The Parenthesis

Nantes, its railway station and its surroundings, tells the history of a vast wasteland bordering the Loire that became a part of the city. Like the last piece of a jigsaw puzzle that gives coherence to a whole, the project must keep the promise of unifying the city through 3 parts: Affirming an exceptional situation between the Loire and the Little Amazon; Becoming a space for exchanges between two neighbourhoods that have little dialogue: Malakoff and Euronantes; Resonating beyond these neighbourhoods and reaching out to all the city's inhabitants.

To meet these challenges, we wish to build an atypical place that all Nantes residents can consider as a new polarity for their territory. If the toll road marks the boundary between the classified natural area and the rest of the city, the railway viaduct supports it by becoming the threshold of a sequence in which urban and natural spaces merge, the threshold of a Parenthesis where to enjoy: 3,200 m² of UCPA programs, and 3,000 m² of gardens; work: 13,000 m² of offices; and live: 6,200 m² of housing.

The originality of the place rests on a clever interweaving between the UCPA programming and the landscape project. A topography is builing up whose vegetation reflects an ascent towards the Loire. This landscaped heart of the site features a vertical structure comprised of 103 housing units and a curve compried of 13,000 m² of office space. The architecture is silent and harmonious thanks to strong horizontal lines. Its passageways mark a permanent interaction with the landscaped core that crosses the site and the natural spaces it features.

Through these project biases, we are convinced that we are keeping the promise of unifying the city, creating a permanent link with the great landscape, a close link with the city, a powerful link between the inhabitants, all invited to practice this place.

 Perspectives Virgin Lemon and Artefactory Lab