OMA Leads Pont Jean-Jacques Bosc Competition in Bordeaux
City officials have selected OMA’s “stripped-down design” as one of two final projects for the Pont Jean-Jacques Bosc international competition in Bordeaux, France. Stretching over the Garonne River, the OMA-designed proposal seeks to rethink the civic function and symbolism of a 21st century bridge by designing a multimodal “platform that can accommodate all the events of the city.”
“We wanted to provide the simplest expression – the least technical, least lyrical, an almost primitive structural solution,” stated Clement Blanchet, the project architect working alongside Rem Koolhaas. “This simplicity allowed us to create a generous platform for pedestrians and public programs, as well as flexibility in accommodating the future needs of various types of traffic.”
More from the project description after the break…
12 Maisons de Ville / Agence Bernard Bühler
Architects: Agence Bernard Bühler
Location: Bordeaux, France
Consulting Engineers: ETBA (Béton) MATH ING. (thermique) EUROVRD (VRD)
Area: 1,080 sqm
Year: 2010
Photographs: Vincent Monthiers, Desiree Castillo
Arc En Ciel / Agence Bernard Bühler
Architects: Agence Bernard Bühler
Location: Bordeaux, France
Area: 3,658 sqm
Year: 2010
Photographs: Vincent Monthiers, Courtesy of Agence Bernard Bühler
Ginko Eco-Neighbourhood Housing / Nicolas Laisné + Christophe Rousselle
Architects: Nicolas Laisné, Christophe Rousselle
Location: Garonne River, Bordeaux, France
Architects: Nicolas Laisné & Christophe Rousselle
Area: 8,206 sqm
Year: 2012
Photographs: Philippe Ruault
OMA to Masterplan Southern Neighborhood of Bordeaux
In order to accommodate the expansion of the local tram system, La Fabrique Métropolitaine de la Communauté Urbaine de Bordeaux has commissioned OMA to design a new major urban development in the southern district of Bordeaux, France. Over the next five years, the masterplan will regenerate the neighborhoods of Bègles and Villenave d’Ornon by forging new connections to Bordeaux’s central station and unlocking the potential for both city development and public space.
This project is part of the new identity for the “Porte Sud de Bordeaux” (Bordeaux south gate) and continues OMA’s intensive recent engagement in Bordeaux, as the office has been working since 2010 on the masterplan for 50,000 new housing units in the city.
More on OMA’s Bordeaux masterplan after the break…
Herzog & de Meuron Breaks Ground on ‘Grand Stade de Bordeaux’
Nearly two years after unveiling the design to the public, Herzog & de Meuron broke ground this morning on the new ‘Grand Stade de Bordeaux’ in France. Surrounded by lush vegetation typically found in this green belt district, the stepped concourse transitions visitors through a forest of slender white columns to the stadium’s bowl, whose form ensures maximum flexibility and optimal visibility for all 43,000 spectators.
Completion is set for 2015, just in time to host the Euro 2016 football championship.
The architect’s description after the break…
Ferme Darwin Proposal / SOA + holdUP
Designed by SOA + holdUP, the FERME DARWIN Proposal synthesizes a vertical farm and cultural facilities in an original manner. Stacking these disparate elements of art, music, and education up is like celebrating the insertion of agriculture in the very heart of the city. Anchored in a visionary city like Bordeaux, the project also addresses health, food, ethical and social concerns. More images and architects’ description after the break.
Center for New Businesses / Barcode Architects + Habiter Autrement
As part of the masterplan, ‘Bassin a Flots’ designed by ANMA/Nicolas Michelin, Barcode Architects and Habiter Autrement recently presented the Pôle de Compétences (Center for New Businesses). The 7,000m2 project will be a part of the masterplan, which aims on a phased transformation of the present introvert industrial harbor area into a new lively precinct with an urban mixture of living, working, and recreation. The slender 90 meter long and 21 meter tall building presents itself as a pure monolith volume stretching out over the entire length of the site. More images and architects’ description after the break.
MÉCA – Maison de l’Économie Créative et de la Culture en Aquitaine / BIG
Team BIG+FREAKS freearchitects, dUCKS scéno, Khephren Ingénierie, VPEAS, ALTO Ingénierie, Vincent Hedont, PBNL, Mryk & Moriceau, Ph.A wins the competition to design a new 12 000 m2 cultural center on the riverfront of Bordeaux, merging three cultural institutions into one single building. More images and complete press release after the break.
