Hasta La Ideas

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.

The quartier du marché

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.

The post Herzog & de Meuron unveil first
buildings of Lyon masterplan appeared first on Dezeen.

This wooden nursery and elementary school complex in Lyon by French architects Tectoniques has hilly rooftops carpeted with plants that feature walkways for students to explore (+ slideshow).

Tectoniques built the two schools on a sloping site opposite a wooded parkland in the northern city suburb of Rillieux-la-Pape.

The two- and three-storey buildings were designed with V-shaped plans. The nursery school frames a garden, while the elementary school wraps around a narrow courtyard.

In certain places the plant-covered rooftops appear to emerge from the ground, created a series of slopes and pathways that children are encouraged to investigate.

“One of the project’s major characteristics is the relationship it establishes between architecture and nature,” said the architects. “The structures in keeping with their surroundings are, at times, allowing nature to more or less literally to get the upper hand.”

“The general profile is uniformly and deliberately low, harmonising with the slope in such a way as to minimise the excavation and foundation work,” they added.

The two schools operate independently, but share some facilities. A communal entrance provides a place for parents to congregate before and after school, and is linked to the village by a pedestrian pathway.

Timber cladding covers most of the building’s interior and exterior, but is interspersed with a few yellow-painted panels on the walls and ceilings.

Spacious corridors run between classrooms and feature floor-to-ceiling windows to increase natural light.

A vegetable garden grows on the perimeter of the school, plus a new gymnasium will be added to the site next year.

Another project we’ve featured by Tectoniques is a black townhouse elsewhere in Lyon.

Other schools completed recently include a glazed art and music academy in Latvia and a high school in Germany with a spotty concrete ceiling. See more schools »

Photography is by Renaud Araud and the architects.

Here’s a project description from the architects:

Paul Chevallier School in Rillieux-la-Pape

The Paul Chevallier school complex is situated in Rillieux-la-Pape, a northern suburb of Lyon. At 5,034 m2, it is an unusually large project; and this indicates the growing attractiveness of the area. The complex currently comprises a nursery school and an elementary school. In 2014, a gym will be added, which will also be available for community activities. The site occupies an entire block, close to the centre of the district. The two schools are functionally and administratively autonomous. While following on from each other, they make up a continuum, in an overall composition.

They are made up of rectangular modules in “V” formations enclosing internal spaces which, in the case of the nursery school, is a garden, and, in that of the elementary school, a patio. The design takes account of the sloping terrain. The structures in laminated KLH® panels have imposing planted-out roofs with overhangs. Lending its tone to the entire project, this extra “façade” represents the lyrical nature of the relationship between nature and architecture, in a Japanese-inspired atmosphere. It is accessible and visible from inside the buildings via the volumes of the first floor, part of which rises up over the roof and seems to float over this hanging garden.

Integration into the urban mosaic

The site is surrounded by disparate constructed forms that illustrate the historical development of the area. The old village stretches out along the Route de Strasbourg, and on the southern side there is a mix of apartment blocks and private housing developments. Dense, diverse plant life accompanies and modifies this urban environment. Across from the site is the wooded Brosset park, with, on its perimeter, the Maison des Familles, the Centre Social and the Ecole de Musique, whose functions are complementary to those of the schools.

The nursery school occupies a calm, sheltered position in a garden at the heart of the site, with an area of vegetation close to a château and some villas. The elementary school has a façade that gives onto Rue Salignat. The future gym will follow the alignment of the street. A pedestrian pathway leads to the entrance, organising the area where the parents congregate, and linking the schools to the village, as a prolongation to the existing axes of communication. It is lined by the structures themselves, thus leaving room for the playgrounds and gardens on the southern side.

Reconciling architecture and nature

One of the project’s major characteristics is the relationship it establishes between architecture and nature. The structures are in keeping with their surroundings, at times allowing nature, more or less literally, to “get the upper hand”. The general profile is uniformly, deliberately low, harmonising with the slope in such a way as to minimise excavation and foundation work. The project harmonises vegetation on the upper and lower levels. The volumes in wood are separated by the broad, planted-out roofs, with their waves of colour.

