E17 Results Catalogue - Living Cities /2

E17 Preface

The Europan 17 results catalogue provides a ʻmemoryʼ of the session, presenting all 158 winning projects, runners-up and special mentions awarded by the 11 juries of eminent experts. The juries worked closely with the European cities that proposed the 51 sites around the common theme of ʻLiving Cities /2ʼ, emphasising on the nature/artifice relationship through the visions of evolution proposed by the teams.

The wide r ange of award-winning ideas are achievable utopias that share a common goal: to regenerate inhabited milieus in response to the questions raised by contemporary society. These ideas/projects are new ways of ‘caring’ for these milieus, which are waiting to be revealed in their relationship to their geographical and natural environment, to be repaired to halt their degradation, and to be improved to better welcome all living things – as presented in chapters ʻLet the Birds Sing!ʼ and ʻImagine a Second Life!ʼ.

In this catalogue , the young generation of architects, landscapers and urban planners in Europe redefine the approach of the ʻcareʼ proposing regenerative projects for the development of territories and places that have been ʻwoundedʼ by social and environmental crises, but which also harbour a potential for the future that the competitors have been able to highlight.

Let’s hope that these new ideas will be the subject of fruitful exchanges for the people to whom they are addressed, i.e. the local actors, so that they can be shared and become implementation processes that will enable these now regenerated spaces to welcome all the living beings who will inhabit them in the future. A future that Europan wants to help build.

Manuel Blanco President of Europan Europe

The Europan 17 results catalogue is built around three chapters corresponding to the sites typologies:

— ʻLet the Birds Sing!ʼ concerns sites awaiting projects that maintain or enhance biodiversity and create blue/green natural irrigation networks of already inhabited areas.

— ʻImagine a Second Life!ʼ covers sites where the existing infrastructure is important, but where obsolescence or vulnerability implies that life cycles need to be restarted at different scales.

— ʻThinking Tabula Non-Rasa!ʼ covers extension sites or sites of built intensification, which need to be considered in close conjunction with existing areas, business parks, agricultural sites, soils and natural features.

The catalogue is introduced by an article highlighting the contributions of the winning ideas on the notion of ‘care’ as a method of regenerating inhabited milieus. Then, three chapters present the sites and the projects in the same way (winners and runners-up on one page, special mentions on half a page). Each chapter concludes with three experts’ articles echoing the introductory article and offering comparative analyses of the projects.

Table of Contents

By Chris Younès and Didier Rebois

Leipzig (DE) 140

W Revitalizing Grünau-Nord 141

RU Common Soil 142

RU Take off for a solidary neighbourhood 143

Madrid (ES) 144

W El Jardin de Ladrillo 145

RU Wasteland-Scapes 146

SM ISO as a weak monument 147

München (DE) 148

W METROpolis 149

RU why not on top? 150

Nantes (FR) 152

W Matière Première 153

SM L’île Mystérieuse 154

SM Pacte alimentaire ligérien 154

Regensburg (DE) 156

W Adaptable –building for resilient urban future 157

RU 25 fr agments 158

SM DIE HOFSIEDLUNG 159

Rennes (FR) 160

RU CHAMP-CONTRECHAMP 161

RU Resuscitating the Blosne 162

SM RégénéRennes 163

Schorsmolen (NL) 164

W I’ll See You in Middelplein! 165

RU Open Up Schor smolen 166

SM Nur turing Schorsmolen 167

Växjö (SE) 168

W Gener ative Care 169

RU Glänta 170

SM Länka 171

Eibar (ES) 172

W Ulysses began his Odyssey 173

RU Hyper-Txonta 174

SM Ber relikatu 175

SM Mutualism 175

SM The hinge 176

Articles

How to Design a Second Life 178

By Carlos Arroyo Zapatero

Ways of the ‘Living City’ to Regenerate Life in Weakened Neighbourhoods 182

By Dimitri Szuter

Magic Mountains, Mysterious Islands and Urban Health 186

By Socrates Stratis

Theme 3 — Think tabula non-rasa! 191

'T Zoet (NL)

192

W Str ata-scapes 193

RU Blij-da 194

SM Back to the Future 195

Berlin (DE) 196

W Karow Kreuz Klub 197

RU Living Cross 198

Borkum (DE) 200

W Re:duce Re:use Re:new 201

SM New Perspectives 202

SM Together Borkum // Area Groyne 20 202

Celje (SI) 204

W The Parliament of Cinkarna 205

RU Back Off! 206

El Prat de Llobregat (ES) 208

W The Joy of the Vegetable Garden 209

SM Estanyat 210

SM Pota Blava 210

Kassel (DE)

W SEX in the city 213

Kenniskwartier (NL)

W SYMBIOSIS 215

RU Density: Mode d’emploi 216

SM An Unexpected Neighbour 217

SM Wonen is een recht 217

Krøgenes (NO)

RU Co-Krøgenes –Community is care! 219

RU Krøgenes Peninsula 220 SM Sea you in Krøgenes 221

Nyköping Skavsta (SE)

W Skavsta Forest City 223 RU Nur

Europan 17 Map of Sites

GRENSEN

ØSTMARKA

PITEÅ

SKELLEFTEÅ

VAASA

HELSINKI

ÅKREHAMN

LARVIK

KRØGENES

VÄXJÖ

SCHORSMOLEN ‘T ZOET

BORKUM

WAALWIJK

ETTEN_LEUR

MÉTROPOLE ROUEN NORMANDIE

BERNAY TERRES DE NORMANDIE

RENNES

LE PALAIS

GUÉRANDE

NALÓN ESTUARY

TORRELAVEGA EIBAR

NANTES

MADRID BARCELONA

CHIVA

RIMBO

NYKÖPING SKAVSTA

BRUSSELS

GROENEWOUD

KENNISKWARTIER

COURCY –GRAND REIMS BAD LOBENSTEIN BERLIN

INGOLSTADT KASSEL LEIPZIG MÜNCHEN

REGENSBURG LOCHAU GRAZ

CELJE WIEN

GRENOBLE ALPES MÉTROPOLE CANTÚ

FLEURANCE

MARSEILLE

EL PRAT DE LLOBREGAT

EIVISSA

MAKARSKA

BELGIQUE / BELGIË / BELGIEN

DEUTSCHLAND

Bad Lobenstein

Ingolstadt

Regensburg

ESPAÑA

Eibar

Eivissa

El Pr at de LLobregat

Madr id

Nalón Estuar y 88

Torrelavega 84

FRANCE

Ber nay Terres de Normandie 112

Courcy – Gr and Reims 120

Fleur ance 128

Grenoble Alpes Métropole 36

Guér ande 44

Le Palais 58

Mar seille 72

Métropole Rouen Nor mandie 76 Nantes

HRVATSKA

Results

Imagining Revitalising

Natural-Cultural Synergies to Care for Inhabited Milieus

By Chris Younès (FR), anthro-philosopher, professor at Paris’s Ecole Spéciale d’Architecture (ESA). Founder and member of the Gerphau

research laboratory www.gerphau.archi.fr

And Didier Rebois (FR), architect, General Secretary of Europan and coordinator of the Scientific Committee, www.europan-europe.eu

Over the millennia, the art of human settlements has manifested itself in contrasting relationships with the milieus, whether by controlling and using it to blind exploitation, by keeping away from it with fear and respect, or by creating symbiotic relationships with it. In today’s world of rampant artificialisation, questions about the appropriate relationship between nature and the artefact have become crucial, as everyone can observe together with Paul Ricoeur that ‘the man of technology comes with an additional fragility which is his work’.

In addition to clear-cut representations of the relationship between the artefact and nature – according to which the artefact would either imitate or break with nature – there is now the notion of their inextricable intermingling, of their hybridisation, of their combination, even of their mutation and blurring. Awareness of the planet’s boundaries and of human and non-human vulnerabilities (biodiversity, quality of the soil, the air and water, health, etc.), confirmed by the successive IPCC reports, is leading us to replace the Cartesian paradigm of ‘the master and possessor of nature’ – a symbol of modern times – with that of taking care in order to confront the mortifying conditions of habitability and the exploitation of people and resources. This radical bifurcation reactivates and renews the ways of making in architecture, while respecting stimulating synergies and interweaving.

When analysing, together with Frédéric Bonnet, the rewarded Europan France projects1 over the seven sessions that ran from 1989 to 2004, we had highlighted new approaches that were capturing, revealing and balancing with nature rather than dominating it. We were able to identify a number of different approaches to the relationship between nature and architecture, reflecting the paradigm shift underway: from using nature as a backdrop to increasingly seeing it as a qualitative vector for a new type of spaces, to a conception of nature as a dynamic power carrying within itself the principle of its becoming, its movement or its rest, and with which architecture can compose and renew itself. We had noted that the idea of ‘nature’ had been developed since the second Europan session and that there was a clear evolution

1• Frédér ic Bonnet, Chris Younès, « La nature et le

of the ‘dominating ideas’ over time, both among the experts or teams and in the site’s presentations, particularly from the point of view of the words or concepts used. Limited to the public space in the first session, the vocabulary opened up to the landscape in Europan 3 (‘The invention of Landscape’), and then from Europan 5 onwards towards the greater landscape and the territory, more distinctly asserted. Ecological issues and the importance of sustainable development and the living world only came to the fore in subsequent sessions.

This evolution in the place and interpretation of the idea of nature since 1989 obviously goes hand in hand with the spectacular transformation since Europan 5 in the way questions are asked and sites defined. In the space of eighteen years, we have gone from a strictly architectural programme centred on innovations in cells and their assembly to a reflection on the surroundings and the inhabited city (E3 ‘At Home in the City’). At the same time, increasingly large peri-urban sites were proposed (E4 to E6) as well as large-scale sites with a strong presence of natural geographic elements. All in terms of sedimentary recurrence and not strictly chronological. One should note though that the potential of the wild nature as a resource and living milieu was very rarely used, even though it is now a decisive dimension of the representations at stake. Added to this is the impact of the dynamics unfolding around the question of the ethics and aesthetics of the Care

Reactivating New Architectural and Territorial Possibilities: Towards a Care of Welcoming, Holding, Repairing and Tuning2

The ethics and aesthetics of the Care are correlated with the eco-feminist movements which, since the 1970s and 80s, have waged struggles over lifestyles, gender relations, ecosystems and territories of socio-spatial justice. What is denounced are the inegalitarian and exclusionary consequences of anthropocentrism,

2• Chr is Younès, Céline Bodart, David Marcillon (codir.), Prendre soin. Architecture et philosophie, Gollion (Ch), Infolio éd., to be released in spring 2024

ethnocentrism and androcentrism, as well as the fiction of independent, autonomous individuals and universal moral principles. On the contrary, along with a concern for others and interdependence , it is a call for inclusive, cooperative and empathetic relationships that are as close as possible to the diversity of inhabitating cultures and life situations.

Theories about the Care have therefore provided new interpretation grids renewing not only the disciplines of Humanities and Social Sciences, but also of Architecture, Urban Planning and Landscaping. By defining care as the ‘generic activities we do to remain, continue, and repair our world so that we may live in it as well as possible’ (Fischer, Tronto, 1991), Joan Tronto puts architecture back to work as a located practice and as an ethos or a way of relating to the world.

Architecture does not place objects in stable, inert spaces, but in living milieus that are constantly changing and co-evolving. As a result, architectural and territorial projects have been exploring ways of both recovering and inventing, capable of measuring collapses and jolts on the scale of milieus and places. Beyond the binary narratives pitting nature against culture with desires of control and domination, many geo-bio-cosmo visions seek to re-establish real, imaginary and symbolic connections with the powers and interdependencies of the living community. These strategies have been widely explored, notably by the rewarded teams of the Europan 17 competition on ‘Living Cities 2. Re-imagining Architecture by Caring for Inhabited Milieus’. The answers given by the projects submitted to the competition are most significant. It is about being more immersed in the elements, in plants and animals. It is about paying attention and being open to what is already there, vibrant and beating. When considering how new alliances of natural-cultural co-rhythm are being sought in this session, many forms of hybridisation are already being initiated at different scales. Climate strategies, landscapes, reasoned density in order to preserve spaces for forest and agriculture, planted alleys and roofs, gardens and parks, care for fertile soils and biodiversity, urban agriculture, recycling, hydrocity… are all avenues for co-inhabited milieus. In the re-creation of conditions conducive to habitability, evaluating and caring for the quality of elements, of rivers, of living organisms, of biodiversity, of phytoremediation, of food production and of multiple forms of decontamination must

be inextricably linked to the uniqueness of places, to the diversity of cultures and of living together, but also to economic resources. Four matrices of thought and action are particularly significant in the new natural-cultural proj ectual representations: Welcoming , which is inclusive and welcoming to others, human and non-human, in their conditions of life possibility, Vs. inhospitality and exclusion; Holding (from the Greek pherein, to support), which supports (echoing Donald Winnicott’s work on holding at the interface of the physical and the psychic) through a weaving of natural-cultural 3 interdependencies and reciprocities, Vs. the unbearable; Repairing, which constantly repairs and nurtures, Vs. exhaustion and the ravages of milieus and things; Tuning , which rhythmically holds elements together in their similarities, differences and divergences, Vs. discordance.

1. Welcoming / Towards Hospitality

Facing environmental and social challenges, what imaginary narratives and projects to adopt to make ourselves more hospitable to others, both human and non-human? How to recognise the interconnectedness of the biotic community? Which ethos of hospitality to reconsider all that is living, visible and invisible?

Allow the Coexistence of the Living

The site in Helsinki (FI) is located in an archipelago close to the city centre; it is known as a natural site of great international value with an exceptional marine milieu. But visitors are now coming in numbers because of its historical value and cultural reputation and the municipality is asking the Europan competitors to develop this area as a sustainable recreational space, while protecting it as a sensitive and vulnerable landscape.

3• Mer leau-Ponty emphasised the ambiguity of ‘our essential belonging to this nature’, which is ‘an enigmatic object, an object that is not quite an object; it is not quite in front of us. It is our ground, not what is in front of us, but what carries us.’ M. Merleau-Ponty, La nature. Notes de cours du Collège de France (1956-1960), Paris, Seuil, collection Traces écrites, 1995, p.19-20.

In runner-up project Haven – for humans & non-humans alike (fig. 1), spaces are precisely defined at each of the 3 scales: archipelago, islands and built environment. It is done according to geography, flor a and fauna to ‘balance’ human and non-human dimensions. Some so-called ‘non-human’ islands are rewilded and off-limits to humans; others are designed for coexistence, while enhancing biodiversity. An experimental method of implementation and monitoring involves stakeholders, research and design over several years to ensure a harmonious environment for human and non-human use.

Landscape Corridors as Spaces for the Living in the City

Water and rock structure the morphology of the village of Lochau (DE), where nature is rooted in the lives of its inhabitants. There are plenty of opportunities for leisure: a marina, a Natura 2000 reserve and water-based recreation areas. Here too, on a smaller scale, the city is wondering how to balance and to negotiate the presence of vulnerable groups and fragile ecosystems between the economic pressure and the intensification of uses.

Winning project Lochau Rural (H)arbours (fig. 2,3), proposes to take care of the meadows that are already part of the built fabric to enhance ‘green corridors’, extending the already partially existing network of these natural spaces into the city. They need to be protected to accommodate a diversity of species with maintenance cycles linked to the seasons. The need to reduce the nuisance of a heavily-trafficked railway line is being met with adobe ‘biophilic walls’, acting like fruit walls that protect against noise while incorporating pockets, niches and nests for different living species. River water is redirected to create points of porosity in the fabric and reconnect with the lake. This hydrological system, which is conducive to soil fertility, also prevents flooding in the village. Finally, a ser vice building is designed with a plant façade that evolves with the climate and the cycle of the seasons.

Giving Non-Humans a Place Back Up To the City Centre

Åkrehamn (NO) is a city where the urban plan has never been respected resulting in a fragmented form with aggregates of independent projects and buildings. At the same time, the city is set in a magnificent coastal landscape with beautiful, attractive beaches, even if the climate can be harsh with strong winds and lots of rain. The question for the competitors was about creating a pedestrian and cycle-friendly city centre with improved public spaces and inclusive outdoor spaces that are well connected to the sea, the beaches and the surrounding natural landscape.

Winning proj ect Grønn Og Glad. A community of all beings (fig. 4), is based on the observation that Åkrehamn is a city with many assets and that when it comes to urban planning, we should preserve what already exists as much as possible, simply by improving and strengthening it in a sustainable way. To intensify the existing fabric the project proposes a range of buildings based on

the existing ones – urban blocks, vibrant villages and waterfronts –combined with different densities and housing types. These forms of housing are connected to meeting places: community gardens connect the districts together and greenhouses allow people to stay outdoors in all seasons. In addition to the intensification of the existing fabric, planted natural sites are preserved, creating a green crossing between the districts and connecting the centre to the sea. Animal walkways are provided everywhere.

2. Holding / Revealing a Territory

The idea of nature as a structuring force, which is another strong facet of metamorphosis, implies treating nature from another angle and privileging it as a support for the landscape; in other words putting topography to the fore, with mountains, rivers, fields or forests having the potential to articulate different problematic and spatio-temporal scales. These correspond to the re-creation of territorial figures based on the site’s major permanent features and on the overall coherence determined by the resistance and resources offered by the existing landscape. But it also means taking the risks and climatic conditions into account, while respecting the specificities and the ecosystems. In short, it is about revealing a living milieu in terms of resistance and resources, strongly correlated with the principles of evolution.

Revealing a Territory by Reactivating a Metabolism

In Grenoble (FR), the city wants to reconnect the urban space with the surrounding natural areas – these ‘biodiversity refuges’ support recreational uses while also accommodating productive agricultural functions. Competitors are asked to re-examine the relationship between the city and the natural elements and to explore the qualities and habitability of the natural park. The idea is to look for a process of arbitration and implementation of projects, connecting the park with its environment, recreating metabolisms and making a project with water and its hazards.

Winning project Sols mobiles (fig. 5), aims to reveal the territory: it is based on a geographical analysis of the mountain/plain landscapes, linking it to the effects of climate change. More frequent flooding from torrents and melting glaciers are eroding the soil and carrying sediment down to the plain. At the same time, global warming is causing the soil on the plain to dry out.The project takes advantage of this fertile silt to renaturalise the city centre, whose soil has dried out, creating a new metabolic process. In order to enable residents to occupy this area in motion, four soft mobility milieus are developed from the traces of what already exists: the sedimentary marsh; the forest avenues extending into the dense city; the wooded crossings criss-crossing the gardens between the plain and the foothills; and finally, the ‘archaeological loops in the ancient meanders of the Isère River’.

A Story Revived around an Exceptional Natural Landscape

In Belle-Île-en-Mer (FR), on the Brittany coast, in summer, the city of Le Palais grows from 6,000 to 45,000 inhabitants. Tourism is therefore one of the main resources, although some agricultural activity remains. The main effect of climate change has been the ocean rising and the risk of flooding has become an annual threat. Repeated droughts are weakening self-sufficiency in drinking water. Therefore, at a time when the island’s ecosystem is undergoing transformations the municipality is wondering how nature and culture can be made compatible.

In response to these challenges, the winning proj ect, Les Traversées (fig. 6,7), draws on a widely shared idealised imagination and memory of the island and its exceptional natural environment, forming the framework of a dynamic cultural narrative, from its genesis to its desired renaissance today. The project places Belle-Île at the heart of a wider common geography and proposes that the island’s landscape become ‘a common asset for all, fostering synergies between living beings and the land’.The dells, as privileged milieus and crossing landscapes, play the role of ecotones: an ecological transition between two ecosystems, that of the plateau and that of the coast and the sea.The idea is to take care of these edges, which are home to moving living organisms, while at the same time enhancing biodiversity.

A Historic Park Back in its Natural Watershed Context

In Brussels (BE), the Cinquantenaire Park has suffered a number of changes in recent years as a result of extensive infrastructure, in particular the creation of a car tunnel overhanging the metro tunnel and cutting the park in two at its centre. The park is also

affected by climate change with both heavy rainfall and drought.The question posed for the competition was how the park could once again become a meeting place adapted to these climate evolutions.

To answer the question, winning project Le plateau du Maelbeek (fig. 8), broadens the park’s reflection site to place it back in its geography, as well as in a longer timeframe. An in-depth analysis of the area highlights the role of water, which, with the effects of climate change, will pose problems in the Maelbeek valley, the watershed located just below the park. The park is therefore transformed into a large natural water retention basin, preventing flooding and enhancing the site’s biodiversity ‘by letting it grow freely’. From a geographical and geological re-reading of the site (artificially created as a monumental park in the 19th century), water once again plays a central role in the site’s ‘well-being’, restoring its natural dimension, which is adapted to the climate, and therefore its regenerative role.

3. Repairing / Resolving

Another of the symbolic figures of paradigm shifts that take seriously the capacities of regenerative proj ectual strategies in relation to natural resources is that of Repairing, or even saving, nature. Echoing with such a type of nature activates the potential for resilience and adaptability in human settlements. It has to do with vital cycles and synergies to guard against disasters and open up alternative possibilities for urbanity and citizenship: whether it is through renaturation by creating vast expanses of ‘reserve land’, through revaluing natural spaces and the connections between landscape, territory and architecture to remake the city, or through a recovery of public spaces and the construction of an economy of the future. Or even through the redevelopment of vast industrial sites or other derelict sites, emphasising the importance of the long term and of natural rhythms for an ‘eco-responsible reappropriation’ taking into consideration rain infiltrations and recovery, as well as decontamination and remediations.

Resolving with Traumatic Traces of the Past

The vacant space on the site in Courcy-Grand Reims (FR) is seen as an opportunity to strengthen the presence of the living and to reconnect human and non-human activities. The city’s plan is to make maximum use of existing resources while asserting the site’s identity to experiment with a city project that is capable of producing energy, food and biodiversity, of managing and recycling waste, of storing carbon and of purifying water. It applies to the site – a place of military remembrance – through the need to reactivate the existing heritage thanks to mixed and new programming and to the reversibility of buildings. The development of this urban repairing project must be conditioned by the objective of ‘zero net artificialisation’ (no occupation of new land) accompanied by the sharing of public spaces and the temporality of uses.

Winning project, Operation Re.Mediation (fig. 9), analyses the site as a ‘no-man’s-land’ from the First World War generating ecological after-effects (notably the broken connections between living beings) around a legacy of war and climatic disasters. To reverse this trend, the project is proposing a so-called ‘post-tr aumatic architecture and landscape’ by structuring a ‘remediation front’ (i.e. repair/regeneration) on the large-scale (that of living beings, milieus and resources), and an ‘ecological rearmament plan’ to reinvest the commons of the war. On a network of 14 former air bases, the challenge is to set up cooperation, experimentation and solidarity processes to deal with potential future climate disasters.

Upgrading and Repairing by Qualifying What Is Already There

The city of Rimbo (SE) has an attractive location, just 45 km from the capital Stockholm. The challenge for the city is therefore to build on what already exists and to improve it, for example by developing a lively city centre based on new accessibility: a bus + train hub. But for this repair of the centre to work on the city scale, a visual and physical relationship is to be created with the interior and exterior space. The city’s question is about how, by avoiding the barriers of the networks, to reconnect the improved centre with the structure of natural spaces and with the surrounding agricultural landscape.

