From ideas to process-projects
Europan 14 - Aurillac (FR)
« Panoplie »
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: ACLAA Architecture et Urbanisme
Client(s): Aurillac City
Dates: 2017 - ...
Driving forces: TEAMS
Site
Aurillac (FR)
SCALE L/S SIZE 50ha / 7ha
The competition site is situated on the left bank of the Jordanne, connected directly to the centre of Aurillac and tied into the larger landscape. How to manage mobility in the heart of the city ? How to organise local services and requalify a public place along the bank of the river? How to hang up the typological peculiarities of the medieval center to the production of a contemporary city?
Awarded Idea
Project - Ideas
Panoplie
This project proposes to reconcile and revitalize the historic public space uniting the two banks of the Jordanne river by building a ‘silo car park’, south of Gravier, to free the public space of cars. It becomes an iconic facility and provides a multitude of urban services through an inhabited ‘epidermis’: vertical garden, platform of activities, multifunctional stage.
On the Engie site, the strategy is based on the expectations of future users in order to define a program together. This co-constructed project offers a Panoply, a toolbox for the new “rurban” citizen motivated by the desire to be active.
Project Strategy
Family: Urban articulations
Following the competition, the 3 prize-winning teams worked on an urban study in the framework of the programme “Coeur de ville” in order to establish a framework and broad directions for future projects. Three lines of action were to be considered: Develop a cultural program and strengthen tourist appeal; strengthen housing supply; rethink mobility and maintain parking supply. The first step was to understand the project site and the expectations of the different partners through various workshops and site visits. The teams worked on the pedestrian and landscape continuities and on restoring pedestrian priority to better connect the left bank to the heart of the city.
They also studied how to reinforce the connection with the hillside neighbourhoods and proposed to implement a new disrtict on the slope. The project reinforces the central role of the Jordanne and offers a new urban facade facing the city centre with active and animated ground floors. The urban study has been submitted in nov. 2019.
The city then launched a design contract –restricted to the 3 prize-winning teams– for the redevelopment of the Gravier car park and Place Gerbert, which corresponds to the operational launch of a first phase of the overall project proposed during the urban study.
The Europan runner-up team (ACLAA) won this tender.
The team proposes work on the base and the ground: by articulating spaces that are predominantly pedestrian, where the car is “invited”, by highlighting the architecture of the quays, the balcony situations on the river, the views of the hydraulic structures (waterfalls), the flexible bank lines. The aim is to re-establish the continuity of the Jordanne riverbanks as a linear urban route—whether for walking or for active mobilities. Place Gerbert is being cleared of parking spaces, and traffic flows on the bridge and the square are being redesigned to optimize the required space; its status as a gateway to the city centre is being reinforced.
Work on Place Gerbert is currently underway, whereas the project for the Gravier car park has been postponed.
In 2024 the city launched a new tender once again reserved to the 3 Europan prize-winning teams for the ENGIE brownfield site, the “Foirail” and the Cours d’Angoulême. The runner-up team (ACLAA – project “Panoplie”) and the winning team (Atelier Pareto Paysage – project “The Great Park”) chose to partner together to answer to this call for tenders. The city therefore received two bids.
ACLAA and Atelier Pareto paysage won the tender for urban, public space and architectural project management.
After several workshops with the stakeholders and the city, the teams presented in June 2025, 3 development scenarios for the site. It's the scenarios 2 that has been retained: half park + tourist office + 50 dwellings + third places + restaurant + parking silo.
The teams are proposing a long-term, process-oriented project designed to avoid prematurely fixing how the site is used. The project is structured around four thematic seasons—broken down into phases—to allow for a gradual, adaptable, and coherent rollout over time.
- The first phase involves opening up the site through temporary developments, the redevelopment of the Cours d'Angoulême service road, and the relocation of parking facilities.
- The second phase will centre on the construction of the initial key buildings (the tourist office and a multi-story car park). The Cours d'Angoulême will be redeveloped into a unifying, greened public space. Interim improvements will continue, facilitating a shift in the site's functional image.
- The third phase (2030) will focus on building housing in the upper section of the site and creating a second landscaped area: the Foirail Square.
- Finally, the fourth phase will see the construction of the "Halle des Surprises," located along the Cours d'Angoulême frontage. It is conceived as a "third place" capable of adapting to different uses and evolving over time.
Process
Category(ies): Co-creative processes, Collaborative processes, Competitive processes, Participative processes
Co-creative processes
Following the competition, the city commissioned the 3 rewarded teams to develop an urban study on the Europan site. The aim of this joint study is to establish the main guidelines for future projects.
Collaborative processes
A workshop was organised to launch this urban study with various local stakeholders involved, enabling the 3 teams to understand the site in light of the new programming brought about by the ‘Action Cœur de Ville’ operation.
Competitive processes
Following this study, the city launched a first restricted tender to the 3 rewarded teams for an urban project management contract for public spaces along the Jordanne river (Gravier car park and Place Gerbert). The runner-up team ACLAA won the contract.
Two years later, the city launched a second restricted tender to the 3 rewarded teams for an urban project management contract for public spaces and architecture for the Engie brownfield site. For this new tender, the Winner and Special Mention from the Europan competition decided to join forces to respond and won the contract.
Participative processes
For the Engie brownfield development, the 2 Europan teams launched a broad participatory and consultative process in order to gather the opinions of all stakeholders.