The inclined roof planes and broad overhangs energise the silhouette, and attenuate the massiveness of the blocks. This schema is an encouragement to strolling and dallying. It projects an impression of insouciance that is ideally suited to the world of children. From the inside, nature is framed by the large windows of the classrooms, and its close proximity makes it an element of the children’s educational needs. The landscapers have provided places of discovery and experimentation. There is a vegetable garden beside Rue Salignat, and a discovery path on the way to the canteen in the northern wing of the nursery school. There are also walkways on the roofs, which introduce the children to another ambiance.

Poetry and surprise

The two schools are unified by their broad, pleated roofs, the nursery school being lower down on the slope. The ground plan is simple, so that the children can easily find their way around. The geometry, and notably the passageways, contrast with the spatial intensity. The inner perspectives are telescoped or attenuated, depending on whether the walls are convex or concave. Views onto the outside world, and superimposed spaces, are always different, always new. There are multiple, changing, irregular facets. No two façades are the same.

The complex is labile, asymmetrical, surprising. In terms of organisation, the classrooms are rectangular, and can take thirty children comfortably. The collective spaces (library, concourse, music and computing rooms) stand out, in part, above the roofs. Large windows, sheltered by the roof projections and sunshades, open onto the playgrounds on the southern side. And the nursery school also receives natural light from the north. Access to the nursery school classrooms is through cloakrooms, via yellow perforated metal entry points that indicate a passage from one world to another.

The toilets and dormitories are shared by two classrooms, and there is customised furniture in three-ply spruce, from the cloakrooms to the cupboards in the classrooms. The passageways have their own character, and are the project’s main axes. The galleries, main entrance, hall, covered playground, corridors and terraces are carefully designed, spacious, with natural lighting, for easy occupation.

Wood in depth

Wood is a pre-eminent presence. Tectoniques generally uses wood frames for its school projects, but in this case there are wood panels throughout, for the walls, façades and floors. They are left exposed on the inside surfaces, giving solidity and depth to the walls and partitions. This impression of mass and weight creates an impression that is unusual for construction in wood, which by its very nature is light.

Apart from the foundations, slabs, ground floor and stairwells, everything is in wood, including the lift shaft. The outer aspect of the complex is characterised by overhangs that are 2.4 m long and 0.18 m deep. Structurally, the roof is made of KLH® panels, as mentioned above, while the upper storey has cavity floors in prefabricated laminates between OSB planking on dry slabs, with soft coverings.

From preparation (long) to implementation (short)

The design-construction process is similar to certain techniques that have been used in Austria. Industrially-produced panels and more elaborate components are used for on-site dry assembly. This is one of the most ambitious project of its kind to be implemented in France, using a constructional approach that is one of Tectoniques’ specialities.

Area: 6,150 m2
Cost: €10.5 million
Client: Muncipality of Rillieux-la-Pape
Architects and surveyors: Tectoniques
Engineers: BPR Ingénierie Générale, Arborescence Structures Bois, Indiggo Environnement
Environmental approach: wood burning boiler, ground-coupled heat exchanger, wood frame, KLH panels, reutilisation of rainwater, solar-heated water for sanitary use

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by Tectoniques appeared first on Dezeen.

The buildings of Lyon are pulled apart in these impossible photographs by Norwegian artist Espen Dietrichson.

The series is entitled Variations On a Dark City and forms part of the artist’s One of Many Unusual Moments exhibition on show at the Galerie Roger Tator in Lyon.

For each image the walls and roof of a building are moved apart into the sky, just like the exploded axonometric diagrams drafted by architects.

“The series of modified or levitated architecture started as my first interest when I went to art academy,” Dietrichson told Dezeen.

Above: exhibition view is by David Desaleux

Explaining his technique, he said: “The photos are made half manually and half digitally. The technical drawing of the explosion is hand-drawn on paper, and after the first cut and paste almost all of the end-process is digital, before the silkscreening.”