Winning project Somewhere over the RINGBO (fig. 10,11), comes in line with this philosophy of reinforcing what is already there by preserving the ‘urban block + village vibe + waterside’ formula and including urban acupuncture operations to enhance the city’s conviviality with meeting places. Community gardens improve the districts’ connectivity, with climate greenhouses allowing people to ‘stay outside’ even in winter. Particular attention is paid to animal circulation. The authors describe their project as a revaluation of a city where plants are integrated into the blocks, but also where, between the districts, large tree-lined transverse paths using the available spaces connect the existing city with its territory.

Repairing a Brownfield Site by Reconnecting It to its Topography

Eibar (ES) is an industrial village. Its activities have been relocated leaving a substantial built industrial heritage awaiting rehabilitation and new uses – h ousing with services and facilities, small houses for rent to facilitate home ownership – and starting a process of regeneration of the existing. The choice of site for the

competition is typical of this reconversion policy; the site is a small industrial wasteland turned into housing and services, with the will to integrate into the urban project a large infrastructure and above all a sloping natural landscape from which it is currently cut off.

Referring metaphorically to Homer and the notion of return, winning project Ulysses began his Odyssey (fig. 12), is designed as a reappropriation of what is already there, a repair of what is considered a ‘ruin’ to give it a new life and a livability. It does so by opening it up and giving it an urban dimension connecting it to a public space and emphasising mobility between the surrounding districts and the natural sloping topography of the city.

4. Accordance / Meeting of the Milieus

It is a question of encouraging the milieus to meet, of making them compatible, but also of developing the interfaces between city and agriculture, with the idea in particular of agriculture as a new livelihood strategy. The main focus is on the importance of stabilising the boundary between city and farmland and reversing the trend towards urban sprawl, which considers fields as no more than implicit land reserves for urban growth. But it also means ensuring that the soil is fertile and preserved in order to respect this most precious of assets. It is also about local market gardening. In short, more generally, what appears to be transversal is the need, in order to respond to contemporary challenges, to confront the adaptability of agricultural and urban structures in order to turn productive nature and the values of food into a political proj ect for regional planning.

Regeneration of a Gully Landscape to Make Way for an Agro-Fluvial Park

In Chiva (ES), industrial water decontamination has been resolved and the constant flow through the gully has enabled the fauna and flora to recover, although the risk of flooding still remains. This blue and green infrastructure has created a powerful natural landscape that is also productive in terms of agriculture and forestry. The challenge for the site is to reinforce the interweaving of the natural ecosystem and the urban structure through the city centre. This involves building and landscaping to open up the city to the ravine.

Winning project Breathing Back (fig. 13), proposes to widen the ravine as it passes through the centre to make it ‘floodable ecotone which weaves together the hydraulic heritage, the existing paths and continuities and the ecosystems’. On a larger scale, the gully is repositioned between its two river corridors, giving it a strategic dimension. It becomes a landscape regeneration mechanism that enables the life of an agro-fluvial park ‘where orchards coexist with riparian areas and Mediterranean ecosystems’.

A Former Hospital as an Ecological Interface Between City and Agriculture

In Rennes (FR), the Hôpital Sud, located on the edge of the city, is to be converted. The city not only wants to propose new uses, but also to connect them with a larger-scale urban and landscape vision.They want the hospital conversion to be a ‘laboratory for experimenting with new tools for circular urban planning, taking into account urban metabolism and resource management’. They also want to reintegrate the site into the wider landscape and restore ecological continuity by addressing the interface between the city, the hospital and the surrounding countryside.

Runner-up project, Champ-Contrechamp (fig. 14), proposes to transform the former hospital into a food and agricultural centre by building on its infrastructure, yet placing the natural soil back at the heart of the urban project. The project turns the building towards the city and the Orson plateau. It becomes hybrid and fertile. ‘The distr ict adjacent to the hospital is reconciling with its nourishing past. Inhabitants are mobilised to reconnect with the life cycles and take action themselves to combat climate change. It is all about creating new connections between city and country.’ It is this connection between city and country that enables the hospital, thanks to its position, to play the role of an ecological interface.

A Patchwork Boundary Between City and Country

Wien (AT) is Europe’s fastest-growing city. It has embarked on a policy of densification, particularly along the mobility corridors entering the city. The E17 site is located in one of these residential extensions and intends to accommodate 11,000 people in 4,900 homes. The city’s first question to the competition is how to create a dialogue between what already exists (built fragments and agricultural fields) and what is going to emerge. And how to design a quality residential density in the form of largely landscaped districts.

Special mention proj ect Feldstadt am Heidjöchl (fig. 15, 16) , slightly diverges from the original request. It considers the site development from an initial stage: replacing the existing surrounding fields of intensive cultivation, which are incompatible with the planned living areas, with orthogonal agricultural strips of regenerated soil: ‘The early planting is aligned with the public squares of the later urban design and provides fully grown trees and hedges once construction is completed.’ The project therefore proposes bio-intensive, self-harvesting agriculture under the guidance of professional farmers. And it is around these fields that the residential development is to grow.

In Skavsta, in the municipality of Nyköping (SE), noise pollution from an international airport prohibits permanent housing around the airport. The city therefore raises the question: how can a living environment be created from a coherent urbanisation process? Thinking specifically about the public spaces to create, how can the plant structure developed in the district be present up into the squares? And finally, how can natural dynamics, rainwater management and leisure activities be made compatible?

S tarting from an analysis of the province’s soil structure – low-lying topography with areas at a maximum of 100 metres above sea level and abundant vegetation in the form of forests –winning project Skavsta Forest City (fig. 17), proposes to structure the site area around the territory’s green and blue axes (woods and rivers): ‘The forest constitutes the main concept of the proposal […] For outside visitors as well as workers in the area the presence of the forest will contribute to make the area a destination and attractive place to work in. In the urban structure, most of the surface is covered with trees and plants. In this way, the site, which is on the edge of the city, becomes a sort of porous boundary between city and forest.

In Conclusion, in the Four Categories…

…we have explored how the dualism between nature and culture can be overcome and how, on the contrary, welcoming, holding, repairing and tuning allow hybridisation in a plural way. We are therefore invited to imagine, feel and perceive other possibilities that give shape to encounters of a different kind, in which dominant forces may nonetheless be expressed. The instabilities, uncertainties, fragilities and disorientations that characterise the contemporary world are also part of the horizon of the Care, which, after first giving rise to a new conception of political morality, is now proving to be a valuable compass for resourcing architecture too: between senses and meaning, between the self and others, between ‘initiating, situating and sustaining’4, to remake the World by living better together.

4

Let the Birds Sing! Theme 1

Reimagining public spaces as a biodiverse landscape

Imagine public space as a biodiverse landscape. Imagine public space as the touching ground, the proof that YES, WE CAN – through design –address challenges caused by the crisis due to climate change, in terms of social and environmental issues.

Imagine public space as the agent for inclusion of difference both in terms of humans and non-humans, as a mediator between new interdependencies Imagine soils, water bodies, shores and eco-corridors as the main actors to guide complex transformation processes. On the following sites, public space is seen as the area where the topic of Living Cities is performed.

ÅKREHAMN (NO)

How to connect the centre with the sea?

SCALES: XL/S

LOCATION: ÅKREHAMN, KARMØY

POPULATION: ÅKREHAMN 7,885 / KARMØY 42,186 INHAB.

REFLECTION SITE: 286 HA / PROJECT SITE: 20 HA

SITE PROPOSED BY: KARMØY MUNICIPALITY

ACTOR(S) INVOLVED: KARMØY MUNICIPALITY, PRIVATE PARTNERS

OWNER(S) OF THE SITE: KARMØY MUNICIPALITY, PRIVATE DEVELOPERS, OTHERS

Inhabited milieu’s challenges Åkrehamn is classified as a town but does not feel like one. It lacks a clear urban structure and has no discernible centre. It is characterized by conglomerations of independent projects, responded to changing needs without consideration of the qualities of the place as whole. Åkrehamn lies amidst a beautiful coastal landscape, where you find some of Norway’s best beaches. Exposed to the North Sea there is a rough climate with intense wind and plenty of rain which contributed to a car-centric urban development and lifestyle. Åkrehamn grew as a coastal community, and its identity is closely linked to its relationship with the sea. But from an urban perspective, it has turned its back to the water. The historic centre is by the older fishing harbour, while since the 1950s, new development has spread along the main road passing through the town creating a kind of high street. There is an awareness today that the city cannot keep uncontrollably and aimlessly sprawling. It is in everyone’s interest to make a holistic vision, so that new projects will allow Åkrehamn to develop more sustainably in a coherent form.

Questions to the competitors How to give Åkrehamn a vital and functional centre that promotes more walking and biking? How can the town be better connected to the sea and its natural surroundings? How to strengthen the centre through developing the connections between the harbour and the main road? How can the sustainable city simultaneously be a place for businesses, retail, and a preferred place to live in an area currently dominated by suburban housing?

Grønn Og Glad

Team point of view — Åkrehamn has a lot to offer and therefore can strengthen what is already there in first place. We try to preserve as much as possible for sustainable and respectful city planning. Central districts should contain various and climate consistent greenery. The role models URBAN BLOCK – VILLAGE VIBE – WATER SIDE refer to existing building types and differ in density, way of housing and outdoor spaces. To achieve togetherness within the town, superior meeting places are created. For smaller scale neighbourhood connectedness, community gardens in the blocks enhance local activities. Greenhouse situations enable people to be outside even though the tough weather conditions. All over the town, flow and living for animals must be assured. New planted trees and bushes helps them to find a safe home.

Jury point of view — The project proposes a clear strategy to generate an urban centrality for Åkrehamn by developing and extending the existing North-South green belt into a clearly defined central spine. This structure, reaching all the way from the beach to the old harbour, connects the natural qualities that surround Åkra with a row of existing programs in the centre to create a common narrative. Although some specific situations proposed in this green belt do not seem easily realizable, the jury sees in it a narrative clear and strong enough to lead its gradual development, capable of giving Åkrehamn from the very moment an image of its missing centre.

Author(s) — Karla Reuter (DE), Tobias Herr (DE), Architects / Contributor(s) — Ben Thullesen (DE), Architect

Contact — Hamburg (DE) • studiorethu@gmail.com, @studiorethu

Stitching Together

Team point of view — Addressing Åkrehamn’s unclear urban structure and lacking a discernible centre we proposed a cluster of independent projects stitched together through a densified urban tissue and a network of stoa and green galleries. Connecting the sea, city centre and its natural surroundings through high-quality outdoor areas, the new urban structures promote walking and biking by enlivening and strengthening the connections between the harbour and the main road. Public space thus becomes the stage for complex transformation processes as well as a vital and functioning urban heart. Transforming spaces designed around the needs of mobility vehicles, harbour, main road, into a biodiverse landscape for humans and non-humans, a mediator between new interdependencies is formed, a Living City component.

Jury point of view — Stitching Together provides Åkrehamn with a wealth of suggestions. The most prominent ideas are arcades and stoae that the proj e ct proposes to unify the town centre, bestow it with identity, and provide shelter from the elements. The project also proposes to turn the backyard-like area between Rådhusvegen and the old road to the harbour, Åkravegen, into legible streets and town blocks. Other idea is to extend access to the waterside of the harbour thanks to a pier in front of the private waterfront plots. Finally, the tentative schedule of the various projects provides insight into a strategy to revitalize and transform Åkrehamn.

Author(s) — Marius Stelian Găman (RO), Ana-Maria Branea (RO), Architects, urbanists • Anamaria Bujancă (RO), Romina Popescu (RO), Alexandru Mihăilescu (RO), Architects

Contact — B-dul Take Ionescu, Nr. 24-28, Sc. B, Ap. 41, 300042 Timișoara, Timis (RO) • gaman.s.marius@gmail.com, www.doua-puncte-studio.com

Symbiotic Landscape

Team point of view — How to stress the idea of biodiversity and co-living of people and nature?

How to implement step by step the system of public spaces for the local community?

How to work on the quality of streets replacing cars with trees and soft mobility to make them more liveable?

The project focuses on a series of elements of the city that ask to be reconnected, as part of a complex system of commons for the inhabitants, intended as both human and non-human: the waterfront; the public spaces belt were the main welfare spaces are located; the inner transversal road in between houses; the Fv 547 main axis as a perimeter edge.

Jury point of view — The proj ect focuses on a series of elements that need to be connected and proposes a phased project through various steps to transform the landscape. Symbiotic Landscape is an interesting proposal that uses green structures as tools for transforming and revitalizing the urban fabric of Åkra. The jury is impressed with the solid concept and boldness of this project. It is a fully sustainable project, presented in stunningly beautiful graphics. It triggers the viewer’s visions and imagination of what Åkrehamn could become.

Author(s) — Filippo Fiandanese (IT), Alessia Carena (IT), Federico Demichelis (IT), Marthe Van Endert (BE), Sara Barera (IT), Architects Silvia Lanteri (IT), Architect, urbanist • Maicol Negrello (IT), Landscape architect / Contributor(s) — Cara Geldenhuys (ZA), Architect Contact — 10100 Turin (IT) • collettivoselvaticus@gmail.com, www.collettivoselvaticus.wordpress.com, @collettivo_selvaticus

BARCELONA (ES)

How to introduce biodiversity in a housing estate?

SCALES: XL/S

LOCATION: EL BESÒS I EL MARESME NEIGHBOURHOOD

POPULATION: 22,609 INHAB.

REFLECTION SITE: 195 HA / PROJECT SITE: 34 HA

SITE PROPOSED BY: BARCELONA CITY COUNCIL –

URBAN ECOLOGY AREA

ACTOR(S) INVOLVED: BARCELONA CITY COUNCIL –

URBAN ECOLOGY AREA

OWNER(S) OF THE SITE: PUBLIC – PRIVATE

Inhabited milieu’s challenges — The scope of the project corresponds to a sector of the Besòs and Maresme neighbourhood, in the Sant Martí district of Barcelona. The land in this sector arises from old marshes around the Besòs river that dried up from the 17th century and from the contributions of land made before and during the construction of the neighbourhood. A lar ge part of the buildings, for social housing, was built between 1950 and 1960, with poor quality materials, poor foundations and accessibility problems. Social and economic complexity has made rehabilitation and maintenance processes difficult. In Besòs and Maresme, urban vulnerability is especially evident in housing, accentuated by the scarcity of public facilities and commercial premises. The public space is in poor condition; few shaded spaces, and with a lack of water and vegetation in a climate emergency context. It is necessary to adapt homes, but also to transform public space.

Questions to the competitors How to introduce biodiversity in urban space, through the transformation of public space and the improvement of housing? How to improve housing and built spaces, with an emphasis on the use of ground floor spaces and the improvement of building envelopes and facades for a better climate response? How to improve deteriorated public spaces and recover the natural, ecological and landscape qualities of this former area of marshes? How to reorganize public space in such a way as to improve connectivity with the surrounding neighbourhoods, but also redevelop parking areas and promote social relations and close daily life?

We are city – Som ciutat

Team point of view — WE ARE CITY empowers residents through human-scale, renaturalised public spaces and interventions on buildings. Super-block model fosters pedestrian-friendly areas, reducing car use for a united neighbourhood. Residential building aggregation improves facades, and it creates a semi-public garden and other communal spaces at ground floor while it enables to have new space for shops, workshops and public services. Carrer Alfons el Magnànim and Rambla de Prim are key focus areas, featuring squares, markets, and green spaces. Rambla de Prim boasts a natur al, green environment with a sports path and Mediterranean vegetation. The project connects well with Barcelona, enhancing mobility with cycle lanes and pedestrianized streets. Access to community services is within a 15-minute walk.

Jury point of view — The jury valued the overall strategy of the project, which relates the neighbourhood to its surroundings and urban context, thus reinforcing its links with the Forum, the Besós park, the Diagonal Mar park and the new green axes. The project is based on a powerful urban backbone, the Rambla Prim, where all the commercial, leisure and social activity is to be concentrated. Thus, it leaves some interior spaces, between blocks, of a semi-public nature more closely linked to residential use. The renaturalisation of the public space and the creation of spaces of proximity together with the regeneration of the dwellings are the focus of this project.

Author(s) — Lara Paloma Gaia Gallonetto (IT), Elisa Scattolin (IT), Erminia Barone (IT), Architects • Giuseppe Allegra (IT), Landscape architect Contact — Venice (IT) • somciutat@gmail.com

Un viento que sigue soplando

Team point of view — Through a holistic approach, the proposal aims to revitalize El Besòs i el Maresme by reconnecting the proximity scale of the current urban voids to the dense city fabric at the larger scale. The proposed actions constitute a seed of change for the urban landscape regeneration through a multi-scalar and adaptative dialogue, encompassing 4 types of milieus: ecological, living, social and productive-economic. The project is part of an open process and seeks to create a more resilient neighbourhood by addressing its vulnerabilities and introducing new inclusive and metabolic cycles. The empowerment and involvement of citizens in the planning decisions, is crucial to foster a sustainable and thriving neighbourhood that embraces diversity and promotes sense of belonging for future generations.

Jury point of view — This proj ect is based on a complex and in-depth analysis, proposing strategic solutions that address 4 fundamental aspects: urban space, housing, social life and the productivity-economy of the district. The proposal presents holistic solutions that will require a prior process of citizen participation and cooperation. It brings together different solutions and project oppor tunities that should contribute to creating an inclusive, resilient, productive and friendly neighbourhood, the result of co-generation between the different public, private and citizen agents, over the time factor that is considered here as another variable to be considered.

Author(s) — Brenda Roqueta Vives (ES), Architect Contact — Munich (DE) • brendaroquetavives@gmail.com, www.architectureonpaper.info

Cookbook for an Urban Living Room The Inhabited Garden

Team point of view — This proj ect promotes the urban regeneration of the neighbourhood based on specific actions to link different contexts and activate different scales under an unitary and common strategy that takes into account social cohesion, the urban substrate, biodiversity and food sovereignty and that requires all involved actors for a balanced and healthy coexistence. To this end, two lines of action are outlined: On one hand, shared eco-corridors generate a network that connects strategic points acting as climatic shelters. On the other hand, the module added to existing buildings as a parasitic structure that improves their climatic and housing conditions while providing new spaces for social use. The itinerary divided into phases eases management over time while allowing actions to be consolidated without hindering daily life.

Author(s) — Adrián Haro (ES), Architect, building engineer Contact — Barcelona (ES) • hola@adrianharo.com, www.adrianharo.com, haroadri@gmail.com

Team point of view — In the spirit of the modern movement, collective housing estates responded to profound social changes with the hope that high-density living would liberate open space on the ground for gardens as a true public space. In place of the undefined and monotonous character that has come to define modernism’s failures, this space can be repositioned as a network of productive gardens. Voids become opportunities for micro interventions and new uses, with greater public-private gradation and multi-dimensional use that reflects the community’s dynamic immigrant spirit. In face of increasing commodification of public space, the garden provides an opportunity to expand inclusivity for nature and other species, while cultivating collective self-sufficiency. The city itself becomes an inhabited garden.

Author(s) — Trung Mai (FR/VN), Architect, urbanist

Contributor(s) — Vo Ylan (US), Landscape architect Contact — 62 rue des Bergers, 75015 Paris (FR) mht@hanoiadhoc.com, www.adhocpractice.com, www.hanoiadhoc.com

CANTÙ (IT)

How to enhance cultural and productive resources in the city centre?

SCALES: L/S

LOCATION: TOWN CENTRE

POPULATION: 40,063 INHAB.

REFLECTION SITE: 100 HA / PROJECT SITE: 8 HA

SITE PROPOSED BY: CITY OF CANTÙ

ACTOR(S) INVOLVED: CITY OF CANTÙ, DUC (COMMERCE URBAN DISTRICT)

OWNER(S) OF THE SITE: CITY OF CANTÙ

Inhabited milieu’s challenges Cantù is a medium-sized city, in the centre of the furniture industrial area , located between the two branches of Lake Como and near Milan. Despite being active through the production of furniture and also in the sports field (basket-ball team), Cantù lost its vitality and identity over the years and the latest historical events have affected commercial development in the city centre. The Municipality has put in place various actions to strengthen connections and reduce the road traffic in the central areas, together with an efficiency improvement of the belt parking system. The theme of urban public space is crucial for the revitalization of the city which has to face the challenges of commercial desertification. The redevelopment and pedestrianization of the square require its redefinition.

Questions to the competitors — How to reactivate and characterize the commercial axis and the pedestrian area of the city centre intervening on open spaces, with particular attention to slow mobility and the elimination of architectural barriers? How to enhance Cantù cultural and productive resources? How to create an identity-defining urban landmark connecting public cultural places, paths, green areas and the commercial system of the Urban District of Commerce? How to make the urban centre of Cantù alive, sustainable and inclusive through new forms of mobility, relationships with the natural landscape and new commercial strategies? How to activate the meanings closest to everyday life, such as the pleasure of what is walk-accessible, of common spaces for a new sociality and coexistence?

Cantù Digital Eco-logics

Team point of view — Welcome to our visionary urban design initiative that celebrates Cantù’s rich cultural heritage while fostering sustainable mobility. Our proposal intertwines the city’s vibrant traditions with modern technology, offering an immersive and seamless experience for residents and visitors alike. With CanturinApp at its core, this design envisions a captivating journey through Cantù’s essence, celebrating its sports, merletto (lace), woodcraft, and furniture craftsmanship. Our proposed urban design initiative for Cantù invites all to embark on a remarkable journey through the city’s cultural treasures. With a wire-based digital network and CanturinApp as our gu ide, we celebrate Cantù’s identity, offering a and immersive experience for temporary citizens. Together, let us unravel Cantù’s heritage, while embracing urban innovation and sustainability.

Jury point of view — The proj ect , rich in strategic inputs, proposes solutions acting on both the large and local scales. The proposal focuses on enhancing the rural heritage around Cantù by working on connections and slow mobility. At the site scale, it transforms the city centre into an eco-museum where the project focuses on ecological systems and the local economy. The proposed solutions include digital services for the enhancement of the territory and inclusive and environmentally sustainable street furniture solutions. The digital app that brings together slow tourism, mobility, events, culture, regeneration and nature is very suitable.

Author(s) — Carlotta Olivari (IT), Architect, urbanist • Margherita Pasquali (IT), PhD architect Contact — Milan (IT) • displace.la@gmail.com, www.dispace-la.com

GÜGITT

Team point of view — The proj ect focuses on social and environmental issues. The urban space is conceived not only as a simple space of connection, but becomes a pole of attraction itself, a sort of common room, in which the citizens of Cantù can welcome visitors and make known their traditions and their culture. From the environmental point of view, the ‘biological activators’ Gügitt, placed inside the green corridors that penetrate into the city, are designed as a public space for plant and animal species. The objective is to foster the development of a new environmental awareness based on a model of coexistence between human and non-human species.

Jury point of view — The project proposes an interesting strategy of urban acupuncture with elements of strong identity character, the Gügitt (bobbin lace pins), thought as both biological and socio-economic activators. It proposes an arrangement of urban space that focuses on reconnecting the main poles of the city, with particular attention to slow mobility and the relationship between nature and man in the urban fabric. The proposed solution seeks to bring back to the city the elements of flora and fauna that belong to the suburban areas and, through the Gügitts, proposes different adaptable spatial configurations.

Author(s) — Giacomo Caputo (IT), Architect / Contributor(s) — Leonarda Pace (IT), Economist Contact — asocialbureau@gmail.com, @social-bureau.com

Urban Catalogue

Team point of view — Cantù is a city in the Providence of Como, located in Lombardy, between the two branches of Lake Como. The city is known around the world for its important heritage linked to the production of furniture. Despite being active with this important activity and enjoying a complex infrastructural system of territorial connection, the city has lost its vitality and identity over the years and the latest historical events have affected commercial development in the city centre. After an extensive urban analysis, it is concluded that the city centre needs not only an interior urban reform, but also a global strategy for the activation and recovery of the location. Supported with 4 strategies, we propose an urban catalogue conformed by 18 actions about the urban and ordinary domestics.

