VOLGA Urbanisme & Paysage
Annelise BIDEAUD (FR)
Matthieu WOTLING (FR)
Agathe TURMEL (FR)
VOLGA URBANISME & PAYSAGE
Matthieu Wotling (FR), architect
Agathe Turmel (FR), landscaper 60 rue de Meaux 75019 Paris -France
contact@ateliervolga.com
ateliervolga.com
M. Wotling, A. Turmel & A. Bideaud
When did you win Europan? On which site(s) and in which country(-ies)? How was the team formed by then? Please describe the main idea(s) of your project(s)?
E9, Le Locle (CH) – "Trac3s"
Team: Matthieu Wotling and Annelise Bideaud
Project: The requalification project of the entrance to the town of Le Locle is built around the creation of a lake, a hub and an eco-district. The open water bodies of the lake, swamps and a former pit converted into an outdoor stage underline the territory permanent lines. A new urban centrality focused on leisure and nature is to grow from and around those “marks”.
Operational follow-up: We were given a mission to elaborate a masterplan for the district, which is currently under validation by the Neuchâtel administration. After the necessary technical and environmental studies to confirm the lake project feasibility, the operational phases of the planning studies are now in progress.


E10, Saintes (FR) – "Connex[city]"
Team: Matthieu Wotling and Annelise Bideaud
Project: After the closing down of the Saint Louis hospital the issue of the project was reintegrate, in the heart of the city, the former Roman forum dominating the historical centre of Saintes. The urban fabric is developed as base for the future district to multiply the relations between contemporary and historical architectures. A market place, a pedestrian walk and a belvedere come together at the scale of the major public spaces of the city to open unique viewpoints between the Saint Louis site and the city centre. The architectural forms –arising from this fabric– combine urban density and residential intimacy.
Operational follow-up: After a consultation process with the three winning teams, our team was selected to work on pre-operational studies (masterplan, elaboration of the Conservation and Presentation Plan, operational arrangement…) for the new district and project management for the public spaces. The studies were put on hold after a change of municipality.
E12, Paris (FR) – "Green Belt Dilatation"
Team: Matthieu Wotling and Annelise Bideaud
Project: The “Green Belt Dilatation” project questions – through a park and a dense block– the place of nature in the city amid high mutability. The Green Belt and the “small belt”, once reactivated, act as milestones of a soft mobility network at the scale of the Grand Paris, between the key centralities of the North Station and the future Pleyel station. The “fertile block” answers new issues of density and sustainability. A sheet of interconnected yards and gardens opens vistas at roof height while emerging volumes rise at the surrounding towers heights. As it autonomous thanks to its programmatic diversity this typology adapted to high mutability could extend to the Green Belt to reinforce the founding principle: 50% green, 50% density.
Operational follow-up: There was no follow-up on this site after the Europan competition.

Did your project(s) have any follow-up? If yes, which one and how? Did this step have a learning effect for you as far as the process is concerned? If yes, which one? If not, why did the project not go further?
The Europan projects for which we were rewarded were our first experiences as representatives of project management groups. Through this we learnt how to defend an urban vision while adapting to the evolutions of the context, to position ourselves according to the project different actors, to integrate the inhabitants to the project, to build ourselves some legitimacy as enthusiastic, open and… skillful young designers.