Other manipulated photography on Dezeen includes a tower block that looks like it’s being unzipped and landscapes that are distorted into circles.

See more stories about photography »

The post Variations On a Dark City
by Espen Dietrichson appeared first on Dezeen.

This orange cube with two large round holes carved out of it is a design showroom in Lyon, France, by Paris studio Jakob + Macfarlane.

Top photograph is by Roland Halbe

The building is located next to a harbour and features a coloured metal mesh façade perforated with circles of different sizes.

Above photograph is by Roland Halbe

The volume is punctured in two places, with the smaller hole at ground level providing an entry point into the building.

The larger hole on the upper corner of the structure creates an atrium and exposes the internal floors and balconies.

The six-storey building is separated into a double-height showroom on the ground floor and offices on the upper levels, with a roof terrace surrounding offices on the sixth floor.

Full-height walls with polygonal apertures have been inserted throughout the showroom, with items displayed in the holes.

Photographs are by Nicolas Borel unless otherwise stated.

More architecture on Dezeen »

The following information is from the architects:

The Orange Cube – Jakob + Macfarlane Architects

The ambition of the urban planning project for the old harbor zone, developed by VNF (Voies Naviguables de France) in partnership with Caisse des Dépôts and Sem Lyon Confluence, was to reinvest the docks of Lyon on the river side and its industrial patrimony, bringing together architecture and a cultural and commercial program.

These docks, initially made of warehouses (la Sucrière, les Douanes, les Salins, la Capitainerie), cranes, functional elements bound to the river and its flow, mutate into a territory of experimentation in order to create a new landscape that is articulated towards the river and the surrounding hills.

The project is designed as a simple orthogonal « cube » into which a giant hole is carved, responding to necessities of light, air movement and views.

This hole creates a void, piercing the building horizontally from the river side inwards and upwards through the roof terrace.

The cube, next to the existing hall (the Salins building, made from three archs) highlights its autonomy. It is designed on a regular framework (29 x 33m) made of concrete pillars on 5 levels.

A light façade, with seemingly random openings is completed by another façade, pierced with pixilated patterns that accompany the movement of the river. The orange color refers to lead paint, an industrial color often used for harbor zones.

Above photograph is by Roland Halbe

In order to create the void, Jakob + MacFarlane worked with a series of volumetric perturbations, linked to the subtraction of three “conic” volumes disposed on three levels: the angle of the façade, the roof and the level of the entry.

These perturbations generate spaces and relations between the building, its users, the site and the light supply, inside a common office program.

The first perturbation is based on direct visual relation with the arched structure of the hall, its proximity and its buttress form.

It allows to connect the two architectural elements and to create new space on a double height, protected inside the building.

A second, obviously an elliptic one, breaks the structural regularity of the pole-girder structure on four levels at the level of the façade corner that gives on the river side.

This perforation, result of the encounter of two curves, establishes a diagonal relation towards the angle. It generates a huge atrium in the depth of the volume, surrounded by a series of corridors connected to the office platforms.

The plan of the façade is hence shifted towards the interior, constructing a new relation to light and view, from both interior and exterior.

This creates an extremely dynamic relation with the building that changes geometry according to the position of the spectator.

The tertiary platforms benefit from light and views at different levels with balconies that are accessible from each level.

Each platform enjoys a new sort of conviviality through the access on the balconies and its views, creating spaces for encounter and informal exchanges.

The research for transparency and optimal light transmission on the platforms contributes to make the working spaces more elegant and light.

The last floor has a big terrace in the background from which one can admire the whole panoramic view on Lyon, la Fourvière and Lyon-Confluence.

The project is part of the approach for sustainable development and respects the following principles:

Optimization of the façade conception allowing to reconcile thermal performance and visual comfort with an Ubat < 0,7 W / m2 K and a daylight factor of 2% for almost the total number of offices, a thermo frigorific production through heat pumps on the water level and the replacement of new hygienic air with recuperation of high efficient calories of the extracted air.

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The building is connected to future huge floating terraces connected to the banks of the river/ quays.