Author(s) — Víctor Vázquez Balló (ES), Adriana Vázquez Balló (ES), Architects Contact — Od’A Arquitectura, Girona (ES) • T. +34 651563112, info@odarquitectura.net, www.odarquitectura.net

CHIVA (ES)

How can a natural ravine be appropriated by citizens?

SCALES: L/S

LOCATION: RAVINE OF CHIVA (RAMBLA DEL POYO)

POPULATION: 16,285 INHAB.

REFLECTION SITE: 37.6 HA/ PROJECT SITE: 2.2 HA

SITE PROPOSED BY: GENERAL DIRECTORATE OF ECOLOGIC INNOVATION IN CONSTRUCTION, REGIONAL GOVERNMENT OF VALENCIA

ACTOR(S) INVOLVED: CHIVA CITY COUNCIL + WATERSHED OF THE RIVER JÚC AR CONFEDERATION

OWNER(S) OF THE SITE: PUBLIC

Inhabited milieu’s challenges The ravine of Chiva is a watercourse known as the Rambla del Poyo, a 40 km route through the Region of Valencia, which flows into the Albufera of Valencia. As it passes through Chiva, it crosses the city centre, splitting in two the old quarter of Islamic origin located on the water’s banks, an element that brings people together and gives a unique character to its environment. The buildings in the urban area of the ravine have their rear facades overhanging the ravine, creating an amalgam of disorderly but harmonious volumes. The potential of this blue but also green infrastructure lies in the landscape it generates and in the great environmental, agricultural and forestry value it confers on its surroundings. However, the evocative nature of the place contrasts with the perception of neglect and the lack of opportunity to enjoy the magic of the place.

Questions to the competitors — Can this infrastructure as a corridor of biodiversity, be a real dynamizing element for the municipality? How can the management of this corridor enhance the value of the natural and built landscape that shapes it by transforming its condition of vulnerability into a strength for the city? How to make the ravine accessible, promoting its ecological and natural values and bringing it closer to the citizens? How to regenerate an inhabited environment, with a high cultural value as it configures the layout of the traditional historic centre of Chiva and, at the same time, to reinterpret a natural element to increase its social recognition and its environmental value?

Breathing Back

Team point of view — A territorial opportunity arises with the ravine as it passes through Chiva, in a position between two large-scale fluvial corridors it can be seen as a strategic transversal link. The proposal considers it as a landscape regeneration device , in which water and humidity are the main protagonists in an Agro-Fluvial Park where orchards coexist with boosted riparian and Mediterranean ecosystems. A landscape operation to widen the space of the ravine is proposed so that the new heart of Chiva becomes a floodable ecotone which weaves together the hydraulic heritage, the existing paths and continuities and the ecosystems; an elongated centrality that enhances flows and activities with three main nodes distributed along its course. Chiva goes from turning its back to breathing through it.

Jury point of view — This proposal shows a proper holistic, balanced, detailed and integral approach. Very accurate and extensive cartography of the urban and agricultural landscape is found in the project, establishing a connecting network between hydraulic heritage valuable pieces, identifying small spaces of opportunity, both for improving water dynamics and for the construction of public space. The design proposes very important and accurate connections between both sides of the ravine and three main nodes to incorporate new constructions / programs that consolidate the productive and cultural values of this landscape.

Author(s) — Catalina Salvà Matas (ES), Architect • Santiago Alberca Gandia (ES), Jaume Gil Bou (ES), Students in architecture Contact — Salvà Ortín Arquitectes, Barcelona (ES) • info@salvaortin.com, www.salvaortin.com

khams nazarat. el barranco as commons

Team point of view — Khams nazarat – or the five gazes –, is proposed as a methodology to respond to the two research questions – project issues – raised in Chiva.

1. How to create integrative and incremental platforms from which to collectively understand the Chiva ravine as commons, considering this process as the key to planning a sustainable and participatory future for the affected territory?

2. How to assemble, decide, and prioritize the different spatial transformations to be carried out in this integrative system?

In response, this project develops an integrative system based on the different ways of looking at the territory, understanding ‘gaze’ as a synthesis of how one participates in it, takes care of it, protects it, manages it, and shares it.

Jury point of view — This project establishes a master plan as the proper management tool that groups together different strategies with different timeframe scenarios, seeking a gradual transformation and taking into account a multitude of criteria. The design creates solutions to facilitate access, stabilize and renaturalize the channel. It underlines the role of the upstream Amarjal as a natural flooding area that can reduce the pressure on the ravine, proposes criteria to manage urban runoff in the densest section of the fabric in order to avoid waste water reach the channel, and successfully identifies the potential of the downstream area, for its transformation into a park with a program for enjoying the landscape linked to water.

Author(s) — Daniel Dent Murgui (ES), Architect / Contributor(s) — Antonio Martinez Recolons (ES), Geographer Contact — Valencia (ES) • dentmurgui@gmail.com

Bringing Back Synergies Whispers of Water

Team point of view — The project is based on the recovery of two water spaces of high environmental value (the Armajal wetlands and Rambla de Chiva) at the two ends of the urban area of the municipality of Chiva through various non-invasive actions capable of transforming the territory. A river ravine promenade is proposed that connects both ends of Chiva, turning the riverbed into a point of social attraction and a space of biodiversity in Chivas most densely urban areas. The main interventions are focused on establishing a network of wetlands for the municipality of Chiva through the interconnection of strategically located nodes in a program of trails and walkways that pass through the new freed up open spaces in the centre of Chiva, giving back to its community what they once lost; using the ‘Barranco del Gayo’ ravine as a fundamental element now integrated into the daily life of the residents.

Author(s) — S. Montesdeoca (ES), J. C. Ramírez Ceballos (ES), J. Herrera Rodríguez (ES), Architects • M. Inman (GB), Landscape architect / Contact — Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ES) / London (GB) pya.collective@gmail.com, @pya.collective

Team point of view — The whisper of water goes with us along the new Fluvial Route, which makes the entire ravine accessible on its way through Chiva. 7 ‘sections’ or ‘execution phases’ are distinguished, which make the project economically and temporally viable. The followed strategy is to implement small facilities scattered throughout the project area, in order to reach the next objectives: recovering natural ecosystems, regenerating urban, social and cultural spaces, enhancing water management network, reactivating productive landscape and reconnecting the city centre. Considering also the new Territorial Development Plan for ‘Sierra de Chiva’ that is proposed, the outcome project makes Chiva’s heart to beat again, now with people, biodiversity and purer water flowing through its main artery.

Author(s) — Jorge Fernández Carrillo (ES), Architect, urbanist, GIS expert Contact — Calle O’Donnell 51, 28009 Madrid (ES) jorge.fdezcarrillo@gmail.com

GRENOBLE ALPES MÉTROPOLE (FR)

How to integrate the river and adapt the park to the water risks?

SCALES: XL/S

LOCATION: GRENOBLE ALPES MÉTROPOLE, ISÈRE (38)

POPULATION: METROPOLIS 443,123 INHAB.

REFLECTION SITE: 1,650 HA

PROJECT SITE: (1) 9.8 HA / (2) 0.7 HA

SITE PROPOSED BY: GRENOBLE ALPES MÉTROPOLE

ACTOR(S) INVOLVED: CITY OF GRENOBLE, LA TRONCHE, MEYLAN, SAINT-MARTIN-D’HÈRES, GIÈRES, DOMÈNE, MURIANETTE, GRENOBLE ALPES MÉTROPOLE, CONSEIL DÉPARTEMENTAL DE L’ISÈRE, RÉGION AUVERGNE RHÔNE-ALPES, AGENCE D’URBANISME DE LA RÉGION GRENOBLOISE, UGA CAMPUS, CHUGA

OWNER(S) OF THE SITE: GAM, COMMUNES, PRIVATE

Inhabited milieu’s challenges Grenoble Alpes Métropole is identified by its proximity to the mountainous massifs Yet, it is mostly the plain that residents use daily Beyond these majestic natural spaces of the Alps, the Métropole wishes to reconnect the urban space and its inhabitants with natural spaces integrated into the city and accessible to all. These natural spaces are biodiversity refuges, a platform for leisure, recreational and mobility activities, but they also serve agricultural, economic, productive uses, linked to flood risks. The park is partly the result of an avoidance of the river, a protective reaction in the face of flood risks. Urban fabrics have developed with their back to the river. The technical facilities, the urban park and the agricultural activities must be studied as a productive and leisure space.

Questions to the competitors In a quest for a new collective mindset, what process could federate and give life to the Boucles de l’Isère park? How to connect the park to its environment, activate synergies and reveal the metabolisms that operate in it? How to work with water and its events and valorise the site’s quality as a dwelling place? How can the territory absorb water-related risks while valorising its presence and its benefits? How to develop a park that is at the same time natural, urban and agr icultural and deals with the current challenges?

Sols mobiles

Team point of view — Climate change is increasing torrential flooding and soil erosion, amplifying sedimentation on the plain. The project takes advantage of flooding to recover silt from the Isère and produce local topsoil, which is used to green the town centre. A new territorial metabolism is thus established through the transfer of organic matter.

This metabolism is supported by four landscape figures: the sedimentary marsh, a wet landscape that allows the silt to settle; the forest avenues, historic routes that refresh and clean up the dense city; the woodland crossings, a network of gardens linking the plains and foot-hills; and the archaeological loops, a narrative trail following the traces of the ancient meanders of the Isère River, providing a scenogr aphy of the risk.

Jury point of view — The team puts forward a long-term argument for its proposal by considering the glacier melting that is already underway, future water shortages and the disruption of sedimentary dynamics on the scale of the watershed. Armed with this forward-looking scenario, it looks at the site from a distance and seeks new representations to bring the Boucles de l’Isère park into existence. The jury picked out this proposal for its originality and its ability to conceptualise and tell a story about a territory that continues to change with and through its sediments. The project also displays great qualities its work on soil, water and plants.

Author(s) — Iris Chervet (FR), Architect, urbanist, landscaper / Contributor(s) — Amaury Bech (FR), Laura Lepesteur (FR), Architects, urbanists Contact — 6 rue de Vaucouleurs, 75006 Paris (FR) • atelier@irischervet.fr, www.irischervet.fr

1st Loop

Team point of view — The first loop is a process developed at the scale of Grenoble as a bioregion and its urban metabolism. It allows the Parc des Boucles de l’Isère to exist by enabling the initiation of a global approach aimed at the construction of a bioregional structure emerging on the fringes of cities in the form of a convention. Its main objective is to involve the actors concerned united in a common vision in order to reinforce the territorial value composed of resourceful areas, such as the Parc des Boucles de l’Isère, in their geographical diversity, their contemporary heritage and in their capacity to development in the face of climate change . It is by becoming a part of the bioregional structure that these spaces are reinforced and become a living structure on the fringes of the agglomeration.

Jury point of view — The project works by re-contextualising the site on the scale of the bioregion and the Alpine massif. It implements a plant strategy for the re-establishment of ecological continuities and is based on the networking of activities linked to soil fertility, agricultural food production and the reuse sectors. The jury appreciated this complete and well-controlled work, its relevant typology of intervention and its detailed proposals.

Author(s) — Florent Bessoud-Cavillot (FR), Urbanist, landscape architect • Mathias Goutelle (FR), Alexis Perrocheau (FR), Sullivan Doublet (FR), Landscape architects • Louise Valladier (FR), Émilie Mouchel (FR), Architects

Contact — 1726 route du Rhône, 01300 Parves et Nattages (FR) • contact@sullivan-doublet.com, T. +33 781807857

(s)lowland

Team point of view — (s)lowland proposes to transform the way we build cities, placing the slow flow of life and natural dynamics back at the heart of our projects. An approach that initiates a paradigm shift through observational work in an evolving and adaptive methodology, activating levers on a local scale as a bet for a sustainable transformation. The creation of a ‘Grand Parc de la Plaine Alluviale’ as a federating territorial entity would enable the co-construction of an action plan, applied locally by a network of players collaborating on the most metropolitan sequence of the Grésivaudan valley. In this way, experimentation would bring the area to life, gradually transforming urban space through virtuous, life-sustaining systems that could be replicated on a larger scale.

Author(s) — Théo Faucheux (FR), Architect, urbanist

Thomas Tronville (FR), Architect • Alice Riegert (FR), Landscape architect

Contributor(s) — Lisa-Marie Dubiez (FR), Artist

Contact — Atelier AUMMA, Colombier-le-Vieux (FR) atelier.aumma@gmail.com, @atelier.aumma

GROENEWOUD (NL)

How to densify and biodiversify a suburb to create a new garden city?

SCALES: L/S

LOCATION: GROENEWOUD, TILBURG

POPULATION: 217,259 INHAB.

REFLECTION SITE: 37.5 HA / PROJECT SITE: 5.85 HA

SITE PROPOSED BY: MUNICIPALITY OF TILBURG

ACTOR(S) INVOLVED: MUNICIPALITY OF TILBURG

OWNER(S) OF THE SITE: MUNICIPALITY OF TILBURG

Inhabited milieu’s challenges Groenewoud is a typical post-war working-class neighbourhood with close family relationships but also social challenges such as inequality, health problems and social segregation. From the Municipality of Tilburg, there is a city-wide densification task of 25,000 housing units. These homes must land within the city limits to spare the valuable outdoor area and strengthen the existing city. For Tilburg South, this means realizing approximately 2,000 homes between the Ringbaan Zuid and the A58 freeway. Groenewoud now contains mainly ground-level housing (81%), 60% of which is rented. More than half of the housing in the neighbourhood is corporation-owned (social rent), and a high percentage of households in the social minima category (14%). Due to demographic trends, there is demand for new housing typologies for one/two-person households, starters, seniors.

Questions to the competitors How to redesign a garden suburb in which an existing green character is re-thought? How to create and translate spatially to the Garden City of the Future? How to densify and diversify the housing stock and green public space in order to create new identity for Groenewoud district as a whole? How to design new typologies for affordable and sustainable homes while reconfiguring the fr amework of Groenewoud, taking advantage of the surrounding dormant greenery to create a high-quality living experience? How can high-quality architecture be introduced though a thoughtful, collaborative process between local residents and housing associations? How to remove barriers between neighbourhoods and use green areas as network of connection between communities?

Bricolage City

Team point of view — The Bricolage City stands as a testament to the power of innovative architectural design in addressing the housing shortage and embracing the evolving needs of society. By designing for the new work home paradigm and emphasizing sustainability, inclusivity, and community engagement, the proposal envisions a future where Groenewoud thrives as a dynamic and resilient living environment, fostering a strong sense of belonging and shared purpose among its inhabitants. The result of a sensitive analysis of the existing context is a series of punctual interventions that harmoniously densify Groenewoud and preserve the balanced proportion between green areas and built environments (typical of the garden cities).

Jury point of view — The proj ect strategically aims to densify the area by introducing a novel typology that seamlessly integrates work and living spaces. It reflects a context-sensitive approach, rooted in a meticulous analysis of the existing surroundings. Punctual interventions harmoniously densify Groenewoud while preserving a balanced proportion of green areas and built environments, in line with the characteristic garden city typology. Demonstrating a commitment to preserving unique features, the project emphasizes resilience through the strategic use of vegetation. Natural dividers between private, semi-public, and public spaces contr ibute to the area’s harmonious living environment.

Author(s) — Alessandro de Cadilhac (IT), Lorenzo Gaveglio (IT), Laura Izzo (IT), Architects

Contact — 00152 Rome (IT)

Sub-urban Jungle

Team point of view — Sub-urban Jungle offers a radical design-strategy for the strong interweaving of cultural and ecological realities, approaching nature-inclusivity from the perspective of daily lived experiences. This is done through three main design principles: 1. Proposing the Silvrettapark as a vibrant green heart of the neighbourhood, where active and collective functions are connected to the caretaking of natural environments in public space. 2. Offering an urban design strategy by which public spaces are defined by both buildings and greenery, leading to the implementation of several building clusters. 3. Proposing a ground-oriented approach to stacked typologies, strengthening the relation of inhabitants with their natur al environment.

Jury point of view — Introducing a new typology, the project prioritizes the balance between private and public spaces by incorporating inside access to blocks, emphasizing consideration for private areas. Organized as isolated islands within a green environment, the blocks form building clusters, creating a distinctive and integrated landscape. The proposal involves adding volumes for extra apartments, resulting in an all-sided structure with an additional layer on top, featuring ground-based houses in the initial two layers. However, concerns about potential gentrification implications emerge, as the project introduces new elements. While establishing a strong relationship between elements, the project raises considerations about predominantly interior-focused views.

Author(s) — Margit van Schaik (NL), Jesper Baltussen (NL), Architects Contact — Giraffestraat 22, 3064 LD Rotterdam (NL) • info@baltussenvanschaik.nl, www.baltussenvanschaik.nl

Emerging Groenewoud

Team point of view — Groenewoud represents the postwar neighbourhood as a significant urban typology, it requires vast attention for social improvement, but is also a canvas for inspiring transformation. A crucial starting point stands above all: a mindful commitment to building upon the existing space, rather than r esorting to the indiscriminate demolition. The transformation infuses the old edifices with contemporary purpose while preserving a tangible link to the past. The concept of ‘building in the green’ takes on a fresh interpretation by redefining the buildings to embrace nature. The proposed program envisions a dynamic mixed-use community, offering education and job prospects, as well as diverse housing offer, emphasizing the values of social cohesion and fostering a vibrant, healthy community.

Author(s) — Yue Shen (CN), Architect, urban designer Xiaojie Huang (CN), Architectural designer • Xijie Ma (CN), Architect Contact — RE-Studio, Rotterdam (NL) • restudio.hs@gmail.com, www.re-studio.space

GUÉRANDE (FR)

How to design sustainable housing in fragile and vulnerable eco-systems?

SCALES: XL/S

LOCATION: GUÉRANDE, LOIRE ATLANTIQUE (44)

POPULATION: 16,681 INHAB.

REFLECTION SITE: 266 HA / PROJECT SITE: 77.5 HA

SITE PROPOSED BY: CITY OF GUÉRANDE

ACTOR(S) INVOLVED: CITY OF GUÉRANDE, CAP ATLANTIQUE (COMMUNAUTÉ D’AGGLOMÉRATION DE LA PRESQU’ÎLE DE GUÉRANDE-ATLANTIQUE), UDAP (UNITÉ DÉPARTEMENTALE DE L’ARCHITECTURE & DU PATRIMOINE), NATIONAL AGENCY FOR TERRITORIAL COHESION

OWNER(S) OF THE SITE: CITY OF GUÉRANDE AND VARIOUS PRIVATE OWNERS

Inhabited milieu’s challenges Guérande is part of a territory that is coastal, rural, and peri-urban and characterized by a strong interdependence between man and nature. Between estuaries, marshes and ocean, the territory is made up of a hydrographic network whose many primary and tourist activities are d irectly linked to its identity and its assets. This specificity also translates into a strong residential attractiveness and vulnerabilities for the territory: risk of flooding, availability of water resources, coastal erosion, global warming, linked to the presence of numerous marshes (drying). Because of its unique nature, the territory is fragile and subjects to the pressure of urbanization. It becomes necessary to take an interest in the reinforcement of the biodiversity while integrating the need of the city to develop and to satisfy new needs for its inhabitants.

Questions to the competitors — How to revitalize extra-mural sectors and create connections with the larger territory? How to enhance and create specific public spaces and network them allowing the connection between the various centralities of Guérande territory? How to develop new forms of residential housing that are sustainable and economical in terms of land consumption and are affordable and aimed at families? How to engage a coherent approach bringing an innovative and experimental character to the operations that the city wishes to implement?

Terraqué

Team point of view — The heart of our project lies in the reintroduction of a terrain conducive to the development of climates that intensify the two catchment areas surrounding Guérande (bocage and riparian forest). This is made possible by the union of a softened infrastructure and a fertile landscape. Our approaches focus on highlighting the invisible: Guérande is a territory of figures and symbols, like the land tenure model of the salt marshes, or the collective enjoyment of the Brière marshes. These systems protect a living territory and ensure gentle exploitation, by promoting consensus as a mode of operation. Our project Terraqué is based on these observations and transforms existing logics, knowledge and collective memory into strategic tools to respond to the challenges facing the city: how can we continue to provide housing and live on a daily basis while tourism increases the pressure?

Jury point of view — The team has developed a very detailed analysis of the site, its historical and heritage qualities, the proximity and the richness of the wider landscape. The project focuses on the reintroduction of water and pragmatic implementation tools. The jury praised the team’s strong sensitivity to places, territory and people. It crosses perimeters and offers a number of openings on a spatial, conceptual and methodological level. The statement developed by the team is cultivated and convincing, reinforced by the efficiency and poetry of the choices of representation and graphic expression.

Author(s) — Noël Picaper (FR), Mylène Lach (FR), Architects / Contact — Strasbourg (FR) • picaper.noel@gmail.com, bonjour@buissonniere.eu, www.onomiau.com, www.buissonniere.eu

Le Héron qui voulait voir l’océan

Team point of view — The peninsula of Guérande, an area surrounded by many waters (ocean, marshes) is vulnerable to future marine flooding. The concept of ʻcoastal thicknessʼ suggests concentrating urbanization in the hinterland to accept the movements of the water coast. The city of Guérande then appears as a refuge to be reinhabited. As so, the project takes the side of densifying the artificialized spaces to preserve the places of ordinary nature, in order to adapt the city to challenges of climate and hydraulic changes. The proposal aims to strengthen the relationship between actors and their territory by rediscovering natural resources and local know-hows and by providing housings answering to new needs of contemporary lifestyles.

Jury point of view — The team responds to the risks of marine submersion by creating refuge spaces in the coastal backcountry, allowing the restoration of ecosystems capable of absorbing climate trauma. In this philosophy, Guérande is seen as a ‘stationary city’ which grows in density rather than in space. The jury wanted to highlight this sensitive and very comprehensive proposal which addresses seasonal cycles and the involvement of local stakeholders and resources. The scales of analysis and proposals are particularly well-argued to look for distant attachments with consideration for natural environments, public space and housing.

Author(s) — Robinson Mangematin (FR), Esther Morin (FR), Myriam Richter (FR), Architects, urbanists

Contact — 44000 Nantes (FR) • leheron.guerande@gmail.com

La clé des champs

Team point of view — The ‘Clé des champs’ project proposes to reveal the peninsula of the city of Guérande through its lands and soils, by reconsidering the link with these cultivated plateaus. The strategy is based on three scales, which intersect gover nance systems, activation of sectors, transformations of public spaces and architectural programming at various scales. The creation of a municipal agricultural park, the development of a network of public spaces in the peripheral districts, and the establishment of a landscape pattern on the scale of the northern districts – the ‘ Parc des Champs Libres’–, linked to the transformation of the Athanor pole will restore the town’s rural character. The process of transformation of the territory will grow in three stages: awareness and experimentation, consolidation, sustainability, so that the nor thern districts can become a new gateway to the fields.

Author(s) — H. Coussedière (FR), Architect – DPEA Recherches

M. Girerd (FR), Architect, urbanist • J. Marmonier, Architect M. Risler (FR), Landscape designer Contact — lacledeschamps.guerande@gmail.com

HELSINKI (FI)

How to

make compatible a

vulnerable archipelago with recreational uses?

