination, with the unveiling of the Imaginarium – the first school of imagination of its kind
Selfridges London previews its Festival of Imagination with novelist Lucy Hawking (daughter of scientist Stephen Hawking) and Selfridges’ Creative Director Alannah Weston in the Imaginarium, ahead of the official launch to the public, tomorrow, Friday 17 January.
Based on Harry Gordon Selfridge’s belief that imagination is the antidote to routine and the mother of originality, The Festival of Imagination is Selfridges’ new campaign to encourage people to explore the power of their own imagination with the help of some renowned personalities (the festival’s bright imagineers) who are helping to shape and inspire our future.
Following on from the resounding success of No Noise in 2013, Selfridges’ first wellbeing campaign, the Festival of Imagination continues to explore the power of the mind. This time, instead of celebrating silence, meditation and all things ‘less is more’, Selfridges focuses on what happens when our creativity is stimulated and imagination takes flight.
The line up of imagineers giving one of the 100-plus talks, lectures and discussions in Imaginariums in Selfridges stores in London, Manchester and Birmingham include Lucy Hawking, Jeanette Winterson, Carol Ann Duffy, and Nicola Formichetti.
The stunning London Imaginarium was designed by iconic Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas, under whom Zaha Hadid, the world’s most famous female architect once studied and trained.
The Festival of Imagination officially launches on Friday 17 January and runs until 2 March. The Imaginariums’ schedules and all details about the festival are available at selfridges.com.
News: Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron have revealed designs for the first eight buildings of their 35-hectare masterplan for La Confluence, an extension of the city centre in Lyon, France (+ slideshow).
Herzog & de Meuron are overseeing phase two of the La Confluence regeneration plan, an initiative started by the Greater Lyon authority in 1998 to revitalise a stretch of land at the junction of the Rhône and Saône rivers that before now accommodated little besides industrial warehouses, a wholesale market and a prison.
Lot A3 will be the first completed block of the mixed-use masterplan and comprises a total of eight new buildings, including a 17-storey tower by Herzog & de Meuron and smaller buildings by architects including Christian Kerez and Tatiana Bilbao.
Located within the area dubbed the Market Quarter, the buildings are due to be completed by 2017 and will include a mixture of residences, offices, shops and other public amenities.
“[It] is a pilot project that aims to invent a way of living that is characteristic of the new quartier du marché,” said the architects. “With its remarkable location, the ambition of Ilot A3 is to link different parts of the existing and future city.”
French landscape architect Michel Desvigne is working alongside Herzog & de Meuron on the project.
Scroll down for an overview of the masterplan from Herzog & de Meuron:
Lyon: Nature and the city
The Confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône are Lyon’s very “raison d’être”. As early as the first century BC the Romans built fortifications at the precise point where the Saône crosses the chain of hills to the west of the city before flowing into the Rhône. Lyon then spread to the east as it developed. Initially on the peninsula bracketed by the two rivers and, once this area was completely occupied, beyond the Rhône and out on to the eastern plain.
Not only did the development of the city follow the logic of the natural environment, but its building types were a reaction to the local topography. The constructions on the hillsides are distinctly different from those at the waterside, and those bordering on the Rhône are different again from those on the Saône. Lyon’s identity is thus founded in this direct relationship between architecture and nature. It was not until the 20th century, when the city was beginning to spread to the plains – with no natural constraints – that generic urban architecture, interchangeable with that of any other city, began to appear.
Urban development of the southern tip of the peninsula therefore offers a major opportunity to write a significant chapter in Lyon’s history, in which urban development is inseparable from the natural environment.
The Confluence: From Marshland to city centre
Apart from a few port infrastructures, the Confluence remained undisturbed for many years, because the river courses were unpredictable and the land unworkable. It was only after the banks were consolidated that the peninsula became stable ground and land with potential for the city, a space for utopias.
It all comes down to the same question, should the island tip be a space for nature or should it be built up? Should it embellish the city, like the naturalist park projects of the 19th century? Should it be glorified by the addition of a monument, as Tony Garnier suggested in his Cineplex proposal in 1924? Should it be gradually covered over by the spreading city, devoured like the north of the peninsula?
None of these radical visions ever came to pass. Instead, the district had the time to develop almost unnoticed. The marché de gros, the gendarmerie, the SNCF, a circus, a prison and prostitution, all based activities here – activities generally relegated to the edges of cities. In recent years, two town planning competitions have been organised and a new bit of the city, La Confluence Phase 1, is now on the point of being built. This includes a hub combining leisure facilities and retail outlets interspersed with generously proportioned green spaces leading to a wide embankment running along the Saône.
The theme of the present project is based on the offering of a new vision on the La Confluence Phase 2 site at the location of the former marché de gros. The fundamental question must therefore be raised once more, can the development of the southern tip of the peninsula, the last reservation within the city, transform Lyon’s image?
