From ideas to process-projects
Europan 13 - Vernon (FR)
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Project strategy family:
- Ecological connections
- Inclusive morphologies
- Inventive typologies
- Reinterpreted heritage
- Urban articulations
Process category:
- Direct order processes
- Competitive processes
- Co-creative processes
- Collaborative processes
- Participative processes
- Participation of the Living processes
- Adaptative legal framework processes
Authors: Maya Nemeta, FR + New South, FR
Client(s): City of Vernon, Seine Normandie Agglomération
Dates: 2015 - 2025
Driving forces: TEAM
Site
Vernon (FR)
SCALE XL/L SIZE 1770ha / 220ha
Rooting the amenities of the inner city in a development of the naturel spaces that shape its context, large landscapes marked by typography and hydrography, is essential. This new equilibrium between city and nature doesn’t exclude an intensification of urban activities facilitating conciliation between urban elements and an evolution of uses and practices
Awarded Idea
Project - Ideas
NAVIGABLE COLLECTIONS
The runner-up project proposed a reflection on the scale of the large Vernonnais territory, which stretches on both sides of the Seine valley, with its urbanized fabrics, forests and hillsides.
It was about to propose a coherent vision for all the study sites proposed by the city: identify vacant plots in the city centre and imagine new land opportunities; propose the transformation of the SNCF station into a station hub connecting both sides of the city; anticipate the transformation of the foundry / paper mill wasteland in connection with the ZAC Fieschi; and finally, re-address the city along the Seine axis with the development of the banks.
The connection of the project sites makes it possible to think about their evolution in coherence with each other to imagine a prospective and evolving scenario for the transformation of public spaces in the city of Vernon.
Project Strategy
Family: Urban articulations
AN ADAPTABLE GROUND RECONNECTS THE PUBLIC SPACES OF THE CITY CENTRE AND BECOMES A SHARED SPACE
Following a competition between the prize-winning teams, the runner-up team reorganised, was able to carry out a project to rethink the coherence of the public spaces in the city centre, and imagine their transformation, in relation to the uses of the streets and squares. The team proposes a vision for the city centre of Vernon, with the set-up of an adaptable ground that promotes all mobility. The issue of parking was very present, as well as support for the city-centre businesses during this transition. One of the challenges, in this operational phase, was to continue to address the notion of adaptability, reversibility in the transformation of public spaces, in connection with uses.
A citizen consultation was organized between end of 2018 and beginning of 2019 around two versions of the project in order to choose which scenario would be implemented. The team then completed the study phase and the preparation of the enterprises’ consultation file on the basis of the chosen scenario (version 2).
The transformation and requalification of the public spaces of the city centre of Vernon aims to contribute to the promotion and quality of life of this medium sized city. This vision is transcribed through an ambition of bolstering the local economy, enhancing the aesthetic value of urban spaces and accompanying an evolution in practices, particularly transportation, wherein walking and cycling replace short car journeys and access to public transport is improved. Through the use of a single, unifying floor finish, a light-coloured sanded concrete, the ground of the city centre becomes a shared surface. This material is articulated by a grid layout whose rhythm is designed to integrate urban furniture, vegetation, lighting and signage, in addition to facilitating technical access and security measures.
The three principal squares of the city centre are reorganised as spaces of conviviality, open to an array of uses, in order to redefine the way that public spaces of the city centre are practised and experienced by the inhabitants. Their new layouts are given particular attention, with variations in the concrete grid and the integration of other materials sourced from preliminary deconstruction in the city centre, such as brick and stone borders.
Process
Category(ies): Competitive processes, Participative processes, Participation of the Living processes
Competitive processes
Following the competition, the city issued a restricted tender to the 3 Europan rewarded teams for an urban project management contract for the development of public spaces in the city centre. The runner-up team – comprising architects, urban planners, landscape architects, engineers, lighting designers and an urban sociologist – won the contract.
Participative processes
A public consultation was organised around two versions of the project in order to choose which scenario to implement.
Participation of the Living processes
The project addresses the issues of global warming and urban heat islands through careful consideration of plant selection, public space surfacing, and water circulation.