SCALES: XL/S

LOCATION: HELSINKI EASTERN ARCHIPELAGO

POPULATION: CITY 658,864 INHAB. /

GREATER HELSINKI AREA 1,320,000 INHAB.

REFLECTION SITES: 68 HA + 13 HA + 4 HA + 4 HA + 16 HA

PROJECT SITES: 8 HA + 7 HA + 2 HA + 1 HA + 6 HA

SITE PROPOSED BY: CITY OF HELSINKI

ACTOR(S) INVOLVED: CITY OF HELSINKI

OWNER(S) OF THE SITE: CITY OF HELSINKI

Inhabited milieu’s challenges There are more than 700 islands and islets in Helsinki. Helsinki’s eastern archipelago is a unique maritime milieu with valuable natural and cultural-historical sites and varying landscapes , from the sheltered inner archipelago to the barren and open outer archipelago. The public recreational use of the eastern archipelago has so far been low compared to the number of islands and the extent of the area. Two of the main challenges has been poor accessibility and the lack of services, and the vicious circle formed by them. The changing seasons and weather conditions add challenges for accessibility. Five islands have been chosen as pilot sites. The challenge is to improve the recreational use of the area while repairing the damaged and worn-out natural areas and enhancing biodiversity

Questions to the competitors How to improve the services and accessibility of the archipelago while considering the characteristics of local culture and nature? How to encour age the city residents and visitors towards more responsible maritime recreation and increase their environmental awareness by means of new structures and services? How to design a modular concept and an architectural system for diverse elements which can be easily adapted to various sites and situations, and can be tested on pilot sites? How to imagine adaptable, expandable and relocatable architecture? How to take into account natural, cultural, social, and historical values, as well as other special features of the islands? How can a vulnerable and sensitive nature and landscape be protected from wear caused by recreational use?

Embrace Nature

Team point of view — Upon an isle where nature‘s hand Did weave a tapestry of sand, A wondrous place of quaint design, Where culture and the wild align. With tourist gems of tiny size, Each structure, a sweet surprise, Where nature’s gifts, a guiding force, Create a realm of true discourse. Amidst the foliage, tall and grand, A tree stands tall, a beacon‘s hand, Its branches cradle dwellings small, A symphony of life in thrall. A bridge of stone, with moss adorned, Where rushing streams have once meandered, A testament to nature‘s touch, As structures blend, they never clutch. So come, explore this magic isle, Where culture and the earth compile, A testament to unity, In nature‘s grasp, we all agree. Let‘s cuddle in nature, Let‘s cuddle with nature.

Jury point of view — The name of the proposal describes the approach taken. The proposal calls for harmony between nature and man and offers nice ways to achieve this. The nature is the foundation of everything, and its respect is essential when developing solutions for the future. The structures for recreational use have a minimal impact and footprint on the ground level. Solutions for different recreational use, such as playgrounds, saunas and dry toilets, are presented through a carefully studied palette. The character of the architecture is vernacular and very simple. Larger-scale elements are well integrated into the landscape, though almost monumental, while smaller elements are hidden within nature.

Author(s) — Benedikt Hartl (DE), Architect / Contributor(s) — Maximilian Loeschke (DE), Architect Contact — Opposite Office • info@oppositeoffice.com, www.oppositeoffice.com

Haven – for humans & non-humans alike

Team point of view — The project is divided into three scales: the archipelago, the islands, and structures. Each scale is thoughtfully zoned to balance human and non-human use while preserving biodiversity. Nonhuman islands are restricted from human access, while joint-use areas allow for co-existence. The islands are designated with different zones, focusing on either human or non-human use . The implementation process involves comprehensive planning, stakeholder engagement, research, zoning, and design development. Environmental impact assessments are carried out to ensure sustainability. The actual implementation of zoning and infrastructure takes several years, followed by rewilding and biodiversity enhancement efforts. Regular monitoring and adaptation are part of the ongoing process to ensure the project’s success in creating a harmonious environment for both humans and non-humans.

Jury point of view — A strongly idealistic proposal that wants to extend fundamental rights to all species, and proposes a thesis as a new statute for Helsinki: A City for Humans and Non-humans Alike, and sets out objectives to support diversity. All actions undertaken should produce well-being and aim for maximum resource wisdom. The strengths of the proposal lie in the vast scale, and its methodology for profiling the characteristics of different islands should serve as a concept for the further development of the islands in enhancing their unique characteristics.

Author(s) — Saara Kantele (FI), Architect, designer • Paul Bot (NL), Artist Contact — Studio Kantele • saara@saarakantele.fi, www.saarakantele.fi, @saarakantele, paulleonardbot@gmail.com

Aallonharja Island Tools

Team point of view — Aallonharja unveils the newest layer for a long-lasting Nordic maritime architecture. It portrays a modern reinterpretation of the traditional Finnish shoreline structures. Iconic and functional, its form combined with an intense red colour and the modern use of wood creates an easily recognisable public building typology that fits to every island. Aallonharja blends itself to the archipelago environment and gives air for the unique nature to thrive, all while creating various new possibilities for everyone to enjoy the islands. The project is designed to be ecologically and economically sustainable.

Team point of view — The use of island tools implies the abandonment of absolute anthropocentrism, of the greed for space, as a coexistence between different living beings is proposed as an act of belonging to the world and as an antidote to detachment. The small island architectures, fragmented but united by a common meaning, as happens in an archipelago, become environments inhabited by different forms of life. These systems are built in the wild from natural and local materials in respect of what surrounds them, prepared to be parasitized and varied in and by time. These are places of temporary acceptance of the human being, of approach to the natural and absence of the mania of ‘forever’, of mutual and equal encounter. The human being nests in the islands, allowing the architectures to be nested in turn.

Author(s) — Eelis Leino (FI), Architect • Filip Neagu (RO), Student in architecture

Contact — leino.eelis@gmail.com, filiplucianneagu@gmail.com

Author(s) — Aron De Cesero (IT), Marta Magnaguagno (IT), Architects • Annachiara Sartor (IT), Landscape architect

Contact — Venice (IT) • dcms.architecture@gmail.com

INGOLSTADT (DE)

How can a roundabout become habitable for people, flora and fauna?

SCALES: L/S

LOCATION: AUDI-RING

POPULATION: 141.582 INHAB.

REFLECTION SITE: 75 HA / PROJECT SITE: 10 HA

SITE PROPOSED BY: CITY OF INGOLSTADT

ACTOR(S) INVOLVED: CITY OF INGOLSTADT

OWNER(S) OF THE SITE: CITY OF INGOLSTADT AND PRIVATE OWNERS

Inhabited milieu’s challenges The city of Ingolstadt is the second-largest city in Upper Bavaria after Munich. Today, the north-western urban area is characterized by a heterogeneous settlement structure of commerce, offices, housing, grey infrastructure, vacant lots, parks, and agricultural land, and is under significant growth and development pressure. The challenge is to design a new, lively, mixed-use district in the project area while considering traffic. The large roundabout, known as the Audi-Ring, can remain in its current form or be completely reimagined if a plausible alternative traffic solution is proposed.

Questions to the competitors How to develop forward-thinking urban planning ideas for the area around the current roundabout? What uses are necessary to create a lively district? What building typologies are suitable for multifunctional buildings? Should the roundabout be preserved? Should it b e rebuilt? Or disappear entirely? And if so, how can traffic be organized? How can a vibrant urban space be created that is ecologically and socially sustainable and offers attractive habitats for people, flora, and fauna? How can ʻcommunityʼ be promoted through structural settings and offerings? What are the private, public, and semi-public areas in the district, buildings, and open spaces? How can flexible, adaptable building typologies be created that serve many, even changing, user groups and generate a social mix? What does ecological urban planning look like, particularly with regards to climate protection and adaptation? How can land use and surface sealing be minimized? How can the city of the future be cooled?

Inge

Team point of view — Inge, a new urban quarter of Ingolstadt, is being created sustainable and together. The Audi-Ring is being dissolved and developed into a differentiated, diverse and integrative urban part of Ingolstadt.

The new mixed urban quarter ‘Inge’ carefully links with the existing building stock and skilfully guides traffic through the neighbourhood taking into account current traffic volumes. Also, it builds a bridge in the existing green space concept of the city’s second green ring. In doing so, it focuses on the urgent issues of sustainable, climate-friendly and inclusive building: Inge offers mixed housing and public spaces with diverse, flexible spaces for commercial, public or community uses as well as different open spaces and places to meet.

Jury point of view — The proposal spurns the spatial legacy of the car-friendly city and presents a complete reorganisation of the area including the Audi-Ring. It promises aspects of urban life, diverse building typologies and utilizable open spaces. It fits appropriately into its context in terms of scale and ties in logically with existing structures and pathways. The area’s open spaces should be reinforced. The mobility concept appears functional, but should be further specified and could be more forward-looking with regard to the organization of motorised private transport.

Author(s) — Dr. Maria Frölich-Kulik (DE), Atidh Jonas Langbein (DE), Architects • Matti Drechsel (DE), Urban planner

Contact — Konrad-Dreher-Straße 44, 80689 München (DE) • arge-inge@posteo.de

LARVIK (NO)

How to bridge the gap between centre and seafront?

SCALES: L/S

LOCATION: LARVIK

POPULATION: 48,246 INHAB.

REFLECTION SITE: 18 HA / PROJECT SITE: 3.5 HA

SITE PROPOSED BY: LARVIK MUNICIPALITY

ACTOR(S) INVOLVED: LARVIK MUNICIPALITY, CITIZEN PANEL

OWNER(S) OF THE SITE: LARVIK MUNICIPALITY, NATIONAL RAILROAD COMPANY

Inhabited milieu’s challenges Larvik is a small town characterised by a comfortable climate and natural beauty, but suffers numerous infrastructural and geological limitations, which have burdened town planning and development particularly in recent years. Larvik is located on a narrow piece of land between the sea and Farris Lake, with rugged topography and a harbour distinctly exposed to the elements. All rail and car traffic passing from Oslo toward the south of the country is channelled through Larvik. The town centre has several areas that are essentially untouchable for future planning, owing to a new railway line project that has been put on hold indefinitely. The old railway tracks are currently blocking Larvik’s connection to the harbour creating a maze of obstacles by foot. Despite the many limitations affecting Larvik’s capacity to develop its centre, financing has been granted to bridge the many barriers between the harbour and the centre as well as for a new library. Both of these projects could contribute significantly to revitalizing the centre and connect the heart of the town to its harbour once again.

Questions to the competitors — How to overcome the barriers, bridging the gap between Larvik’s centre and the seafront? How can programming, public space and historic buildings work together to make the distances in Larvik feel smaller and the town more attractive and accessible? Larvik needs a new library. Could the site work as a host for the new library or would another type of public or commercial programme be better suited and more strategic for the site?

(Re)generate

Team point of view — Larvik’s project links centre and port with a panoramic bridge, a vibrant library, and more. Beyond infrastructure, it inspires virtuous living, combats climate change, and fosters environmental consciousness. Sustainability prevails, with local stone and low-carbon bricks. A new public space emerges, offering recreation, culture, and eco-friendly coastal protection. An existing building transforms into a marine biodiversity research centre, promoting awareness. The library’s design, with four interconnected buildings, houses 150,000 books. Serene acoustics and visual harmony enrich the experience. Larvik’s visionary approach leads to a sustainable and culturally vibrant future, inspiring other cities.

Jury point of view — The proposal creates a strong link between the town, Bøkkerfjellet and the seafront. It suggests a variety of means of how to connect the strongly separated parts of town through a row of physical, programmatic and visual interventions, which should use circular economy as a material resource. The fragmentary approach to the task was considered by the jury to be an appropriate response to an equally fragmented environment, as well as a valuable tool for dealing with a development process full of uncertainties. In an urban sense the proposal is flexible for further elaboration and programming. The specific functions may easily be specified or partly reprogrammed when needed.

Author(s) — Tian Li (FR), Ons Larguech (TN), Zihao Wang (CN), Ala Rassaa (FR), Architects • Shan Jiang (CN), Landscape architect Contact — 235 Rue de Crimée, 75019 Paris (FR) • face.tian@gmail.com

Standing Stones to the Sea

Team point of view — To activate the port and connect it with the centre of Larvik, the first question to raise is how to cross the railway line? The easiest solution might have been to design a footbridge with an elevator to easily cross the barrier. But in our opinion, this incredible site does not deserve such a scar in the landscape. What’s more, a bird, a frog or even a lizard cannot take an elevator! The promenade creates a natural link between the old port and the high point of the Bøkkerfjellet hill, meandering like a stream and connecting the city centre to the sea. Gently sloping down, the proj ect intends to integrate everyone, from humans young and old to flora and fauna. The library is inserted into the walkway, in a space below the promenade. As a bridge of knowledge linking the city and the water.

Jury point of view — The proj ect aims to connect Bøkkerfjellet and the harbour via a promenade. It suggests building a library within this promenade, featuring a walkway on top. The structure can be constructed in phases, using local materials. A part of the library will be inside the hill’s bunker. The promenade ends at the harbour, with stairs leading to the water. The jury appreciates how the project connects different parts of the city. The idea of using the library as a connector is seen as innovative and forward-thinking in urban development.

Author(s) — Alexandre Bailleux (FR), Noémie Pages (FR), Warren Louis-Marie (FR), Architects Contact — 5 Rue Jules Jouy, Paris 75018 (FR) • aleksbailleux@gmail.com, @_renlab_

Community (AS) Centre

Team point of view — The lack of a strong connection between Larvik’s city centre and waterfront is both physical and mental, due to few public buildings present along the sea, creating a sense of distance from the community.

Transforming the Toldboden into a new community centre will serve as a focal point to better define the harbour’s future identity. By renovating and expanding the existing building, it can accommodate a diverse range of functions such as a library, coworking spaces, and multifunctional areas.

To resolve the physical disconnection between the city and the harbour, the project proposes an underground passage that will offer an exciting opportunity to rediscover Larvik’s geological richness, turning it into a significant new attraction for residents and visitors.

Author(s) — Claudio Cortese (IT), Barbara Mazza (IT), Architects Contact — cortese mazza, Bruxelles (BE) info@cortesemazza.com, www.cortesemazza.com

Topography for life

Team point of view — The visionary proposal for Larvik harmonizes the town centre and harbour, integrating urban vibrancy with natural tranquillity. Our design emphasizes sustainability, heritage respect, and community participation. The innovative Harbour Gate Hub, crafted from sustainable timber, forges a vibrant link from the park to the bustling harbour. The library, nestled within the town’s green heart, becomes a flexible community space connecting with nature. Short-term road enhancements and long-term tr ansformation into a green corridor reflect our commitment to a sustainable, connected, and vibrant future for Larvik.

Author(s) — Gustavo Figueira Serrano (ES), Diego Díaz Mosqueira (ES), Álvaro Itarte Pérez (ES), Javier Pombar Guillán (ES), Architects

Contributor(s) — Alba Álvarez Vázquez (ES), Jimena González Verdía (ES), Architects Contact — vi17 arquitectura, Carballo, A Coruña (ES) info@vi17.gal, www.vi17.gal

LE PALAIS (FR)

How to preserve biodiversity maintaining a balance between islanders and tourists?

SCALES: XL/S

LOCATION: LE PALAIS – MORBIHAN (56)

POPULATION: CITY 2,629 INHAB. / ISLAND 5,563 INHAB.

REFLECTION SITE: CITY SCALE 17.43 KM2, CITY CENTRE SCALE 112 HA

PROJECT SITE: 5.3 HA + 13 HA (PUBLIC SPACE AND THE PORT)

SITE PROPOSED BY: CITY OF LE PALAIS

ACTOR(S) INVOLVED: LE PALAIS, DDTM 56/SUHC, UDAP MORBIHAN, AGENCE NATIONALE DE LA COHÉSION DES TERRITOIRES, RÉGION BRETAGNE, CONSEIL DÉPARTEMENTAL DU MORBIHAN

OWNER(S) OF THE SITE: LE PALAIS

Inhabited milieu’s challenges — Le Palais is the main entrance to the island of Belle-Île-en-Mer. Its port welcomes visitors and goods daily . Le Palais is constrained in a space surrounded by topography and by a vast perimeter wall. The agricultural specificity of the island contributes to its ecological and landscape richness. But tourism remains one of the main economic resources for the island, which goes from 6,000 inhabitants to 45,000 in the summer season. The supply of housing is at very high prices, gradually making access to housing almost impossible for the Palatines. Importing goods generates an additional cost of the daily basket. The effects of climate change, visible with the hazards of marine submersion, have become annual. Drinking water and food autonomy are fragile with new episodes of drought. The island must face tension on resources, social inequalities, climatic risks and their uncertain consequences.

Questions to the competitors How to re-question the ground of public spaces that are currently saturated, from the port to the city centre to find new continuities? How to think of various offers of housing and services proposing new ways of living, more inclusive, accessible to islanders, seasonal workers and tourists, adapted to the aging of the population? How can we act on the preservation of biodiversity and maintain the balance between islanders and non-islanders?

DÉFENDONS LES PALANTINS

Team point of view — Belle-Isle and Le Palais are unique territories. But today, faced with the global challenges of the 21st century, Belle-Isle and the Palantins are losing their way! Climate change, rising sea levels, continental dependence and the anthropic pressure inherent in mass tourism all run the risk of losing the natural, cultural and economic riches that are Belle-Isle’s strength and deep-rooted identity. Inhabitants urgently need to become aware of the crises that are already changing the way they live.

That’s why, just as Jacques Prévert alerted us in 1946, we’re singing loud and clear: Let’s Defend the Palantins! This project, based on the raising water expected in 2050 and 2100 is a joyful message of warning, to give back Le Palais to his inhabitants – trees, animals, bugs and human people!

Jury point of view — Integration of climate change, management of island resources, withdrawal of inhabitants and activities in the face of rising water levels, adaptations in housing forms and conditions: the team the relatives a global and comprehensive attitude by integrating several time horizons: 2025 – 2050 – 2100. The jury wanted to recognise the foresight and courage of this proposal which is both pragmatic and forward-looking. The project expresses an optimistic and proactive vision of current and future changes. Fully embedded in the theme of the session, the idea developed by the team provides a foundation for reflection and projection particularly suited to Belle-Île-en-Mer but that is also transposable to other territories facing the retreat of the coastline.

Author(s) — Marine Gate (FR), Yann Houllard (FR), Architects, urbanists / Contributor(s) — Fanny Picourlat (FR), Hydrologist Contact — collectifmaya@gmail.com, www.collectifmaya.com

Les traversées

Team point of view — The renowned Belle-île-en-mer exists in the collective mind as an idyllic and timeless scenery. It is currently facing concerns about climate disruptions and its overall resilience . In response to these challenges, the proj ect explores the ‘cultural landscape’ dimension, aiming to reinforce the belleîlois narrative, from its genesis to its renaissance. Within this global vision, the island’s landscape becomes a ‘bien commun’, fostering synergies between the living actors and the territory. By adopting a transversal approach, the project interconnects by transects the diverse mosaic of environments across three scales: the bioregion, the island, and Le Palais. These traverses in the landscapes offer a genuine framework for observation, comprehension, and enable boundless possibilities.

Jury point of view — The team offers a unique point of view on the island landscape as viewed from the open sea. The questions posed by the theme of the session find their resolution at the scale of the wider territory, whether insular, maritime or terrestrial. The proposal weaves links between the valleys, focuses on the management of environments on an island scale by considering the impact of human flows. Beyond a certain complexity of interpretation, the jury emphasised the quality of this proposal and its gr aphic expression. The project is situated at the right scale, on the threshold of an overly designed project. The jury also observed and wanted to highlight the consideration of the island as ‘an inseparable whole’, a message that resonates with global issues.

Author(s) — Corentin Berger (FR), Architect • Gemma Milà (ES), Julie Maillard (FR), Architects, urbanists

Contributor(s) — Elsa Adda (SE), Architect • Esther Metivier (FR), Student in architecture

Contact — Atelier Berger Milà, Paris (FR) • atelier@bergermila.com, www.atelierbergermila.com

Interstices

Team point of view — The interstice can be read in two ways: in its spatial dimension, from the fault line to the boundary, and in its temporal dimension, from the daily tide to the rising waters. The notion of a boundary defines a frontier between two worlds that are sometimes hermetically sealed from one another. We would prefer to think of it as a meeting place rather than a cut-off point. On the smallest scale, the boundaries between two areas of land, or between two gardens, could be home to the living, or even the wild. The interstice between the market and the public road has a wildness about it. The one between the fields could become dead hedges and porous paths. How can we find places where human habits can be shared with those of the wild, non-human world?

Jury point of view — The project presents itself as an ensemble of delicate additions and subtractions, thought out and negotiated on the scale of each place. The architectural and landscape inter ventions are measured while seeking the best outcomes for the transformed spaces and environments: the paths, the roads, the public spaces, the port… The jury noted the sensitivity of the team, the accuracy and the delicacy of the proposals but also, more generally, the idea of a process of transformation through micro-interventions that is complementary to more systemic approaches.

Author(s) — Marion Boisset (FR), Luca Eminenti (FR), Guillaume Lachat (FR), Iris Lacoudre (FR), Architects

Contact — Ille architects, Morlaix (FR) • info@ille.bzh, www.ille.bzh

LOCHAU (AT)

How to create a densified inclusive place respecting a fragile ecosystem?

SCALES: L/S

LOCATION: LOCHAU,VORALBERG

POPULATION: 7,000 INHAB.

REFLECTION SITE: 127 HA / PROJECT SITE: 8.1 HA

SITE PROPOSED BY: MUNICIPALITY OF LOCHAU

ACTOR(S) INVOLVED: MUNICIPALITY OF LOCHAU, CITY OF BREGENZ, FEDERAL PROVINCE OF VORARLBERG, FEDERAL AGENCY FOR WATER MANAGEMENT

OWNER(S) OF THE SITE: CITY OF BREGENZ, FEDERAL AGENCY FOR WATER MANAGEMENT

Inhabited milieu’s challenges — In tune with the lake and the mountains, the small village of Lochau is nestled between elements of nature: water and rock. Nature is rooted in the lives of its inhabitants, providing opportunities and recreation from which everyone can benefit. But Nature can also be a limiting factor: the topography determines the mobility corridor that runs along the coast and which is a barrier separating the villagers from the shore. The residents of Lochau are very proud to live in such a place, but they are also aware of the economic pressures on the area. Lochau has a marina, a Natura 2000 nature reserve and beautiful recreational areas on the water, making it a great place where many interests meet. In between the two basins of the marina, there is a harbour building and an old ferry installed in the late 1970s that served as a small local eatery and kiosk. Now corrosion and general deterioration are very advanced, and renovation is too expensive.

Questions to the competitors — How to propose a new object instead of the old ferry? How to think of the way it interacts with its surrounding landscape? How to preserve the existing values of the site while expanding its uses? How to design a space that embraces inclusiveness? How can the mobility corridor be softened to become an integral part of the urban fabric? How to create a place of inclusion , without barriers, where everyone is invited and can participate? How to find a balance between economic pressure, intensified use, fragile ecosystems and vulnerable groups living in the area?