Coeur Bastide / Jean-Paul Viguier Architecture
Architects: Jean-Paul Viguier Architecture
Location: Bordeaux, France
Client: SCICV JLG Cristal
Surface Area: 12,000 sqm
Cost of Works: 19,000,000 euros HT
Completion: 2011
Photographs: Takuji Shimmura
Master Plan for Bastide Niel / MVRDV
The Urban Community of Bordeaux (CUB) and MVRDV recently presented the master plan for Bastide Niel, a 35ha extension of Bordeaux’ city center onto the right bank of Garonne River. The dense urban master plan will offer 3200 homes, offices and urban amenities, respect the existing fabric of the city and become one of the largest zero energy neighborhoods in the world. Construction is to start in 2014. More images and architects’ description after the break.
City Municipal Office Complex / ECDM Architects
ECDM Architects’ proposal is for a unifying building, a building that represents both the Mériadeck neighborhood and the old city, that participates in defining an urban landscape and carries the values of a society more open to its environment. It was therefore around the creation of an open space, a space of convergence and exchange that they wanted to organize the program, a space framing the city, organizing open programs and services around the borders, a space animated by its users and actors. It acts as a beautiful and lively space, where the dynamism of Bordeaux is displayed for a close and urban administration. More images and architects’ description after the break.
Chartrons Gym / Atelier d’Architecture Baudin & Limouzin + La Nouvelle Agence
Architects: Atelier d’Architecture Baudin & Limouzin, La Nouvelle Agence / Aït‐Mehdi Samira, Latizeau Sylvain
Location: Bordeaux, France
Project Year: 2008
Project Area: 2.117 sqm
Photographs: LNA
Fingerprints / 2:pm Architectures, S. Touzani and F.&F. Oudor
2:pm Architectures, S. Touzani and F.&F. Oudor chose to work on the climate crisis and to think about how to recycle the actual urban matter in Bordeaux, France. This utopian answer offers to fill the block center and to cover the actual old stone buildings. In that way, the transition is really slow and time itself does their work. The old stone will disappear and let those strange big mushrooms recompose a new urban landscape. The underfaces are printed with the old roofs and stay here like a witness of the old times. More images and a brief description after the break.
Herzog & de Meuron Preferred Bidder for the ‘Grand Stade de Bordeaux’
VINCI-FAYAT consortium has been selected as preferred bidder for the ‘Grand Stade de Bordeaux’ which includes designs by Herzog & de Meuron and landscape design by Michel Desvigne. Slated for completion in 2015 the ‘Grand Stade de Bordeaux’ will be located within the city’s existing green belt district. The design provides a natural sense of fluidity, with easy approachability beginning with the multiple staircases at all points of the stadium. Never loosing site of the stadiums location a large focus of the concept incorporates the surrounding environment blending with the building, as reflected in the concave roof which is supported by a series of spindly white columns, appearing like a forest of birch trees. Home field to the FC Girondins de Bordeaux, the ‘Grand Stade de Bordeaux’ will also host a variety of cultural events.
Additional renderings and a video can be found following the break. Be sure to take a look.
DOX / K-architectures
This multi-story student residence hall, designed by K-architectures, accommodates 234 apartments. The design consists of three separate buildings connected through a series of delightful external staircases.
Architect: K-architectures
Location: Bordeaux, France
Project Team: Karine Sigwalt, Jerome Herman and associate architects from K-architectures, Cecile Métaireau (first assistant architect), Sébastien Fiore and Alexander Plantady (assistant architects)
Project Area: 6,274 sqm
Project Year: 2010
Photographs: Simon Deprez
AD Classics: Maison Bordeaux / OMA
With the ability to make even the simplest and straightforward programs spatially dynamic and in a constant state of redefinition, Rem Koolhaas and his firm OMA have redefined the term that “a house is a machine for living” in their design of Maison Bordeaux. Completed in 1998, Maison Bordeaux sits on a small cape-like hill overlooking the city of Bordeaux.
The house was designed for a couple and their family, but before Koolhaas and OMA were commissioned for the project in 1994 the husband of the family was in a life threatening car accident that left him paralyzed from the waist down. Two years after his accident, the couple approached Koolhaas to design them a new home outside of Bordeaux. Despite having been paralyzed, the man did not want t straightforward house rather he wanted a complex design, stating: “Contrary to what you would expect. I want a complex house because the house will define my world.”
More on the Bordeaux House after the break.