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PROGRAM:

commercial: headquarters Cardinal Group, real estate development
cultural: Design Showroom RBC

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Showroom concept:

This project was about bringing together a showroom dedicated to the world of design objects inside the architecture of an existing building: « The Orange Cube ». The intention was to bring the worlds of Architecture, Design and the uniqueness of the site in Lyon together into one experience.

Click for larger image

JAKOB + MACFARLANE decided to take the language of the Cube, which is based on the fluid movement of the River Saône and in a sense project this movement inside the space of the showroom.

Thus imagining the space as an extrapolation of the façade, a virtual three dimensional river or volume containing a long porous wall whose 60 “alvéoles” are filled with furniture. This wall wraps around the space of the showroom forming an L.

The spectator moves from the spectacular entry wall towards more intimate spaces on the river side. Each “alvéole” is unique in seize and form allowing thus an intimate and private view of each design piece.

The platforms on the floor, made from a series of kitset pants, imagined like islands, can become stages for different thematic presentations.

TECHNICAL INFORMATION

Client: Rhône Saône Développement
Dates: competition 2005 – September 2010
Surface: 6300m2

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Site: Quai Rambaud, Lyon
Program: tertiary
Cost consultant: Michel Forgue

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Electrical Engineering: Alto Ingénierie
Acoustic: Avel Acoustique
Structure: RFR GO+
Façade: T.E.S.S

See also:

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Nestlé Laboratory by Rojkind Arquitectos	TEK by BIG	Mole by Ninkipen!

Dutch architect Erick van Egeraat has collaborated with French architects Combarel-Marrec, Manuelle Gautrand and Pierre Gautier, plus Dutch architect Winy Maas to complete this building in Lyon, France, featuring a façade in wood and glass.

Called Monolith, the project was divided into five parts, each designed by one of the architects.

Van Egeraat designed the north-east entrance, shown here.

The block comprises offices, retail and residential units.

Photographs are by Philippe Ruault.

Here’s a bit more information from the architect:

Erick van Egeraat designs the Monolith in Lyon [FR]

A unique superblock is officially opened today in the French City of Lyon. Designed by Erick van Egeraat created the superblock, called the ‘Monolith’in collaboration with the French architects Combarel-Marrec, Manuelle Gautrand, Pierre Gautier and the Dutch architect Winy Maas. This superblock is part of the urban renewal project Lyon Confluence. The building with its exuberant architecture is intended to add the new values to this derelict territory which was previously a thriving industrial district. Now the area is transformed into an innovative and beautiful part of Lyon’s city center. Erick van Egeraat and his French and Dutch colleagues all contributed to this ambitious development.

The Lyon Confluence project consists of three lots: A, B and C. The project of Erick van Egeraat is located in lot C which is also know as Le Monolithe. Lot C comprises of office, retail and residential units on a size of 32.000m2, is located in Lyon’s key – redevelopment area Lyon Confluence. It will accommodate 1.500 new residents, 15.000m2 of new office-space and 1.800 m2 of retail. This ‘superblock‘ is part of the larger inner-city redevelopment in the gastronomic center of France.

Divided into 5 sections, each section was designed by a different architect. Erick van Egeraat designed the North-eastern entrance-part of the superblock.

Offices are located along the east side and parallel to the train track. Residential units are located on the north side and in the ‘bridge’ spanning across and creating the entrance gate to the interior courtyard.

“It is an unusual building which took quite some effort to get realized. Initially each architect selected a specific material for the façade”, Erick van Egeraat says.” We eventually decided to use all materials, which created this unusual but very attractive image for the Monolith”

The result for this design is a facade predominantly designed in wood and glass. The various wooden and glass panels have been assembled in a rich and elegant irregular pattern. The introduction of the pronounced vertical wooden fins created additional depth in the façade. The fins introduce an element of verticality in the predominantly horizontal volume of the entire block. Erick van Egeraat’s unique interpretation adds another layer of individuality and scale to this remarkable superblock.

See also:

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Moika Krukov by Erick van Egeraat	Metzo College by Erick van Egeraat	Grave City Hall by Erick van Egeraat