Lochau Rural (H)arbours

Team point of view — The current models and development strategies must be revised to address current challenges – Lochau (H)arbour s emphasize strong cores, water arteries, and civic ribbons. The vision involves active negotiation, renewed green spaces, civic node centres, and reduced car traffic. The project focuses on caring for the Lochau meadows as green corridors, adding strategic infrastructural interventions. The (H)arbour building, as a prototype of this concept, is a catalyst for interaction and inclusivity, embracing the idea of care, culture, and community. Spatially, the building consists of light shafts and various planting typologies to attract birds and insects while providing shade, collecting water and cooling. In that sense, the Lochau (H)arbour becomes the meeting point in the coast garden.

Author(s) — Christina Ehrmann (DE), Christopher Gruber (AT), Architects

Jury point of view — The proposed solution works intensively with the wider structure, particularly in terms of connecting streams and watercourses. The idea of a ribbon around Lochau ‘with a garden inside’ is extremely convincing. The preservation of the meadows is seen as a strong strategic idea that the municipality can utilise positively and implement quickly. The project is well thought out on several levels, notably regarding nature-based solutions. It is the only project that seriously takes into account natural ventilation. The choice of materials as well as the green facade and the biodiverse roof would contribute to the biodiversity of the site.

Contributor(s) — Manuel Gruber (AT), Student in architecture • Frieda Zapf (DE), Sociologist • Jakob Czinger (HU), 3D designer

Contact — atelier ehrmann:gruber, Vienna (AT) • competition@studiogruber.at, www.atelierehrmanngruber.com

Forget-me-not

Team point of view — After 80 years of services, the Alte Fähre is showing some signs of exhaustion but, is it yet the time to forget about it? Or it just needs some care and a new purpose for the years to come? The project aims for a set of exterior, interior and intermediate spaces that work symbiotically to create a physical and emotional framework for social activities. An adaptable bioclimatic infrastructure will shelter the Alte Fähre from further deterioration setting it up for the use of the citizens, acting as an interior garden in winter and as a shaded exterior in the increasing hot summers, becoming a climate refuge. A compact wooden building will host the rest of the interior programs. Built from green and constructed archipelagos, Lochau must rely on the multiple creeks that cross the landscape to promote the slow circulation and boost the thriving fauna and flora. Follow the sound of water.

Jury point of view — The boat ruin emerges as an outstanding feature, providing a compelling argument for the warmth and char acter of the location. The team’s creative use of the boat as scenography adds a unique and captivating element to the project. It demonstrates a commendable handling of the ecosystem aspects of the area, addressing them from the largest to the smallest scale. Atmospheric graphics vividly illustrate the holistic idea behind the project.

Author(s) — Pau Sarquella Fabregas (ES), Carmen Torres González (ES), Architects

Contributor(s) — Alicia Marco Zuriaga (ES), Jerome Lorente Martí (ES), Joana Plana Ortiz (ES), Architects

Contact — Sarquella + Torres Architects, Banyoles (ES) • hola@sarquellatorres.com, www.sarquellatorres.com, @sarquella.torres

Boat house – Enhancing the Existing Ferry tales

Team point of view — The proposal reinforces an existing pedestrian axis between town centre and harbour. A road shaded by trees connects the recreation areas of Pfänder Mountain and Lake Constance. From a redesigned intersection at Landstraße, the revitalised Bahnhofstraße passes green spaces and a proposed municipal agricultural co-op in the heart of the town, fostering access to commons. At the train station a shared space allows cyclists, motorists and pedestrians to interact safely. The adjoining plaza turns the station into a multi-modal hub, for local trips by bus, a stroll by the lake or inter-regional journeys. The spirit of the marina is reinvigorated by restoring the Old Ferry through community participation and building a boathouse that doubles up as a cultur al space by the lake front.

Author(s) — Sophia Richwien (DE), Michael Hohenadl (DE), Felix Niemeier (DE), Architects Contact — arge.rnh@gmail.com, @arge.rnh

Team point of view — As designers, we pondered various ways to connect territories through large-scale infrastructural interventions, but ultimately, we hesitated to endorse any environmental violation. Instead, we firmly believe that spatial coherence can be achieved by embracing visual continuity through interventions that minimally impact new space or damage existing areas. By preserving Lochau’s natural beauty and heritage, we can create a sustainable and harmonious bond between its diverse elements, fostering a future that celebrates both connection and preservation. Throughout the project, we sought to enrich experiences of sports, culture, history, and leisure while preserving and respecting the existing built and natural environment.

Author(s) — Angela Lulati (AT), Karina Baraniak (PL), Architects Contact — Weißgerberlände, 1030 Wien (AT) ageliki_lulati@hotmail.com

MAKARSKA (HR)

How to revitalize an existing empty centre to obtain a vibrant cultural public space?

SCALES: L/S

LOCATION: CITY CENTRE

POPULATION: 13,344 INHAB.

REFLECTION SITE: 23 HA / PROJECT SITE: 0.26 HA

SITE PROPOSED BY: CITY OF MAKARSKA

ACTOR(S) INVOLVED: CITY OF MAKARSKA, ‘MAKARSKA COAST’ CITY COMPANY, ‘COMMUNAL WORKS’ CITY COMPANY, TOURIST BOARD OF MAKARSKA

OWNER(S) OF THE SITE: CITY OF MAKARSKA

Inhabited milieu’s challenges Tourism is an integral part of all development initiatives in Makarska. The city has a hundred-year-old tradition in hospitality; tourism is responsible for development of the town, but at the same time it has caused a number of adverse phenomena such as marked seasonality, undiversified economy, overbuilt spaces and traffic jams. The Mediterranean climate, white pebble beaches lined with pine trees and a 1,700 m high mountain that rises ‘from the sea’ attract visitors again and again but these ‘centenary postcards’ must be thought of in the context of contemporary practices. The site, located in the historical city, should strongly influence the city's everyday life and create a new image and spirit of the public space.

Questions to the competitors — How to transform the existing food market and explore the possibility of additional programs to make this space more exciting, interesting and functional to meet the broader needs of the city? How to build a Mediterranean cuisine centre in the old fish market building, that can become a venue where diverse cultural events will take place attracting citizens, visitors and students? How to develop and revitalize the existing (preserved) empty space, close to the old fish market, for new public facilities? Although housing different programs, how can we consider these three spaces as a whole with complementary uses and similar user targets that will provide a strong influence on the development of Makarska’s cultural and gastronomic offer?

Earth, Wind and Water

Team point of view — During the last 30 years, Makarska has known significant transformations related to mass tourism, causing congestion, traffic jam, and urban settlement issues. The project, grounded on three existing sites of the historic centre, offers new urban conditions for locals and tourists, centred around its local community and identity. Specific climatic conditions are offered on each site to accommodate the program and improve the comfort of its users. Systematically, these voids are reconfigured through new topographies, superstructures, and elements. Thus, we propose a covered square for the market, a terrace for the gastronomic centre and the wine cellar, and a performative park for the cultural platform.

Jury point of view — The authors recognize the urban significance of the three voids in the dense structure of the city, and retain their basic character, but subtly reconfigure them, thus creating frameworks for polyvalent activities and programs. Their interventions are functional, serial, but not at all generic or neutral. With a pronounced sense of measure, they offer responses to the identity problems of the city of Makarska, and provide new cultural and social facilities that logically connect to the existing ones in the city: they interact with the existing natural and built environment, and achieve a clear mutual interaction.

Author(s) — Matthieu Brasebin (FR), Elisabeth Terrisse de Botton (ES), Architects Contact — Brussels (BE) • brasebin.terrisse@gmail.com

A Roof Without a House

Team point of view — In the cacophony of the contemporary, hyper-connected world, we frequently find ourselves longing for events, moments and experiences during which the passing of time does not seem so mercilessly fast. We are continuously accelerating, and yet dreaming of slowness. In an aim of achieving precisely that feeling, the three project sites are gently connected to their surrounding context to form a sequence of open public spaces with three very distinct atmospheres – new focal points of the city centre. Their built footprint on the ground floor is kept as small as possible, as a reaction to the overbuilt jungle of Makarska. The newly formed urban voids are covered by man-made or natural roofs providing shelter from the elements, and inhabited by diverse ecologies, human and non-human alike.

Jury point of view — The authors solve the recognized lack of voids in Makarska in a very distinctive way. They choose a strategy of planning by subtraction, namely by avoiding the occupation of space with physical construction, or as the title itself suggests – with the help of a ‘roof without a house’.

The jury recognized the exceptional quality of the proposal, both at the conceptual level and in later design development. The authors strive to form static places, or stopping places in the dynamics of the city, following the concept of slowness.

Author(s) — Sara Blekić (HR), Hana Dašić (HR), Antea Divić (HR), Jana Horvat (HR), Ria Tursan (HR), Architects Contact — cure collective, Zagreb (HR) • hana.dasic@gmail.com

Bustling Locale FishingNETwork!

Team point of view — The project enables the complexity and gradation of human interaction in society and in Makarska. From individual and human interactions at the Market, to communal and local interactions at the Centre of Mediterranean Gastronomy, and finally, to collective and universally human interactions at the Cultural Platform. These interactions transpire in specific locales, defined by deeply human and architectural elements – the roof over the open public space. By adding another specific element – the market stand, the table, and the stage – ample space for human encounters and ‘Šušur’ (eng. bustling) is achieved. Lively, murmuring sounds of people, the clinking of plates, children playing, the singing of crickets… all of this overlaps and creates a local symphony, inseparable from the Mediterranean.

Author(s) — M. Babić (HR), A. Licardo (HR), A. Doljanin (HR), Architects / Contributor(s) — M. Božanić (HR), L. Sopina (HR), Architects • A. Babić (HR), Graphic designer • L. Berić (HR), Artist Contact — ZBIR studio, Zagreb (HR) • info@zbir.hr, www.zbir.hr

Team point of view — FishingNETwork! reflects on the temporality of actions and their traces on the urban fabric: it aims to stitch up the holes within this network, creating dynamic spaces to integrate the cultural offer of the city with new functions related to the communication and sharing of the gastronomic culture of Makarska.

The ‘net(work)’ connecting the 3 sites becomes the unifying element of the design, establishing a system that connects the new functions with the existing spaces. The voids come to life through a definition of spaces that enhance the traces of history, creating a new urbanity for the local population and tourists.

Like the fishermen’s net that gathers the fruits of the sea, FishingNETwork! gathers these spaces giving new life to the voids in the new urban centre of Makarska.

Author(s) — Davide Bertin (IT), Fabio Tossutti (IT), Architects Contact — 31100 Treviso (IT) tobestudio.architecture@gmail.com

Rooms of Conviviality

Team point of view — The proj ect aims to foster inclusive public spaces through transformative urban interventions. It focuses on creating ground floors that serve as versatile, multif unctional areas, unlocked by a series of architectural elements – ‘basic infrastructures’’ and surrounded by greenery. Proposed Rooms of Conviviality offer opportunities for social interactions and food experiences. With an emphasis on permeability and open layouts, the design encourages exploration and socialisation. Located in three neighbouring sites, the project provides diverse culinary experiences, enhancing visitors’ senses and enriching their interactions. The architecture’s adaptability allows it to meet changing demands and adapt to different seasons and activities, promoting inclusivity for both locals and tourists.

Author(s) — I. Słodka (PL), Architect • N. Russo (IT), T. Mazzega (IT), R. Roldi (IT), F. Sordi (IT), A. Paoletti (IT), O. Leoni (IT), Students in Architecture / Contact — Nobelstraat 19b, 3039SM Rotterdam (NL) milanrotterdamteam@gmail.com

MARSEILLE (FR)

How to reveal the geography by developing a more sensitive approach of the territory?

SCALES: XL/L

LOCATION: MARSEILLE

POPULATION: MARSEILLE 870,321 INHAB. / METROPOLIS 1,898,561 INHAB.

REFLECTION SITE: 400 HA / PROJECT SITES: 25 HA EACH

SITE PROPOSED BY: CITY OF MARSEILLE, MÉTROPOLE AIX-MARSEILLE-PROVENCE, EPA EUROMÉDITERRANÉE

ACTOR(S) INVOLVED: CITY OF MARSEILLE, MÉTROPOLE AIX-MARSEILLE-PROVENCE, EPA EUROMÉDITERRANÉE

OWNER(S) OF THE SITE: MÉTROPOLE AIX-MARSEILLE-PROVENCE, CITY OF MARSEILLE, FRENCH GOVERNMENT, PRIVATE OWNERS

Inhabited milieu’s challenges — The site is part of a coastal river catchment basin, the Aygalades stream whose source is to the north of Marseille. The area’s geography has been disrupted by an urbanization that does not respect the valley: infrastructures cut into the coastal landscape ignoring natural elements that are essential to the site’s identity and functioning. In the middle of this landscape of obstacles, several urban renewal proj ects coexist. The «Opération d’Intérêt National» (OIN) Euroméditerranée is developing the second phase of its project, creating a large park and restoring the Aygalades waterway. New residential neighbourhoods will be built in this restored landscape, increasing the area’s potential for life – both human and non-human.

Questions to the competitors How to rethink the territory needs across the divides that define it, going beyond or playing with administrative and physical borders? How to repair the edges of these complex sites in order to increase interactions and generate an inclusive vision of the territory? With a network of parks (Bougainville / Aygalades / Billoux) on the horizon, how to extend this landscape pattern through links in a vast chain (existing and to be invented) of landscaped areas? How to bring to light the area’s overlooked geography and to develop a sensitive, poetic, local relationship to a territory where scale and landmarks have disappeared?

meaning of water

The essence of places

Découvre-moi une rivière

Team point of view — Découvre-moi une rivière proposes an ecological renovation of the Aygalades stream in Marseille, aiming to restore the balance of its ecosystem and promote sustainable cohabitation among water, surrounding habitats, and local communities.The project seeks to integrate and align with the positive initiatives and dynamics of Marseille’s current transformation. It revolves around a shared narrative, harmonized by the Aygalades watershed. Three main principles structure the project: The meaning of water: renaturing the stream; Caring for the common good: Taking care of the living; The essence of places: Multiplying the potential of existing elements. These three principles constitute a spectrum of actions that shape the ecocentric approach of the project, ultimately summarized as the establishment of a vast system of diverse parks, with the Car avelle stream as its backbone.

Jury point of view — By treating the Aygalades stream as a living entity, the team conducts a careful mapping of the entire watershed. This geographical scale reflection constructs a cultural and community story around the water system and the coexistence between humans and nature. The jury saluted the scope of this theoretical, sourced and documented proposal, as well as the ecological dimension of a project that at different scales links the fundamental themes of soil, water and time. The reference to the legal status of nature and the idea of bio-cultural rights to support the ecological sovereignty of living environments responds well to the theme of the session.

Author(s) — Irati Lasa Amo (ES), Jihana Nassif (BR/FR), Architects urbanists / Contributor(s) — Antonin Bertrand (FR), Graphic designer Contact — ruée, Paris (FR) • ruee.architecture@gmail.com, www.ruee-architecture.com

The Great Slowdown

Team point of view — The Great Slowdown is a global project built around 3 acts:

1st act: to reveal – It emphasizes the opportunities of the ongoing rethinking Marseille transport plan and focusing on the impact on a site such the interchange and the Plombières Boulevard, up to the reappearance of a river and wetlands.

2nd act: to disseminate – It addresses a strategy to mitigate flood risk in Aygalades watershed, by proposing to initiate an autonomous development process for unsealing soil, where the Alexandre Station will play a key role.

3rd act: to protect – It is an attempt to counter out insidious will for constantly transforming, operating every single space available, and to rather preserve it for non-human uses as proposed for the Canyon Vegetal.

Jury point of view — In response to the climate emergency and the acceleration of urban changes, the team counters with another perspective on time and the idea of a slowdown that can be approached from different perspectives: understanding the timescale of water and its infiltration, take the time to rewild, to reappropriate expressway infrastructure and slow down human traffic in the literal sense. This very embodied project very skilfully links urban ecology, mobility and concrete modes of intervention in the territory. The jury wanted to single out this proposal which places the question of temporalities at the heart of the living cities theme.

Author(s) — Jean-Baptiste Clot (FR), Architect, urbanist • Margot Stuckelberger (FR), Architect Contact — agence -ité, Lyon (FR) • contact@agence-ite.fr, www.agence-ite.fr

The Child, the City and the Stream

Team point of view — The Child, the City and the Stream is a contemporary tale about two spirited, unpredictable, but vulnerable entities held apart by the city. To initiate a logic of mutual care we’ve undertaken a systemic reflection, on the scale of the large territory and incarnated on each project site. We aim at revitalizing village cores and ecological continuities by cultivating a multi-sensory landscape that is educational, recreational and desirable. Relying on both material and immaterial landmarks of the ter ritory, our project encompasses pedestrian educational trails, ready-made urban polarities, cultural venues, panoramic viewpoints and refreshed stops. By showcasing the waterways and raising awareness of their challenges, the stream is transformed from a threat to a source of urbanity.

Author(s) — M.A. Meyer (FR), A. Parcheta (FR), C. Vermeulen (FR), Architects • T. Carcano (FR), L. Peneau (FR), Urbanists • M. Morize (FR), Landscaper • J. Vincent (FR), Mobility expert Contact — Atelier 7 lieues • contact@a7l.fr

MÉTROPOLE ROUEN NORMANDIE (FR)

How to develop new alliances between uses and the biodiversified landscape?

SCALES: XL/L

LOCATION: METROPOLIS OF ROUEN NORMANDY

POPULATION: 494,300 INHAB.

REFLECTION SITE: 780 HA / PROJECT SITE: 180 HA

SITE PROPOSED BY: MÉTROPOLE ROUEN NORMANDIE

ACTOR(S) INVOLVED: MÉTROPOLE ROUEN NORMANDIE, MUNICIPALITIES OF ROUEN, BONSECOURS, AMFREVILLE-LA-MIVOIE AND BELBEUF

OWNER(S) OF THE SITE: PRIVATE AND PUBLIC OWNERS

Inhabited milieu’s challenges — The Seine-Amont sector becomes the new territorial priorities of the metropolis of Rouen in its process of reconfiguring the relationship between the city and the Seine. It is thus one of the last sectors in the Rouen Normandy Metropolis to experiment with new ways of thinking about the city-river relationship, going beyond the classic plans for the conversion of industrial sectors and the requalification of riverbanks. Place of life, place of production and place of forced passage between the Seine and the hillsides, the sector is today the illustration of a complex cohabitation between residents, economic users, road passers-by and the living. Economic and productive rights-of-way, residential suburbs, sports fields and natural spaces are juxtaposed on either side of the infrastructures crossing the site.

Questions to the competitors — How to experiment, imagine other perspectives of functional diversity, cohabitation of uses and living things, uses of infrastructures, and new alliances between users in the area’s landscape and biodiversity? What new narrative can we imagine for the economic activity in the heart of the metropolis and within a fragile natural environment? How to allow reappropriation of the banks by the inhabitants by overcoming the conflicts of use? How to rethink the current state of the site where borders are created by infrastructures designed and sized today for large-scale travel and for logistical manoeuvres towards more sober mobility logics?

Aux Fibres de l’eau

Team point of view — ‘Aux Fibres de l’Eau’ embarks on a collaborative journey, uniting diverse stakeholders to co-create a sustainable urban ecosystem in harmony with nature. We aim to activate Rouen’s metropolitan-scale transversal fibres, nurturing symbiotic relationships among human, natural, cultural, and economic elements, weaving their strengths together. The result is a revitalized Seine-Amont, where urban-nature coexistence thrives through touchpoints resonating with newfound dynamics, fostering a united and flourishing metropolis. Just as threads uphold the integrity of fabrics, our approach seeks to foster interconnectedness and resilience in the face of pressing climate and societal challenges.

Jury point of view — The proj ect focuses on ‘transverse fibres’ of the Seine and outlines connections from hillside to river, connecting urban cores and helping to open up and resurrect economic areas. The proposals, precisely drawn, appear sensitive and adaptable. The jury emphasised the modesty of the team’s words and the well-argued frugality of the project. It also provides one-off solutions to site flooding. The proposal was also considered interesting for its consideration of timescales and its capacity to bring together public and private actors, in particular economic actors. It also expressed the desire to bring together and connect the riverbanks by opening up very strong avenues for reflection on the functioning of the territory and consideration in the larger landscape.

Author(s) — Victor Beley (FR), Theo Finkel (FR), Ines Lalanne (FR), Architects, engineers • Jadd Hallaj (US, SY), Architect, urban planner

Contact — 19 rue Beaurepaire, 75010 Paris (FR) • jadd.hallaj@gmail.com

Prick the Bubble

Team point of view — Prick the Bubble sees the SeineAmont sector as an opportunity to reconvert the industrial fabric into an intermediate space between the Metropole and its territory. A low-density place where the productive and reproductive sectors, until now both so isolated and so dependent on each other, can finally meet. The proposal seeks to put an end to the specialisation of the area, to break down its physical limits and to recover the permeable and vegetal surface next to the Seine by means of three major tools: the programme, the infrastructures, and the ecosystem. These tools are combined to generate a catalogue of strategies, which can be implemented progressively and according to each specific case. A set of actions that aim to act surgically on multiple points of the site in order to transform it without compromising its identity.

Jury point of view — This project is founded on the decompartmentalization of economic zones and more broadly the effects of disruption between uses, programmes and environments. It takes advantage of the contiguity between natural environments, productive zones and residential areas to re-establish synergies in a progressive process which includes nature, housing and collective amenities. The jury spotted and was keen to reward a proposal that, while seemingly discreet and modest, is inventive and rigorous in its responses. It provides a fruitful critique of the effects of zoning or micro-zoning on living environments. It offers a rich range of ideas for modulating or reconfiguring plots and industrial buildings.

Author(s) — Silvia Gonzalez (ES), Andreu Pont (ES), Architects / Contributor(s) — Dèlia Foz (ES), Luis Batsi (ES), Students in architecture Contact — pigaa studio, Reus (ES) • pigaa@pigaastudio.com, www.pigaastudio.com

Marginale

Team point of view — Marginale « Il n’y a de vi[ll]e que dans la marge »

The project focuses on the thick boundaries of the Seine Amont region. In a context of land sobriety, the archipelago of geographical, residential and productive islands is destined to undergo various mutations. ‘The Margin’ is a flexible tool for resilience, enabling an iterative definition of the archipelago’s future. As a collective living space, it has the capacity to induce and question the mutation potential of the fabric it surrounds. Working on ‘The Margin’ is an opportunity to define a specific form of governance, one that is both democratically and environmentally valuable. A tool for resilience on a territorial scale, ‘The Margin’ is a moving object on a local scale, conducive to experimentation and the prefiguration of uses in a new city-river relationship.

Author(s) — Charlotte Pierson (FR), Renaud Molines (FR), Architects, urbanists / Contact — 1B, rue Rabelais, 93100 Montreuil (FR) T. +33 641433702 • macadam.team@gmail.com

RIMBO (SE)

How to enhance a link between a centre and its rural surroundings?

SCALES: XL/L

LOCATION: RIMBO, NORRTÄLJE MUNICIPALITY

POPULATION: 5,200 INHAB.

REFLECTION SITE: 364 HA / PROJECT SITE: 25 HA

SITE PROPOSED BY: NORRTÄLJE MUNICIPALITY AND TRANVIK PROJEKT AB

ACTOR(S) INVOLVED: NORRTÄLJE MUNICIPALITY AND TRANVIK PROJEKT AB

OWNER(S) OF THE SITE: NORRTÄLJE MUNICIPALITY AND CENTRALEN RIMBO AB

Inhabited milieu’s challenges — Rimbo is a commuter town with a strategic location between Stockholm and Uppsala, and is only 1/2 hour from Arlanda, one of Sweden’s largest workplaces. Rimbo grew as an important railway junction, and its centre was developed under the influence of the garden city principles during the early 20th century. The city centre is dominated by hard surfaces and presents a lack of recreational spaces and greenery. Most of the commuting is nowadays by car due to the bad public transport connections but in some years the railway ‘Roslagsbanan’, which connects to Stockholm, might be extended to Rimbo. It is expected that central Rimbo’s population will double by 2050. Galten, a historical industrial building placed in the centre of the site, is suggested to be used for the transportation hub facilities.