Lyon’s image: A city between two rivers
Lyon is characterised essentially by a dense urban fabric along its riverbanks joined by numerous bridges. Both riverfront and types of construction are highly diverse. Along the Saône, the addition of buildings of varying heights creates an expressive frontage underscored by the curving path of the river. A monumental ladder dominates the banks of the Rhône. Colossal solitary edifices like the Hôtel-Dieu or a more recent municipal swimming pool reflect the river’s width. Historical engravings illustrate the importance of water in the life of the city and show how segments of river bracketed by the bridges are like great public squares.
The peninsula itself is characterised by great homogeneity. A single major artery runs through it along which the main monuments and squares lie: Lyon’s town hall and opera, the place Bellecour, the complex infrastructure of Lyon Perrache station, plus a large number of little squares and churches. This axis is the city’s backbone.
The green hills to the west, the Balmes, occupied by scattered buildings, overlook the city and its two rivers. These idyllic hillsides also form part of Lyon’s general image. They provide a picturesque backdrop, a silhouette crowned by the basilica. Most of the bird’s-eye views created during the city’s history were drawn from this vantage point.
The 40 million drivers who pass through the natural space of the Confluence every year on the motorway bridge are confronted with a radically different image. When asked about their memory of Lyon, they answer: a long tunnel. Lyon is perceived as a place of transit. Where every European passes through it at one time or another on the way to the French Riviera.
And since the fundamental question must come back to the fore, we are convinced that the answer is “Yes, some enterprise needs to be undertaken here to change the perception of the city as a whole entity”. The handful of seconds travellers spend on the outskirts of Lyon must stick in their memories. Going beyond the development of a new city district, the aim must be to offer a vision for the Confluence that can redefine Lyon’s image. A new chapter in the natural and urban history of Lyon needs to be written.
Completing the confluence
The development project for the second phase of the Confluence includes two radically different but mutually complementary areas. On the one hand there is the quartier du Marché, a dense city district, supplementing the urban fabric of Lyon on the peninsula and, on the other, the champ, a predominantly green space which itself forms part of the history of the Confluence like an “event”, the meeting up of the Rhône and Saône rivers. The transversale, a series of bridges and boulevards, connects the Confluence with the rest of Lyon beyond the twin rivers.
This is a dense but permeable district comprised of a variety of housing, offices and shops, replacing the former marché de gros.
A network of streets and courtyards has been laid down on the basis of the clear, linear, repetitive structure of the old market. Some of the existing covered market structures have been retained, contributing their deeply industrial character to the identity of the new city district while at the same time providing space at moderate prices available in the short term for very specific developments.
The new buildings present a variety of scales and character – low-rise housing closely linked to the ground level and the remaining halls of the covered market, medium-rise construction containing housing units or offices and some residential buildings, higher in certain cases, offering panoramic views while at the same time freeing open space at ground level.
The identity of the quartier du Marché stems from two quite different free spaces: the relatively narrow streets occasionally widening out, and courtyard gardens forming a continuous, tranquil, semi-public space for pedestrians and environmentally friendly transport modes.
The place Centrale, an almost conventional square with its tall trees, is a grand extension to the place Nautique and provides a venue for public events in front of the Hôtel de Région and the new public service building in the east.
The champ
The southern tip of the Confluence is the green counterpart to the densely built-up quartier du Marché. It offers a type of natural environment that is a genuine novelty in Lyon, and we have named it the champ. Activities in the cultural domain, innovative services, higher education and research are suggested as possible occupants for the champ.
We propose that some of the existing warehouses should be retained, since these would facilitate the implementation of developments of this kind, plus the option of defining a series of plots for new buildings in the vicinity.
The division of the overall area is underscored by tongues of vegetation reminiscent of the marshland conditions previously prevailing in the Confluence. Densely planted trees and a selection of plant species provide ground coverage and create the feeling of a public park on what is largely private land. An expansive network of paths for “environmentally friendly” travel runs alongside the planted areas bordering the individual plots.
The first high-rise buildings for mixed use in Lyon will also be located in the champ – twin, finely proportioned high-rise blocks define the termination of the city’s main artery. From a more distant perspective, they underscore the “natural event” of the Confluence, that is the convergence of two great rivers which were, originally, the city’s very “raison d’être”.
The transversale and the Rhône riverfront
A boulevard and two bridges form what we have termed the transversale, the last crossing point over the two rivers and the peninsula, so typical of Lyon. The new transversale, laid diagonally across a squared-off urban fabric, thus faces the Greater Rhône south of the Confluence.
Ultimately, it is planned to reclassify the A7 motorway and to convert it into a city boulevard connecting the Confluence directly to the city’s historic centre. A new jetty on the quai du Rhône will enhance access to the river for a whole range of leisure activities. The pont des Girondins will be the main artery connecting up Gerland and neighbouring districts on the Rhône’s left bank. In the future, the reduction of the area occupied by the railways will free up still more land for the creation of a continuous green space between the Rhône and the Saône on the Confluence.
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