Results by themes
2015
Many sites are faced with difficult urban situations. The origins of these difficulties are to be found in problems caused by urban, economic and environmental factors, as well as differing values and a lack of cultural understanding. Despite these difficulties, the sites nevertheless constitiute a favourable ground for the creation of new dynamics which rely on scenarios of sharing and the adaptation of traditional architectural and urban tools.
Changes in economy, governance or society can give rise to overwhelming vacant spaces in the urban landscape: entire building complexes waiting for new users, former military zones, leftover green areas... These spaces cannot be taken up in normal/organic urban development as they are far too large and in need of full adaptation. Where should we therefore search for elements to fill the emptiness up and when can we consider it as a value? How can we give sense to vacancy and integrate it in new ways of making the city?
We understand “bridges” as linear connections between different contexts spanning over a barrier, which may be a river, a railway track or other physical obstacles. But we sometimes can transform the obstacle so that it allows movement in different senses and directions, becoming a connecting element rather than separating barrier. The obstacle may be inhabited, cut or criss-crossed; it can become an opportunity to increase density, change the functions on either side or bring a new perspective to a familiar context.
How to profit from new inputs to transform urban space and disperse the incoming positive dynamics to adjacent areas to create new urbanities? How to manage potential tensions between the local and translocal activities? These inputs are related either to new public transport network connections or to new programmatic developments. The scale of these incoming urban dynamics varies from the urban agglomeration to the whole world.