Questions to the competitors — How to develop a new lively town centre with a transportation hub for train and bus traffic? How to have a holistic perspective allowing the understanding of the structure of the city and avoiding the barriers that the railway can create and connecting to the green str ucture and the surrounding agricultural landscape? How to take into account what exists on the territory and have a realistic plan to reuse or recycle what might have to be demolished. How to create an attractive town in which to live, but also a service hub for the surrounding rural areas and for commuters? How to be inclusive regardless of age, functional variations or socio-economic background?

Somewhere over the RINGBO

Team point of view — A new urban artery is created to activate Rimbo with the most dynamic coexistence of activities. The interaction between this new main street and the multifunctional hub, the ‘new town hall,’ creates a stimulating collective image, representing The Rimbo Spirit with authenticity.

A happy cultural landscape, fostering a peaceful and open society in harmony with itself and with nature. Implemented in phases, this project will transform Rimbo into a vibrant town, offering diverse mixed-use spaces that cater to a wide range of activities, functions, and people. Embracing various building typologies, dimensions, tenures, and affordability levels, the town will be a social space that encour ages citizen interaction, stimulates sociability, and strengthens collective identity.

Jury point of view — Somewhere over the Ringbo is a convincing proposal, based on a strong analysis of existing values, with the foundation of a robust overall concept that allows a ring road to connect the local community both socially and ecologically. Through this, the proposal shapes an urban development plan within the competition area, employing a consistently executed framework for development. Somewhere over the Ringbo credibly presents a road layout and development phases within a structure that also captures important existing pathways and cross-connections.

Author(s) — Guillem Colomer Fontanet (NL), Silvia Jaunsolo Sánchez (ES), Architects, urbanists • Miguel Cambrón Gómez (ES), Environmentalist Contact — COFO architects, Rotterdam (NL) • info@cofoarchitects.com, www.cofoarchitects.com

Re:connecting Rimbo

Team point of view — The proposal shows three strategies of Reconnection:

Reconnecting fragmented natural land – Existing nature have been identified. Together with planned new parks, these will be joined in a coherent recreational green loop for people, plants and animals.

Reconnecting social meeting points – Existing meeting points have been identified. Most of these are situated along the Green Loop. New meeting points will be added, strengthening the importance of the Loop as a biological and recreational framework.

Reconnecting to Rimbo’s historical past – Our aim is to preserve and renew at the same time by assuring that new additions preserve and strengthen existing values. The Green Loop is the key fr amework, but it can also be seen as a link between Rimbo’s past, present, and future.

Jury point of view — Re-connecting Rimbo’s development of the green loop is a strong and well-illustrated approach that connects the urban area both socially and ecologically, adding important links to summer season activities closer to the lake. The central area around Galten and the current downtown area have been addressed in a manner that demonstrates a sound understanding of the site, with well-crafted connections to the surroundings and a convincing placement of educational facilities.

Author(s) — Emma Lindberg (SE), Architect / Contributor(s) — Pontus Westermark (SE), Atrin Taghdisi (SE), Students in architecture Contact — emma@blickark.se, www.blickarkitektur.se

8 Strategies for Rimbo

Team point of view — Our site becomes a new centre for Rimbo. It seeks to unite diverse civic habitats, lush greenery and wild character present in-and-around Rimbo. The proposal aims to be a dynamic and attractive place for new and old residents while also respecting the fine-tuned balance that rural towns exist within. By integrating new functionality along an organisational spine and closely considering and regarding what exists we have synthesized new and old elements of Rimbo into three distinct zones. A new town square defines a multipurpose centre-point, a new transportation hub that re-links Rimbo to its regional context, and a diverse residential and commercial area that mixes existing structures with an acupuncture of new housing, and merges new and existing functions.

Author(s) — Joar Nordvall (SE), Elise Jensen (SE), Vincent Fagerström (SE), Klara Hallberg (SE), Architects Contact — joar.nordvall@gmail.com, fagerstrom.vincent@gmail.com, klara.hallberg@gmail.com, elisemaja.jensen@gmail.com, www.faltstudio.com

TORRELAVEGA (ES)

How to reorganize the railway space in order to connect the river with the city?

SCALES: L/L

LOCATION: TORRELAVEGA

POPULATION: 51,042 INHAB.

REFLECTION SITE: 29.72 HA / PROJECT SITE: 5.74 HA

SITE PROPOSED BY: CANTABRIA REGIONAL GOVERNMENT

ACTOR(S) INVOLVED: CANTABRIA REGIONAL GOVERNMENT

+ TORRELAVEGA CITY COUNCIL

OWNER(S) OF THE SITE: ADIF, MITMA AND PRIVATE OWNERS

Inhabited milieu’s challenges — The natural limit of the river, the road and rail infrastructure determine mobility in the city. The railway corridor divides the city in two. These isolated neighbourhoods are composed of plurality of residential typologies; they combine single-family and collective housing in open blocks, like part of one of the city’s traditional colonies (Sniace) which used to group together the urban life of the workers (workers and managers), with patches of incomplete closed blocks and isolated industrial structures. This isolated area of the city is located in a strategic position in terms of access to the city, in terms of its proximity to the administrative centre, and with significant potentials in terms of urban landscape, such as the Saja-Besaya River that runs through it, forming its western, northern and eastern limits.

Questions to the competitors — How to integrate consolidated neighbourhoods of the city, prioritising pedestrian transit and other alternative modes to motorised traffic? How to generate new buildable volumes and rethink the road system? How to integrate existing fabrics as a project element and to absorb diverse uses? How can the urban reorganization of the railway space contribute to the integration of the city with the river? How to reinforce the riverbanks, renaturalize them, open them up to urban transit? How far should we go with interventions in processes that have become traumatic, such as a railway crossing that fractures, separates. Is it plausible to wield oblivion to repair the open urban wound?

Cicatrice

Team point of view — Healing Torrelavega ́s Urban Fabric

In the tapestry of Torrelavega, there lies a beautiful scar, a reminder of a moment when the city triumphed over adversity. It tells a story of healing and resilience, how a wound once tender and painful transformed into a symbol of strength. As time passed, the scar faded, but its significance only grew. It became a cherished memory etched onto Torrelavegaa’s urban fabric, a mark that is preserved with pride. For it represents not just the physical healing, but the emotional and mental fortitude of a city seeking for a brighter and greener future. When the citizens walk over its traces, they can experience a connection to the past, the city that was before and the city that it has become. It is a gentle reminder that the urban fabric is an overlap of layers, and that even in the face of challenges, it has the capacity to overcome and emerge stronger.

Jury point of view — The project aims to renew and revitalize the city by reinterpreting the existing railway tracks not as a bar rier but as an opportunity to connect different parts of the city, preserving its rich cultural and industrial heritage while emphasizing sustainability, reusing resources, and celebrating biodiversity, by actively incorporating nature into the urban environment. By transforming the railway track into a green corridor, the project aims to revitalize the area and embrace its diverse and complex character with multiple design strategies which create an adaptable basis for future implementation processes. The commitment to biodiversity, introduction of pollinator species and various habitats and reconnection with the river corridor foster a harmonious coexistence between urban life and nature. Economically, the project envisions a sustainable future with an emphasis on resource optimization and waste reduction.

Author(s) — Manuel Mateu Sanchís (ES), Manuel Villalain Gonzalez (ES), Architects, urbanists / Contact — Valencia (ES) / Burgos (ES) mail@manuelvillalainstudio.com, manuel.mateu@estudiomars.com, manuelvillalainstudio.com, www.estudiomars.com

The Butterfly Effect

Team point of view — Butterfly effect’s strategy is to maximize the development of biotopes to make productive and residential uses coexist. To reconnect Torrelavega with its riverbanks, we need to reclaim the biocenosis of the city and to make use of its pre-existing heritage of roads, buildings and trees. Living things become the central element of the urban morphogenesis, where every non-human becomes an essential cog in a virtuous cohabitation. We use the opportunity of undergrounding to divert the road that encloses the riverbanks. This simple action reclaims vast plots of land for the benefit of the riverbanks. It now becomes part of a new green belt which links the sports facilities to the new climatorium and the station forecourt and promotes walking along the Saja in an acclimatized neighbourhood.

Author(s) — M. Viaud (FR), N. Pinard (FR), V. Dussap (FR), F. Roudier-Canler (FR), P.-A. Pernot (FR), Architects

Contributor(s) — C.-S. Olivetti (FR), Architect Contact — Paris (FR) • contact@collectifcarrenoir.com, @collectifcarrenoir • Clermont-Ferrand (FR) • paf.archi@gmail.com, @paf.architecture

TORRELAVEGACY

Team point of view — The public space is conceived as a powerful structure capable of overcoming divisions and regenerating a city that has been affected by limiting scars. Its transformation goes beyond eliminating barriers to create a new and vibrant area for gathering and communication.

In summary, this project aims to revitalize the urban public space and promote social and environmental integration in Torrelavega. By creating a space that embraces both nature and human activity, a welcoming and sustainable environment will enrich the lives of all citizens and strengthen the ties between the city and the surrounding region. Our vision is an urban renaissance where community values and respect for the environment converge, shaping a promising future for our city and its residents.

Author(s) — Wladimir Pulupa (PT), Jonás Gómez (CL), Rodrigo Zamora Castejón (ES), İçim Atlı (TR), Architects Contact — Madrid (ES) • wladimirp.arch@gmail.com, @torrevegacy_e17

NALÓN ESTUARY (ES)

How to reconcilize natural landscape with an economic reactivation of the estuary?

SCALES: XL/S

LOCATION: SAN ESTEBAN (MUROS DE NALÓN) AND L’ARENA (SOTO DEL BARCO), PRINCIPALITY OF ASTURIAS

POPULATION: TERRITORIAL AREA 6,243 INHABITANTS / REFLECTION AREA 1,845 INHABITANTS

REFLECTION SITE: 150.73 HA

PROJECT SITE: A 6.65 HA / B 26.56 HA / C 0.41 HA

SITE PROPOSED BY: REGIONAL MINISTRY OF RURAL AFFAIRS AND TERRITORIAL COHESION OF THE PRINCIPALITY OF ASTURIAS

ACTOR(S) INVOLVED: SOTO DEL BARCO AND MUROS DE NALÓN CITY COUNCILS. INSTITUTE FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN THE PRINCIPALITY OF ASTURIAS

OWNER(S) OF THE SITE: PUBLIC

Inhabited milieu’s challenges — The Nalón estuary is a complex and unique territorial system, which combines high environmental, landscape and cultural values, and which faces significant ecological, climatic and economic diversification challenges as an alternative to the decline of port and fishing activity. The three sites have very different dimensions: An environmental and ecological value with a Special Protection Area for Birds; An industrial heritage, including a shipyard, docks, welded steel-framed cranes and railway equipment; The port, itself an ecotone between the marine and terrestrial environments. On the other hand, the lower course of the river Nalón presents a high level of flood risk, which will increase due to the foreseeable impacts of climate change. And the area is destined to become a key element in the metropolitan system of open spaces.

Questions to the competitors — How to reinvent the port area to accommodate new activities? How to re-naturalise and contribute to the adaptation to climate change in the whole estuary? How to preserve and consider the local industrial heritage? What strategies can be designed to conciliate the conservation of the natural, cultural and landscape heritage with the economic reactivation and employment generation in the estuary?

BOCAMAR: the seams of water

Team point of view — This project aims to revitalize an old industrial harbour in order to transform it and to provide a new ecosystem. All the man-made infrastructures are adapted and given back to nature, thus becoming the substrate of a new life. It fosters the restoration and preservation of natural landscapes, through the restoration of marshes and the recovery of natural areas. This process includes a methodical study of the renaturation of ground surfaces from anthropogenic material to natural soils. It endeavours to adapt the Nalón estuary to climate change by developing renewable energy production and implementing strategies to mitigate the effects of storms and floods. It aims to create an example of adaptation of such infrastructures and to root it in the territory, the history, and the memory of locals.

Jury point of view — This proposal concentrates the intervention in few selected areas and returns to a more natural state most of the water edges. One of the areas of intervention – San Esteban port – includes a new harbour front consolidating all the businesses and activities in a new modular building, liberating the connection of the new and existing marshes with the river and the edge of the port. This building is a continuous permeable structure that can be occupied as needed, given plenty of flexibility to administration and users. It also provides order and visual identity and will be easily recognizable. In the other bank, L’Arena, the proposal of a structure with similar language can solve the main needs, although the ‘garden-square’ may need a different resolution to host the intense use expected.

Author(s) — Elias Bourbia (FR), Charles Rosenfeld (FR), Elena Tejero (ES), Architects • Mar Ruiz (ES), Architect, urbanist

Contact — Paris (FR) / Barcelona (ES) • atelier.bocamar@gmail.com

tide builds

Team point of view — In contrast to an extractive model, a proposal based on the latent proximity relationships in the territory is put forward. Rather than erasing the past or recreating a long-lost natural environment, a growth is suggested to emerge from the conditions of the past and the present, leading towards a new and identity-oriented future. The outcome will be an inclusive and synthetic nature, simultaneously wild and cultivated, renewed and constructed. In response to the land-sea duality, the project proposes an intermediate intertidal territory. A network of uses and spaces that emerge according to the tides, serving as a support for human activity and biodiversity, while also providing refuge against waves and floods. Establishing new relationships between users and habitats with water.

Jury point of view — The proposal concentrates the main interventions and returns important portions of land to the river dynamics with a very clear framework of community, nature and hybrid measures. The strength of this proposal is the strategy of blurring the hard lines separating land and waters, with a long term, dynamic evolution, reframing the ecological and social value of the waters’ edge. It proposes clear spatial patterns, assuming that those edges have lost their natural trace and need to be designed but doing so in a way that natural dynamics will be able to flourish. This is probably the proposal that has a clearer understanding of the evolution over time, based in sea and river oscillations, deposition and erosion.

Author(s) — Guillermo Pozo Arribas (ES), Justo Diaz Diego (ES), Architects Contact — padd studio, Madrid (ES) • info@paddestudio.es, www.paddestudio.es

Biodiversity spots

Between waters

Team point of view — The proposal is based on giving a second life to this hard infrastructure, adapting it to the new current needs and to the impacts of climate change while contributing to the social and economic promotion of the estuary by linking the activity to new sectors of the green and blue economy and at the same time enhancing, expanding and conserving biodiversity strongholds that exist in the area. We present a catalogue of solutions, grouped by the height above sea level that they operate. Strategies are grouped into green for freshwater related habitats, blue for brackish water related habitats and orange for edge solutions which promote social activation.

Jury point of view — The proposal starts with a strong territorial vision proposing the renaturalization of upstream meanders regardless of the social and productive values. The reflection on sediment transportation has great value, however it is unclear how sedimentation becomes part of the design. Regarding design actions, the proposal focuses in three areas with clear interventions. The sea pier and the adjacent land area is perhaps the most successful, with intense transformations that will put in value a critical place of great potential. The other two areas, La Xunquera and Puer ta de Mar, are well solved, although it is unclear if the number of infrastructures (new port peers, water line transformation) are necessary or if a lighter footprint would be better attuned to the needs of people and place.

Author(s) — Carla Coromina Cabeceran (ES), Andrea Díaz Lacalle (ES), Ibon Doval Martínez (ES), Architects, landscape architects Javier Rubio Frías (ES), Landscape architect, environmental biologist / Contact — carla.coromina@gmail.com

Terra Fluxus

Team point of view — Terra Fluxus seeks involvement in a model of co-evolutionary processes of the early communities between neighbours and their natural environment. Interpreted in a contemporary code that integrates the ecosystem into a process of redefinition where the model capable of accommodating any productive, economic, ecosystemic, sustainable, residential, or work-related space is not fixed, but yields in favour of changing processes, dynamics, and times. The construction of a generative landscape is proposed based on cycles, processes, and flows that give rise to different forms of interaction with nature. The estuary emerges as an improbable and fluctuating figure capable of buffering and self-organizing in the face of chaos while maintaining tradition, roots, and self-sufficiency, enabling the utilization of resources and excellent water management within a circular ecosystem.

Author(s) — Oscar Cruz García (ES), Architect, building engineer Pablo Paradinas Sastre (ES), Architect Contact — +.atelier, Madrid (ES) • atelier@cruzatelier.com, www.cruzatelier.com, @cruz.atelier, @pablo.paradinas.architect

Building the Right to Biodiversity

By Julio de la Fuente (ES) – architect, urban planner, co-founder of Gutiérrez-delaFuente Arquitectos www.gutierrez-delafuente.com

A collection of E17 awarded teams offers new caring perspectives in the fabrication process of public spaces strengthening biodiversity. The comparative analyses at the European scale allows the transition from the local conditions to the common strategies and, what is more important, to a shared vision on their implementations.

The E17 session as a space of continuous co-production platform provides an idea about biodiversity as a transversal ecosystem ser vice working at the level of systems and landscapes. First of all, a collective responsibility appears to repair and promote the diversity of existing species and ecosystems. On a second level, there is a strong interest in the reinvention of the symbiotic relations between living beings. Biodiversity is understood beyond the diversity of life, also including social vitality and inclusivity.

Following this approach, what kind of strategies for which public spaces could emerge as a testing bench to implement these bio-dynamics at the proximity scale?

Bio-Based Strategies as a Transition Between the Large and the Proximity Scale

There is an interesting trend in some of the proposals to offer a smooth transition through time from an anthropocentric to a bio-inspired approach, resulting in a new spatial organisation of public spaces. These attitudes reconnect the proximity and the territorial scales with a fractal logic giving an answer to new climate conditions. It is observed that young practitioners are familiar with a new technical knowledge and a new glossary that emerges over the table to guide these processes of land reparation.

From Territory to Acupuncture: a common vision is founded in some submissions, as in the runner-up in Métropole Rouen Normandie (FR), Aux fibres de l’eau (fig. 1), which brings new life to territorial voids and transforms them into livable public spaces. The strategy is based on the reconnection of the transversal habitats of the Seine river – what they call ʻfibres actives’ (or ʻactive fibres’), allowing mutualism to appear between human activities, non-humans, nature, culture and the industrial economy of the place. One of the main tools is to encourage water infiltration and groundwater recharge by desealing the soil surfaces, promoting continuity between the slopes and the banks habitats.The impact at the proximity scale is showcased on the Place de l’École or around

the Eauplet public garden with wetlands biotopes and reservoirs. The project includes a process based on three steps: preconfiguration, consolidation and confirmation.

From Extractivism to Resourcing: tide builds (fig. 2), winning project in Nalón Estuary (ES), provides a case study for the transformation of an anthropised territory moulded by an extractivist economy for years. It can serve as a model against climate change for other areas of the Asturian coastline. It offers a comprehensive plan working at three levels: the community to ensure inclusivity and equity; the natural to guarantee the good health of the ecosystems and biodiversity; and the hybrid level to promote nature-based supports for maritime activities and the coexistence between the natural environment and uses, as well as a self-sufficient development over time. A process-project for next three decades for the full estuary reparation includes: cleaning and anthropogenic removal, reconstruction and maintenance of ecosystems, and correcting habitat gaps in parallel to a social and economic activation of both shores.

The idea touches ground at the public space through an intermediate intertidal landscape, avoiding the classic waterfront duality of Land-Vs.-Sea. Unexpected common spaces are revealed as an adaptive system designed by precise bio-based solutions, increasing biodiversity and gradients of topography and salinity, while also acting as a refuge against waves and floods.

Ecosystem Services as Mediators of a Social and Ecological Intensification

Most European cities are already built. We are facing a new age of tactical densification and precise intensification, which is an opportunity to rebalance the relationship of reciprocity with the living world. New urban and landscape practices from E17 show regenerative paths to measure externalities and infill the power of the ecosystem services in our everyday life through the proximity scale

From Densification to Flood Risk Regulation: the site of Groenewoud (NL) is a case of a garden city densification from another ecological perspective. The winning entry, Bricolage City (fig. 3), consists of a series of punctual interventions that are the result of a careful typological, volumetric and flood risk analysis of the neighbourhood. In order to preserve the proportion between green-blue areas and the built environment, new imaginaries appear around the shared areas with new habitats thanks to the incorporation of bioswales, stormwater landscapes and a diverse vegetation

palette for water absorption and retention. A new meaning of densification is driven by intensification of biodiversity and climate change risks adaptation measures.

From Intensification to the Right to Biodiversity: Rooms of Conviviality (fig. 4), one of the special mentions in Makarska (HR), infiltrates biodiversity in an urban core following two complementary strategies. The first one reconnects the site with the ecosystems of the large scale, understanding a metabolic territory as a cascade of embedded, interconnected habitats. The three small-scale public spaces under transformation are reconnected with the green-blue network from the seaside to the mountains. The second one infills public uses as the Trojan horse to strengthen biodiversity and improve the livability of the urban scene, fostering the right to biodiversity as a transversal ecosystem service. For instance, at one spot, the Mediterranean Forum takes shape as a food garden, while in others, a Culinary Hub or a Market food reconnects local food production with citizens through an oasis of biodiversity.

Third Habitats as the Operations Field of a Caring Perspective

If we have already illustrated how to infill biodiversity in urban cores or garden cities, in the case of Barcelona (ES), the modernist housing estates of El Besòs i El Maresme are expecting an urban regeneration process. Special mention The Inhabited Garden (fig. 5) transforms underused urban voids in a network of gardens taking advantage of the existing fertile soil conditions, improving the la nd’s social and ecological functions as a productive landscape that benefits the local economy, while infiltrating water to mitigate flooding in built-up areas. The strategy triggers a more inclusive urban scene by reactivating the third landscape, including intersections, corridors and forgotten areas near rail and highways that are transformed into rain gardens, tree nurseries, orchards, and pasture. Pocket in-between spaces become productive container gardens, kitchen gardens, composting sites or sensory gardens for residents. Open areas adjacent to commercial hubs become unique educational farms.

This Barcelona project is a case of a caring attitude regarding pre-existences in consolidated urban areas. A living public space never starts from a tabula rasa. Around us there are multiple hidden natural and social treasures to rediscover and bring to the front, as the rich biodiversity of the third habitats.

…In Transition

Building the right to biodiversity is a paradox to describe the transition of our practice nowadays. We can observe a cultural shift in the young practitioners from an object-oriented thinking (building) towards a new regenerative practice (right to biodiversity among others), supported by challenging processes that need the cooperation of unusual actors and different timeframes. Consequently, what is the meaning of implementation in this new age?

Expanded Effects of Re-naturalisation Gestures

By Céline Bodart (BE) – PhD architect, researcher at the Gerphau Laboratory and professor at the Paris-la-Villette school of architecture

A large number of E17 awarded proj ect s are calling for a re-naturalisation of existing grounds. Whether these are former industrial soils or infrastructural sites, river-beds or -banks, urban squares or in-between spaces, what is at stake for each situation is the restoration of a balance between human settlements and non-human dynamics. Even more, with a closer look at the E17 projects on this topic, it appears that the re-naturalisation gesture is not claimed as an end in itself. Not a proper goal, it is rather a linking means, a local intervention sticking together the various spatial and temporal pieces of the overall transformation.

The re-naturalisation becomes a strategic part of new transforming processes, animated by the will to shift and trouble the dominant narratives inherited from decades of massive urbanisation of living milieus. Such processes insist on the necessary renewal of the principles guiding the urban design, giving rise to a refreshed set of action verbs: how can the re-naturalisation gestures orientate alternative ways to thicken and soften the project footprint? To gather various voices, concerns, and interests – both human and non-human? The E17 session offers to rethink how the re-naturalisation gestures embedded into the project-process can generate new narrative of urban transformations.

1. Unseal Urban Surfaces to Thicken the Living Dimensions

The nature of urban surfaces has been conditioned by the evolution of mobilities. The more we have motorised our transport modes, the more we have fragmented the urban areas and sealed their grounds. With the perspective of ʻLiving Cities’, various competition sites offered to experiment new ways of recovering from such conditions, as in Åkrehamn (NO), a coastal town with beautiful beaches and landscapes, yet suffering from a lack of a clear urban structure resulting from a car-based development. Winning project, Grønn Og Glad. A community of All Beings, proposes to reconfigure the city centre starting with unsealing existing surfaces: ‘Let’s break up the asphalt and bring back non-human beings’! The surfaces to re-naturalise are not picked up by chance: they draw a new landscaped continuity, a backbone on which various methods to revitalise the existing block structures are articulated (fig. 1). The gesture of re-naturalisation is thickened when the restoration of soils is coupled with the reconfiguration of the ground floor of the city.

In Lochau (AT), a small village located on the shore of the Constance Lake and benefitting from close connection with natural surroundings and mountains, the inhabitants endure the strong presence of a mobility corridor separating the village from the lake. To overcome this current barrier situation, runner-up project Forget-me-not engages to re-learn how to look at the overall area from its potential qualities as an ecotone – i.e . a meeting place between multiple ecosystems. From the shore, the tracks of some ecological continuities (along many existing streams) are restored and strengthened, but also extended towards the surrounding landscapes, this way thickening the contact line between land and water (fig. 2). The hydric pattern of the territory is re-naturalised to stitch together what the road infrastructures had once fragmented; it becomes the support for renewed social activities and cultural practices thanks to the recovered continuities.

The E17 projects remind us that the re-naturalisation of urban surfaces is not an opportunistic and punctual operation, nor is it a one-dimensional action. It is a transforming process to give a ‘living thickness’ – both horizontally and vertically – to the existing inhabited milieus.

2. Unlock In-Between Spaces to Gather Multiple Voices and Concerns

In a dense urban context, the subtraction strategy opens up new ecological dimensions. But removing the sealed layers from urban inhabited areas can also be engaged as an inclusive project-process of social revitalisation.

Combining re-naturalisation gestures with socio-economic regeneration is the promising challenge met by Un viento que sigue soplando, runner-up in Barcelona (ES). The E17 project site is about a mono-functional housing estate built between the 1950s and 60s and today confronted with various problems, such as the poor quality of the built-up frame, the lack of public facilities, the dysfunctional public spaces, and so on. To re-naturalise the existing urban voids, the project is based on the introduction of a new urban/landscape device: the ‘pocket gardens’, which are a new kind of

community gardens bit by bit re-colonising the in-between spaces with the active support of local inhabitants and authorities. Pocket gardens offer to revive with the top- and sub-soil and care for the water cycle in urban milieus (fig. 3). They also operate as the missing connection-scale, bridging together domestic and collective urban practices with ecological continuities on the large scale. Renaturalisation gestures call for a trans-scalar approach, as far as the role given to this new piece of urban nature is to gather individual, social and environmental dynamics raised by the transformation project-process.

3. Undo All the Certainties to Soften the Transformation Process

Such project methods insist on the importance of recovering a human scale, of restoring proximity practices by holding together multiple voices and concerns. What is at stake is to imagine new ways of repairing the existing, committing the crafting of open processes, both agile and collaborative, but avoiding any predefined finalities.

This kind of commitment is at the core of winning proj ect Terraqué in Guérande (FR), aiming to re-naturalise and revitalise spaces spread beyond the historical ramparts of the city. At first, the proj ect depicts a poetic image of the large territory, taking care of its multiple nature-cultural agencies and celebrating the hybrid atmosphere interwoven into the coastal landscape. How to preserve and stimulate the potentialities of the existing? Terraqué proposes to re-characterise the territory as ‘a wet city’ and to stage the progressive reduction of soil sealing. With this end in view, the project method works ‘by touch and not by slickness’ in order to shuffle different temporalities of action (‘the obvious’, ‘the visions’, and ‘the distant horizons’), crossing some ‘invariants’: a set of operations affirmed as the necessary prerequisites for the desired transition of the territory. The modes and forms of representation favour the evocation instead of the explicitation or the

demonstration (fig. 4).The ways of wording and drawing the project tend to forge a new urban poetry of the un/certainty.

Many E17 awarded projects question ways of becoming living of European cities through innovative approaches tending to soften the project authority and certainty. Ideas like the control or domination of territories are left behind, making room for a new genre of project-process caring for the socio-spatial potentialities of the ʻinfra-ordinary’ (G. Perec). In Le Palais (FR), a city located on the island of Belle-Île-en-Mer and already put at the forefront of the climate change, runner-up project Interstices explores what new ways of living could be in such places in a long-term perspective, but with a careful attention to the already-there. The project approach echoes the ones of incrementation and others acupunctural urban tactics, but here, they are redeployed at the micro-scale, caring for the minuscule, for the smallest potential quality of the ordinary and the existing (fig. 5). The scope is to experiment an urban projectprocess freed from its anthropocentric habits, scrutinising into the interstices of the existing fabrics what could be seen as potential ground of hospitality for the other-than-humans.The aesthetic of the ʻnext-to-nothing’ (V. Jankélévitch) takes part of a softening strategy of urban transformation.

The re-naturalisation gestures embedded into the E17 awarded project-process go well beyond the sole re-greenering of existing urban surfaces. The restoration of natural dynamics enriches the living conditions for both humans and non-humans, but also prevents risks associated with climate change (flooding, heat wave). It provides new spatial strategies to bridge together the existing urban fragments and new collaborative approaches to care for their social and productive practices. With such gestures, it is also another narrative of urban transformation that is being written. To thicken, soften, gather and more specifically to slow down – these are the emerging action principles conferred with which the becoming living of our cities is narrated.

Organic Neighbourhoods On Urban Metabolism and Interspecies Co-Existence

By Miriam García García (ES) – PhD architect, landscape architect & urban designer. Founder of LANDLAB www.landlab.es/en/

The metaphor of the living organism has been widely used in the field of urban system studies for decades. This vision has been reconfigured as contexts change throughout the history of thinking about the city. In particular, growing concern for the environment and growing awareness of the environmental impact of cities since the 1970s have led to the resurgence of systemic thinking that had been weakened by functionalism and modernism in the fields of planning and urban design.

Today it is believed that urban metabolism provides new knowledge for more sustainable management of resources in cities and their neighbourhoods.The understanding of cities as complex adaptive systems, specifically as socio-ecological systems, promotes the integration of the complex structure of relationships and feedbacks between the components of the ecosystem and socio-economic entities. Most of the time these studies mainly focus on the input and output of quantitative resources (e.g. energy, water, materials) and tend to neglect the element of space and the qualitative characteristics of the urban landscape. However, the proposals of the Europan 17 teams have shown that through the understanding of the existing urban context and the recognition of its environmental, social and territorial values, it is possible to use design to activate forgotten, even unexpected, metabolic relationships.

1. Bioactive Suture

When faced with the closure of a wound or the intervention of joining tissues in the city, it is possible to redefine the synergies and relationships between different organs, improving the functioning of their neighbourhoods.

For example, the efforts to preserve and revitalise all elements with potential for new uses, proposing a series of new structures that complement the urban fabric and provide the green axis with a new facade is crucial in the proposal for the site in Torrelavega (ES). Winning project Cicatrice maintains and emphasises typological variety, understanding Torrelavega as a diverse and complex organism that the project seeks to embrace and continue. This diversity and complexity of typologies is complemented in the public space with

a hierarchical mobility system that gives priority to the pedestrian (fig. 1) . In this way, the pacified public space becomes an active system that enables water management, increased biodiversity and social interaction. The intervention integrates drainage systems to collect rainwater and excess irrigation water for reuse, resulting in minimal water consumption. This, combined with irrigation through the underground channels, translates into a vast surface for air purification and increased biodiversity, restoring a natural condition to the urban environment. In the face of a changing climate, the project boldly welcomes local and climate-adaptive plant species, resilient guardians against environmental shifts (fig. 2). By bringing the river corridor closer to the city centre it is possible to foster a symbiotic relationship between urban dwellers and the natural world.

2. Living Membrane

The design of membranes that redefines the relationships between the exterior and the interior of a neighbourhood is another tool capable of improving its metabolic functioning. These membr anes build new semi-permeable layers that regulate substances entering and leaving the neighbourhood, providing stable conditions inside.

Winning project in Barcelona (ES), We are city, is based on the idea of living the city as an extension of one’s own home – a sensitive theme in a neighbourhood like Besòs i Maresme, which faces degraded living conditions – and public spaces designed to reflect community identities. The project enriches spaces between built structures and ground floors with activities and amenities, creating highly diversified spaces based on permeability and intimacy levels. In the same way horizontal and vertical surfaces are re-natur alized through actions such as depaving and creating green walls, fostering the development of new ecosystems. Buildings are requalified through facade retrofits and shading systems and public spaces are renovated, enhancing the residents’ quality of life in the neighbourhood (fig. 3). The result is a masterplan based on four types of membranes, differing in practices, scale, speed, and intimacy degree, all modifying and improving the livability of the whole

system: the semi-public Space of courtyards and terraces; the Spaces of Proximity; the Rambla as an Urban Sports Forest and the Network of Commerce and Social Life (fig. 4)

3. Cluster of Cells

A set of new urban structures are inserted into existing fabrics, redefining environmental, social and economic logic. Its density and intensity is related to that of the pre-existing plot. Runner-up project in Åkrehamn (NO), Stitching Together, proposes a cluster of independent projects stitched together through a densified urban tissue and a network of streets and green galleries (fig. 5). Connecting the sea, city centre and its natural surroundings through high quality outdoor areas, the new urban structures promote walking and biking by enlivening and strengthening the connections between the harbour and the main road. Public space thus becomes the stage for complex transformation processes as well as a vital and functioning urban heart. The transformation of spaces designed around the needs of mobility vehicles, harbour and main road, into a biodiverse landscape for humans and non-humans, forms a mediator between new interdependencies, a Living City component.

4. Socio-Ecological Loop

Since cities and their neighbourhoods are socio-ecological systems, identifying their ʻloop’ dynamics makes it possible to reconnect lost, abandoned, even unknown fragments, revitalising their urban metabolism.

Runner-up project Re:connecting Rimbo in Rimbo (SE) shows three strategies of reconnection – fr agmented natural land; social meeting points; and historical past – through continuous loop hybrids of physical, social and cultural conditions. The Green Loop (fig. 6) gr ants Rimbo’s residents easy access to nature on a daily basis while creating an overall biological and recreational framework. The proposal identifies new social meeting points, activities, culture, sports and services along the Green Loop or along one of the smaller trails that connect it, strengthening the importance of the Loop as a biological and recreational framework. At the same time and since Rimbo has a strong identity as an agricultural and industrial area, the Green Loop provides easy access to both Rimbo’s agricultural lands and industrial buildings. The Green Loop thus becomes a link between the past, present and future of Rimbo. While most of the cities’ policies have focused on urban greening to truly support urban ecosystems, as demonstrated by the str ategies defined by the competitors, cities can redesign their urban models to integrate the dynamic and evolving adaptive strategies of non-human cohabitants. All these projects re-conceptualise the urban as an ecological formation, interweaving social and wild systems of governance, activating the neighbourhood metabolism. They explore the biological metaphor of metabolism through a design that regenerates the trans-scalar relationships of metabolic flows of the basic systems that animate life: water and soil and soil/ land activities.

Theme 2

Imagine a second life!

Transforming

neighbourhoods and buildings towards an inclusive milieu

A Second Life! is a metamorphosis of a situation. The challenge is to regenerate and to support spaces in need of transformation from a new perspective towards the pre-existences and the hidden treasures that are already there. A new revalorization of all kind of resources – natural, heritage, energy, flows, economy, social…

It means to reconsider uses and new proximities linking ecological and social dynamics. How to be attentive and welcoming to differences and vulnerabilities nourished by inhabited milieus facing climate change?

BAD LOBENSTEIN (DE)

How can natural resource cycles play a role in the regeneration of a health landscape?

SCALES: L/L

LOCATION: BAD LOBENSTEIN

POPULATION: 5.500 INHAB.

REFLECTION SITE: 73 HA / PROJECT SITE: 12 HA

SITE PROPOSED BY: CITY OF BAD LOBENSTEIN

ACTORS INVOLVED: CITY OF BAD LOBENSTEIN, MUNICIPAL SPA COMPANY

OWNER(S) OF THE SITE: CITY OF BAD LOBENSTEIN, SAINT-GOBAIN BUILDING DISTRIBUTION DEUTSCHLAND GMBH, PRIVATE PROPERTY OWNERS, LRA SAALE-ORLA-KREIS

Inhabited milieu’s challenges — Bad Lobenstein needs to define its character as a spa town of the 21st century and to become one of the central destinations in European health tourism in the future. The traditional spa town is located in the midst of a unique landscape with steep slopes and forests in the Thuringian Slate Mountains. The spa city wants to be a pioneer for the integrated development of urban and health planning. Innovative and pioneering design approaches must be developed for resource cycles, a connecting open space concept between nature and urban space and supplementary offers in the area of wellness, well-being and nature tourism. Bad Lobenstein sees an outstanding development path in the continuation of a local tradition – the use of bogs and mud as a healing agent.

Questions to the competitors — How can Bad Lobenstein as a tourism destination use and combine architecture and nature to offer experiential spaces and thus gain more recognition? How can the needs of the population, travellers and nature be balanced in the spaces that are both living environments and destinations? What role do natural resource cycles in the surrounding landscape play around the themes of mud and thermal water? How can tourism and landscape development be made sustainable and how can targeted climate adaptation measures be integrated? What strategies and programmes are needed for a multifunctional health location?

EDEN-BERG

Team point of view — EDEN-BERG is a new forested mountain that enhances Bad Lobenstein’s character as an iconic destination that echoes the topography that characterizes the city. The mountain emerges from Stadtteich Pond, hovers over the railway, and settles on the former quarry. At EDEN-BERG’s foothills wetlands overflowing from Lemnitz River floodplain carve pockets for the proposed programs in the mountain’s base. Slate trails connect EDEN-BERG with Kurpark, the town centre, Stadtteich pond, and ARDESIA thermal baths, and connect to Moorspatscher weg, generating a network or regional trails. By embracing the natural forces of the region, WASSER:MOOR:WALD, EDEN-BERG redefines the concept of ‘Kurort’ into an immersive landscape where different programs materialize in a continuous and fluid sequence.

Jury point of view — The design develops an intriguing and unique vision of a thermal spa landscape, although its feasibility at this scale remains in doubt. Nonetheless, it can have the effect of arousing interest in tourism on a supra-regional level. The jury appreciates the proposals success in bringing a refreshing and novel approach to the discussion to Bad Lobenstein.

Author(s) — Mónica Lamela Blázquez (ES), Violeta Ordoñez Manjón (ES), Raquel Ruiz García (ES), Architects Contact — Madrid (ES) / Los Angeles (US) • waterever.arch@gmail.com, @waterever_studio

The Green Heart

Team point of view — The conceptual idea describes a reactivation and expansion of inner-city natural potentials to develop a health-promoting, healing urban landscape. Special attention is given to the establishment of a new medical centre and therapy campus, easily accessible and appealing, which will make Bad Lobenstein a radiant destination for health tourists. Young people will be invited to the town by the newly created training and employment opportunities in the medical sector, they will be happy to stay for the long term because of the high quality of life. In order to generate the design area required for such a project, fallow land is reinterpreted and unnecessary traffic routes as well as sealed areas are reduced. The resulting differential areas offer space for various activation possibilities.

Jury point of view — The proposal employs a few simple measures to expand and connect the inner-city green spaces and to create a new green centre for Bad Lobenstein. The jury particularly appreciated the benefits of the resulting landscape, such as higher air quality for the town and the revitalization of the existing parks. These improvements will have a positive effect on tourism vis-à-vis the spa area and contribute to this area’s importance in terms of the city’s identity. The architectural proposals need work to become convincing.

Author(s) — Sebastian Plötner (DE), Architect / Contributor(s) — Lisa Heiderich (DE), Laura Wietschorke (DE), Pascal Florian Mänz (DE), Students in architecture • Marvin Schaller (DE), Jasmin Micke (DE), Annerieke Busch (DE), Marcel Andre Höhnlein (DE), Students in landscape Contact — thegreenheart_BL@web.de

with MOOOR sense through the city

Team point of view — Bad Lobenstein, a resting point in the Thuringian Slate Mountains, surrounded by nature, water and swamps, was once a focal point for relaxing, curing and healing and could now use a refresh. The approach With Mooor sense through the city tackles three key issues, using three main interventions, to make the spa town more holistic for all our senses. The first solution is expanding the ARDESIA thermal baths, which ensures that their importance is enhanced. By using both landscape and architectural elements, both existing and new, the thermal baths become more important in the streetscape and the city lives up to its name. Furthermore, connection is key, so visitors are guided through the city. Motorways are reduced and walkways are expanded. As last this approach wants to enhance the functions in already existing buildings. This guarantees a boost to the quality of life in the city.

Jury point of view — The proposal is particularly impressive in terms of its strategic measures at various scales, such as its decentralised distribution of smaller accommodations in the city centre and the revitalisation of the thermal baths and their open spaces – a symbol of Bad Lobenstein’s defining function. The measures are clearly derived and sensitively positioned. The architecture and landscape design appear somewhat pragmatic at times but exhibit a sensitive and appropriate approach to the location.

Author(s) — Erik Ludwig Schneider (DE), Architect • Johanna Charlotte Stahmann (DE), Laura Chichowitz (DE), Eloïse Greet P Desrumaux (BE), Students in architecture / Contact — Schneider & Gerlach PartG mbB, Berlin (DE) • mail@jogels.de, www.jogels-architektur.de

BERNAY TERRES DE NORMANDIE (FR)

How can the industrial heritage of the valeys be transformed into a mix of waterways, production and dynamic life?

SCALES: XL/L

LOCATION: INTERCOMMUNITY BERNAY-TERRES DE NORMANDIE POPULATION: 54,829 INHAB.

REFLECTION SITE: 56 KM2 / PROJECT SITES: BRIONNE: 2.7 HA; NASSANDRES-SUR-RISLE: 17 HA; SERQUIGNY: 3.7 HA; FONTAINE L’ABBÉ: 2.6 HA

SITE PROPOSED BY: INTERCOMMUNITY BERNAY–TERRES DE NORMANDIE, CITIES OF BRIONNE, NASSANDRES-SUR-RISLE, SERQUIGNY, FONTAINE L’ABBÉ

ACTOR(S) INVOLVED: CAUE27, DDTM27, EPFN, PRIVATE OWNERS OF THE SITES, WITH THE SUPPORT OF THE NATIONAL AGENCY OF TERRITORIAL COHESION

OWNER(S) OF THE SITE: CITIES AND PRIVATE OWNERS

Inhabited milieu’s challenges — The Charentonne and Risle valleys structure the territory. Their narrow alluvial plains, mainly occupied by floodable meadows and framed by steep, wooded hillsides, have also been the site of an urbanization focused on industrial production that exploited the energy of the waterways. The urban centres that punctuate these valleys are now experiencing contradictory and unsustainable dynamics: An industrial decline, leaving unoccupied wastelands, to be reintegrated into the territory and a residential decline, resulting in the peri-urbanization of the cities, which keeps the inhabitants away from employment and services.

Questions to the competitors — How to draw up a coherent global strategy based on the green and blue framework of the valleys to imagine new ways of living in this territory? How can we let the rivers regain their position in the urban ecosystem in order to relearn how to live with water, its qualities and its risks? How can we conserve the specific biodiversity that has developed in spaces abandoned by human and take advantage of it to renew the city? How can we take advantage of what is already there to imagine articulations between the productive city and the living city?

en sueurs · chronicles of a sweaty valley

Team point of view — Stories of sweat that reveals, secretes, regulates and sticks. In the Risle and Charentonne sweatshed, a filthy architectural and landscaping gesture links the wastelands of Courcelles, Petit Nassandres, Saint-Louis and Siret-Delaporte. This is the wake: a path of soft mobility in the hillsides’ hollows, a scented, foaming, swirling track made by the livings. The wake is a metamorphic continuity whose fluctuations adapt to milieux and accentuate connections. It encourages sweaty bodies in the valley and inaugurates moist metabolic engagements at the scale of architecture. La Filature des idées is an empiric and fabulist system that elaborates the wake’s plural form: by string games, it turns this narrative into a SF project.

Jury point of view — A proposal particularly noted by the jury for its poetic and engaged vision as well as the relevance and originality of a very well-argued philosophical discourse. The team has constructed the story of an inclusive and supportive community of all living things around their shared essential element: water. The jury saluted the team’s invention of its own vocabulary around the sweat and perspiration of living things and territories during periods of warming. The project is very rich, part utopia, part political ecology. The proj ect also possesses very beautiful visual qualities and real inventiveness in the expression of the project on different scales.

Author(s) — Julie Beauté (FR), Philosopher • Pierre Bouilhol (FR), Camille Pastier (FR), Architects • Lena Cissé (FR), Landscape architect Mathilde Lecomte (FR), Architect, urbanist / Contributor(s) — Jules-Valentin Boucher (FR), Architect / Contact — ensueurs@gmail.com

Les Intensités Sauvages

Team point of view — Between Regional Natural Parks, from the source to the estuary. In a hazy future with unstable climate, the valleys of the Risle and the Charentonne can rely on a long-standing asset, its geography. By reconnecting with the Seine’s watershed and its hinterland through the dynamics of living systems, they are reinventing a new identity through renewed ‘terroirs’ (local territories) and a better-shared living environment. In doing so, they not only equip themselves to address the challenges of the era but also to become visible and desirable for a tourism project. Expanding the spaces accessible to wilderness allows for a reversal of the trend of biodiversity collapse by relying on its regenerative capacities. The wild territory enables a comprehensive reflection on the intensities of use, trajectories, and encounters; it serves as a tool to consider the spaces between regional natural parks (inter-PNR).

Jury point of view — The team is developing the idea of a gradation of use intensities by human and non-human habitats, from the most ‘domestic’ to the most ‘wild’. In this project, she explores a dynamic and an economy of co-evolution based on local ecotourism, the regeneration of agricultural and artisanal lands and ecological engineering to allow the return of living species to the margins of the urban.The jury underlines the interest of this project as a premise for a broader reflection on the territory. It is part of a bioregional approach and attempts to address biodiversity topics which have their place in this Europan session.

Author(s) — Philippe Benoit (FR), Architect • Baptiste Wullschleger (FR), Architect, landscaper Contact — Lieu dit Le bourg, 61400 Comblot (FR) • bw@loa.archi, www.habiterlespaysages.com

(RE)SOURCES

Team point of view — In the Risle Valley, a change is underway. (Re)Sources aims to revitalize the region’s identity by leveraging its local and human, material and immaterial, natural and industrial resources to make this once prosperous territory shine again. By positioning the river as a catalyst for change, it becomes the heart of a united community, creating a link between culture, environment, and economic development. A shared vision emerges, based on collaboration and complementarity among the four sites, which are learning to reconcile their past identity with the challenges of the future. Anchored in sustainable practices, (Re)Sources builds a lasting future, ready to face the challenges ahead.

Author(s) — Paul de Cathelineau (FR), Meniar Rabie (FR), Nikhil Jain (IN), Architects / Contact — 13 rue de l’abreuvoir Saint Martin, 61300 L’Aigle (FR) • re.sources.e17@gmail.com

BRUSSELS (BE)

How to reinvent a historical park as a natural milieu adapted to climate changes?

SCALES: XL/L

LOCATION: THE JUBILEE PARK, BRUSSELS

POPULATION: 1,2 MILLION INHAB.

REFLECTION SITE: 93 HA / PROJECT SITE: 14 HA

SITE PROPOSED BY: ASBL HORIZON 50-200

ACTOR(S) INVOLVED: ASBL HORIZON 50-200, EUROPEAN COMMISSION TOGETHER WITH ITS NEW EUROPEAN BAUHAUS INITIATIVE, BRUSSELS CAPITAL REGION

OWNER(S) OF THE SITE: BELGIAN FEDERAL STATE

Inhabited milieu’s challenges — The Jubilee Park was created around 150 years ago, to celebrate Belgium’s fiftieth anniversary. Initially conceived to represent the political and economic power of the Belgian State, its context has considerably changed, with the evolution of mobility paradigms and the gradual development of the European institutions on the edges of the park. In the last 50 years, the park has suffered several transformations, due to a dense underground infrastructure, including the creation of an automobile tunnel, overhanging a metro tunnel, which cuts the park in two at its central axis. The park suffers from new constraints linked to the climate change. It is intensively frequented throughout the year, sometimes jeopardising the cohabitation with the ecological and natural environments. Inspired by the bicentennial anniversary of Belgium in 2030, the actors involved wish to create a new vision of the existing park so that it becomes a new creative space embodying the presence of Europe in Brussels.

Questions to the competitors — How can the Jubilee Park become an inspiring place according to the vision of the New European Bauhaus (NEB) principles (Sustainable, Together, Beautiful) and criteria (participatory process, Multi-level engagement, Transdisciplinary approach) while respecting and enhancing the heritage dimension of the site? How can the park become a gathering space adapted to issues related to climate changes and the preservation of natural and ecological ecosystems? Is an intervention in the parameter of the tunnel opening – Trémie Kennedy – an opportunity to present European Commission´s achievements in an accessible and tangible way to the publics?

Le Plateau du Maelbeek

Team point of view — This proposal seeks to transform the park into a natural water reserve with a temporal approach. The first intervention stays strictly within the confines of the Europan brief, and a second more global approach was also studied for the totality of the park in the future. After analysis, it is believed that water will play a fundamental role in the wellbeing of the site and its surroundings – and the future intense precipitations brought on by climate change will be problematic for the Maelbeek valley just underneath the park. The park is transformed into a large natural water retention basin – all the while bringing biodiversity to the site and letting nature grow freely. The scale of the proposal is what gave it its name – the geological nature of the site.

Jury point of view — The project’s strong vision is to make use of the existing infrastructure, mainly underground, to deal with water retention basins, at different scales, according to their position within and beyond the intervention site. It challenges our responsibility to deal with heavy rainwater issues, not only on the site, but also on in the broader context of the city. On the site itself, the project suggests a landscape organisation overlaying the existing structure of the Park, and ongoing experimentations on wild and educated nature. The light interventions will have a strong impact in changing the status of this site. From an artificial infrastructure designed 150 years ago as an event space, this site will become a real natural space improving life of its close and further environment, through the porosity of its boundaries.

Author(s) — Grou Serra (PT), Alistair Vaicle (FR), Architects • Inès Masson (FR), Architect, urbanist / Contributor(s) — Sophie Jacquemin (BE), Architect, researcher specialization in sociology / Contact — modern atelier (m.at), Brussels (BE) • atelier@m-at.be, www.m-at.be

71.50 ASL

Team point of view — As the Jubilee Park undergoes a conflictual relationship between surface uses and underground spaces, the project takes advantage of its long history of accumulation of spaces and figures by scrutinising existing potentialities. The reclamation of underused spaces reconfigures spatial relationships within the park and with the city. By means of a radical zero-building policy, densification of uses is achieved through subtraction, removal of excess. Underground facilities become the trigger of a newfound spatial cohesion. The park finds a balance and a sustainable management. The Trémie Kennedy becomes an agora; technical rooms, the entrance to the Museum Mile; an unused tramway facility, a cultural hub. The park fully acts as an open platform, a civic infrastructure.

Jury point of view — Through a very pragmatic design of ambitious underground interventions, the proj ect develops an interesting complementarity between upper ground existing and underground to be transformed spaces. The project demonstrates a large knowledge of the topographical and hydrological structures of the Senne, the Maelbeek and the Woluwe valleys, and of the underground existing mobility infrastructures. According to the evolution of mobility policies in Brussels leading to a reduction of cars in public spaces, the project suggests a progressive strategy to reclaim the underground spaces.

The question remains: how much the underground efforts will affect the upper ground spaces, and what quality of public spaces they will guarantee.

Author(s) — Giulia Devis (BE), Arthur Stache (BE), Engineer architects, urbanists • Ludovic Gaffarel (BE), Nicolas Warrant (BE), Engineer architects Contact — 7150asl@gmail.com

Daily Camping

Team point of view — Parc du Cinquantenaire is a crucial part of Brussels inhabitant’s everyday life. Our aim is to enhance its current state and guide its sustainable evolution toward a more complex ecosystem and socio-cultural infrastructure. We embrace a broader meaning of ecology, valuing difference and complexity for both human and non-human interactions. Rejecting natural/ artificial dichotomies, we focus on the potential of an ever-changing landscape with spontaneous compositions of plants, bacteria, fungi, and animals. We challenge the park’s monumental character, implementing a decolonization strategy. Avoiding additional layers of monumentality, we prioritize contextualization over deletion. Decolonization, learning landscapes, and shared resources promote equality and accessibility in public space.

Author(s) — Celeste Tellarini (IT), Architect urbanist, photographer Xander Wilhelm (DE), Architect urbanist, designer, geographer Contact — Brussels (BE) • celeste.tellarini@gmail.com, www.amultitude.xyz

COURCY – GRAND REIMS (FR)

How to regenerate an abandonned air base to transform it into a living city?

SCALES: XL/L

LOCATION: COURCY

POPULATION: COURCY 1210 INHAB., GRAND REIMS 296,154 INHAB

REFLECTION SITE: 3,000 HA / PROJECT SITE: 65 HA

SITE PROPOSED BY: SCIC MICROVILLE 112

ACTOR(S) INVOLVED: SCIC MICROVILLE 112, CITY OF COURCY, URBAN COMMUNITY OF GRAND REIMS

OWNER(S) OF THE SITE: SCIC MICROVILLE 112

Inhabited milieu’s challenges — The 112 air base, abandoned by the army since 2011, is located in an agricultural area and is quickly connected to Reims and the village of Courcy. The low built density leaves room for open spaces that participate in the identity of the complexes; large square, planted roads, par king lots, groves, fields, etc. The 40 buildings on the site, of various types and in particularly good condition and offer spaces capable of accommodating very diverse programs. The vacant space appears here as the possibility of the living seeking to reconnect human and non-human activities. Managed by a SCIC (Cooperative Society of Collective Interest) now owner of the land, the Microville 112 seeks to find a new role at the scale of the Greater Reims agglomeration.

Questions to the competitors — How to make this site a demonstrator for a smart, productive, inclusive and sustainable city? How to make a regenerative city, able to produce energy, food and biodiversity, manage and recycle waste, store carbon and purify water? How to reactivate the existing heritage thanks to a mixed and innovative programming: housing, tr aining facilities, productive activities and crafts? How to think of mutualization of public spaces and the temporality of uses? How can future users cohabit intelligently? What is the right balance between these different activities to promote What is the right balance between these different activities to promote synergies at different scales? How can residents and workers move around easily while respecting commitments to sustainability and ecology? How to imagine innovative tools to set up ambitious models in accordance with the living city?

OPERATION RE.MEDIATION

Team point of view — The AB112 belongs to the No Man’s Land of the World War I, an old conflict that is still generating ecological after-effects today. We believe that it represents an opportunity to reverse the legacies of war and climatic disasters, by producing a post-traumatic architecture and landscape. If moder n wars have fully played their part in ecological upheavals and have been able to unravel links between living beings, the aim of the operation is to structure a large-scale remediation front (of livings, environments and resources): an ecological rearmament plan to govern the commons of war in the 21st century. It is based on a network of 14 former air bases and weaves together new approaches to cooperation, experimentation and solidarity in the face of future disasters and energy conflicts.

Jury point of view — The project reflects the military history of the site and develops a more general statement on the repair of living environments affected by war, past conflicts or future natural disasters. All interventions and planned uses contribute to remediation through memory and the care devoted to the living world. The jury appreciated the geographical dimension of the proposal as well as the conceptual and allegorical approach which has value beyond the scale of the site itself. It highlighted the careful consideration of military architecture and the qualities of the project in its design and details. The richness of the subject of remediation takes us beyond the post-traumatic vision that appears on first reading. The jury therefore wanted to emphasise the team’s sensitivity and the originality of its response to the theme of the session.

Author(s) — Karim Lahiani (FR), Landscape architect, urbanist • Alice Barthélémy (FR), Architect

Contributor(s) — Maxime Bardou (FR), Landscape architect / Contact — 14 Rue Belgrand, 75020 Paris (FR) • karimlahiani@gmail.com

Solstice, or The Living Contract

Team point of view — Solstice or the Living Contract is inspired by J-J Rousseau’s ideas on the social contract. It emphasizes the need to redefine a non-anthropocentric common good in the face of climate disruption and ecological challenges. The Base 112 and its satellites are seen as testing grounds for the development of ecological continuity on a regional scale. It envisions a progr am that contributes to the ongoing agricultural transition of the base (Microville 112) and, in the long run, fosters biodiversity development at the territorial level. Its architecture is adapted to seasonal variations, with diverse uses within buildings throughout the year. Solstice is a project of worlds to be composed, fostering a dialogue between the social body and the territorial body in service of the Living.

Jury point of view — The team responds to the theme of the session with the idea of a ‘living contract’ established with the territory, drawing inspiration from Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s social contract. The project takes the form of an agricultural park made up of laboratories and workshops connected by a network of valleys and hedgerows. New finely identified routes outline a framework of connection to the territory. The jury appreciated the qualities of this non-conformist response, idealised in certain aspects, which constructs a skilful story for the reconstitution of the former base. It underlined the finesse of the team’s ecological thinking and the graphic qualities of the proposal reflecting a fineness of analysis and attention given to the soil question.

Author(s) — Manon Vandenbussche (FR), Landscape architect • Olivier Chenevier (FR), Architect, landscape architect Contact — 63 rue Monge, 75005 Paris (FR) • manonvandenbussche.95@gmail.com

Rase-motte

Team point of view — Microville 112 is an opportunity to create a reference model of a regenerative city that, using the site’s resources, encourages the emergence of revitalisation processes that can be extended to the whole area.The aim is to generate ecosystem services that increase environmental, social and economic value and foster synergies between residents, businesses, schools and public players. Rase-Motte proposes to transform the 112 air base into a dynamic local landscape. A timescape in which humans, non-humans evolve according to their own rhythms and their own inertia. In order to weave together these disparate temporalities, we need to abandon our dominant anthropocentric stance and adopt a more holistic view of the living, closer to the earth. So, the project allows us to crouch down and join a world made by those who fly low, in Rase-Motte, far from the radar, visible and invisible.

Author(s) — Alice Cecchini (IT), Roman Joliy (FR), Architects Contact — Atelier POEM, San’t Angelo in Vado (IT) contact@atelier-poem.com, www.atelier-poem.com

ETTEN-LEUR (NL)

How to transform an obsolete commercial centre into a resilient and mix use living area?

SCALES: L/S

LOCATION: ETTEN-LEUR SHOPPING CENTRE

POPULATION: 45,000 INHAB.

REFLECTION SITE: 37.5 HA / PROJECT SITE: 3 HA

SITE PROPOSED BY: MUNICIPALITY OF ETTEN-LEUR

ACTOR(S) INVOLVED: MUNICIPALITY OF ETTEN-LEUR

OWNER(S) OF THE SITE: MUNICIPALITY ETTEN-LEUR

Inhabited milieu’s challenges — Etten-Leur lies within the periphery of the city of Breda, easily accessible via the A58 motorway and on the Breda-Roosendaal railway connection. Originally, the municipality consists of the two cores of Etten and Leur, which have grown together over time into one whole. For decades, the centre of Etten was split in two by the N58 national road which in 1999, has been moved to the south side of the core (the current A58). This created space allowed to develop the shopping area of Etten-Leur which functions well as a centre and is one of the most important meeting places. Part of the shopping centre needs to be renovated. Online shopping, competition from larger cities and the changing needs of shoppers require an appropriate response and adjustments. And approximately 250 homes will also be added to the complex.

Questions to the competitors — How to replace a consumption-based, outdated spatial model of shopping with a new urban fabric that fosters the local economy and promotes a more resilient combination of spaces for housing, shopping, meeting and working, leading to a vibrant, open, and town centre connected to the public mobility? How to propose an architectural strategy of transformation that adds 200-300 homes and reduces the amount of retail activities by 20-30%? How to include a phasing proposal that allows the daily operation of the shopping centre to continue during its transformation? How to introduce new green spaces in and around the area that are accessible to the visitors and also to the residents? How to improve connections between town centre and to the train station?

Future Nostalgia

Team point of view — The future nostalgia is a particular feeling, that is not provoked by the remembrance of the past but rather of the future. On the reflection-site we have developed a proposal aimed at transforming the area into a superblock that functions as a fragment of the city of the age of future nostalgia, where society can finally regain the opportunity of fully living the city in a soft and sustainable way. The project site is the clear exemplification of that. The former big volume of the shopping centre is transformed in a fragment of the city, where collective life can happen both on the ground floor of the shops, and on the upper elevation of the dwellings, in a potentially flexible milieu that can be adapted from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.

Jury point of view — The project employs a multi-scale strategy to address various aspects of the reflection site, emphasizing str uctural development by reinforcing the existing structure for long-term evolution. Incorporating vertical diversity, it introduces layers and variation while maintaining a balanced density for efficient space utilization. However, concerns arise about potential overproduction on the ground floor, necessitating collaboration with the city and clients for resolution.

Author(s) — Riccardo Bettini (IT), Francesco Conti (IT), Sarah Gjergo (IT), Edoardo Quattrucci (IT), Architects Contact — informal.practice.xyz@gmail.com, www.informalpractice.xyz

Sale Ends Today

Team point of view — Our proposal is an approach on how the transition from a ‘consumption-based’ urban model to a ‘living-based’ one can be driven by urban and architectural strategies. The starting point of our proposal is based on three reflections: 1. The shopping centre has been absorbed into the town centre but has not been integrated into the urban fabric and public dynamics. 2. The monofunctionality of the complex is not in line with a sustainable living model and promotes unhealthy consumption routines. 3. The anthropisation of the centre has left no room for biodiversity, nor has it taken into account present and future environmental impact. Following these reflections, we establish different strategies that will articulate the urban and architectural proposal.

Jury point of view — The project prioritizes the usability of ground floor spaces by ensuring they are covered and easily accessible. It offers flexibility through phased development, respecting and partially recovering the initial footprint of the shopping centre. Recognizing the shift in shopping culture, the project proposes a transition from consumption-focused to living-based experiences. However, it maintains a distinct separation between housing and commercial sections, lacking vertical integration. Concerns regarding potential overproduction of ground floor space raise questions about use and programming, necessitating collaboration with the city and clients for resolution.

Author(s) — Iago Pineda (ES), Andrea Las Hayas (ES), Architects / Contributor(s) — Leire Blanco (ES), Inés Clavell (ES), Architects Contact — Länk Arquitectes, Barcelona (ES) • lank@lankarquitectes.com, www.lankarquitectes.com

FLEURANCE (FR)

How can a wasteland be reactivated in order to create new urban synergies?

SCALES: L/S

LOCATION: FLEURANCE

POPULATION: 6,000 INHAB.

REFLECTION: SITE 37 HA / PROJECT SITE 4 HA

SITE PROPOSED BY: CITY OF FLEURANCE

ACTOR(S) INVOLVED: CITY OF FLEURANCE, LOMAGNE GERSOISE (COMMUNITY OF MUNICIPALITIES), ANCT (NATIONAL AGENCY FOR TERRITORIAL COHESION)

OWNER(S) OF THE SITE: CITY OF FLEURANCE

Inhabited milieu’s challenges — Built in the 13th century on an orthogonal plan centred on a market hall, the town has expanded over the decades along the main roads that structure the territory from north to south. Today, Fleurance participates in the governmental program ‘Petites Villes de Demain’, which aims to ‘improve the quality of life in small centralities and surrounding rural areas, through dynamic trajectories committed to the ecological transition’. The site proposed is an industrial and commercial wasteland that need to be rehabilitated, transformed and reused so that to reinforce the attractiveness of the town centre by offering the inhabitants (and with the aim of welcoming new ones) the creation of a new common narrative, in connection with the history of the place and that of the territory.

Questions to the competitors — How can an industrial and commercial wasteland, historically and architecturally linked to the strong agricultural activity that has shaped the landscape, be reactivated and reused in order to create new urban synergies? What uses should be imagined allowing, in an inclusive way and with a concern for territorial balance, the creation of new spatial interactions on the proj ect site, then on the scale of the city? What architectural, urban and landscape processes should be developed to initiate the revitalization of the historic centre and create at the same time new links between the different parts of the territory? What new mobility systems should be included in a project to redefine and enhance public space at the city level?

Le Fleuranscope

Team point of view — The Fleuranscope is a new starting point for the bastide, where nature and culture intertwine to become the basis of a multitude of social situations and the beginning new territorial synergies. A place of exploration, imagination and action which draws its themes from the Gers universe and from the living forces which animate it, whether visible or immaterial.

The entities that make it up (Le Fleuranstère, l’Observatoire, la Fabrique Céleste and l’Espace Public) bring a second life to the industrial and agricultural heritage of the wasteland to form a new harmonious ecosystem. They are tools designed with and for the inhabitants, serving to re-engage the bastide’s regeneration process on itself, based on a new balance between living beings.

Jury point of view — The team draws on a detailed and comprehensive historical, social and urban analysis. It targets numerous project potentials by means of realistic actions that are attentive to the existing legacy. The jury noted the attention paid to the medieval form of the bastide and the clarity of the response on a morphological level. This is a comprehensive proposal which skilfully combines several aspects of the session theme: the regeneration of an old urban form, the management of shade and coolness in public space, and the uncovering and conservation of water.

Author(s) — Javier Ahumada (FR), Philippe Cegielny (FR), Marine Fayollas (FR), Arthur Renaudineau (FR), Rose Schwab (FR), Architects

Contributor(s) — Christophe Bonjour (FR), Landscape architect

Contact — Atelier 506, Paris (FR) • contact.atelier506@gmail.com, www.atelier506architectes.com

Pierre, Feuille, Ciseaux

Team point of view — Fleurance is a main town tucked away at the bottom of a valley and hidden in the Gers landscape. We look at the rehabilitation of the former Gersycoop cooperative as an opportunity to restore Fleurance’s visibility in the wider landscape and in the cultural spirit of the Gers region. We produce here the social fabric of this land, in the service of ecosystems, the inhabitants and the non-humans which coexist within a citizen cooperative area nestled in lush greenery. At this scale, we can leverage the local craftmanship, breaking the operations down into several smaller projects, compatible with the small local business’ capacity. With these projects, money is invested in three assets: people and living things, economic support for small business, and the development of virtuous industries.

Jury point of view — The project is presented as the story of an inhabited and cooperative construction site which brings together the population and local actors to energise or create new local, social and circular economies around the theme of reuse. The proposal is skilfully conveyed by three photographs of the process. The jury wanted to highlight this rehabilitation proje ct because it is based on the form and material of existing conditions, it approaches inherited architecture in its material dimension and considers the ‘wasteland’ object as a resource, part of a continuum of architectural transformation.

Author(s) — Marc Viaud (FR), Nathanaël Pinard (FR), Victor Dussap (FR), Félix Roudier-Canler (FR), Pierre-Antoine Pernot (FR), Architects

Contributor(s) — Cloée-Stella Olivetti (FR), Architect Contact — Paris (FR) • contact@collectifcarrenoir.com, @collectifcarrenoir • Clermont-Ferrand (FR) • paf.archi@gmail.com, @paf.architecture

New Gersy

Team point of view — New Gersy aims to achieve organic growth and evolution within its existing boundaries with minimal disruption. The project’s focus is on exploring the untapped potential of the site’s generous spaces and spatial intricacies to uncover its hidden historical and cultural wealth. By prioritizing minimal interventions, the project intends to preserve the unique identity of its buildings and their storied past. The strategic approach involves reimagining the spatial logic of the area to align with future development plans while respecting its historical significance. In doing so, the project seeks to address not only site-specific issues but also to offer valuable insights applicable to the sustainable revitalization of various industrial areas in the region.

Author(s) — Elias Vogel (FR), Duc Truong (FR), Emilie Froelich (FR), Architects / Contact — Semper Vera, Strasbourg (FR) sempervera.architectes@gmail.com, www.sempervera.eu, www.taenu.eu

GRAZ (AT)

How can a main road be transformed to create a living place integrating nature?

SCALES: XL/L

LOCATION: GRAZ, STYRIA

POPULATION: 291,000 INHAB.

REFLECTION SITE: 112 HA / PROJECT SITE: 32 HA

SITE PROPOSED BY: CITY OF GRAZ

ACTOR(S) INVOLVED: CITY OF GRAZ, FEDERAL PROVINCE OF STYRIA DEPARTMENT FOR MOBILITY

OWNER(S) OF THE SITE: CITY OF GRAZ, PRIVATE OWNERS, FEDERAL PROVINCE OF STYRIA, AUSTRIAN RAILWAY COMPANY ÖBB

Inhabited milieu’s challenges — Wiener Straße is the main artery when entering Graz from the north. Gösting is the first district that you encounter. The 3-4 storey houses along the road become increasingly dense, but large supermarkets or car dealerships in between break the continuity. Beyond this main artery you will find a heterogeneous, patchy urban fabric with lots of greenery and even small streams as well as a castle on the hill that no one on Wr. Straße would notice. Another obstacle that cuts through Gösting is the railway line. In the near future, a mobility hub will be created with a regional train station and a tram loop with frequent services. This is a great opportunity to rethink the objective of the main road, reduce private car traffic by shifting commuters to public transport, and to make the area more liveable and human-scaled again.

Questions to the competitors — How can the future of this four-lane road and the transformation of this place between infrastructure and physical barriers become a valuable place to live and a place of identity? How to negotiate an infrastructural transition and how to face the challenges? How to strengthen the urban fabric around a new mobility hub? How to create a quality of place that invites people to stay? How to integrate the barriers of the train and devise a mobility transition of the road? How to adapt the area to the new velocity? What kind of urbanity can be established within the peri-urban? How can the peculiarities of nature be incorporated into a scenario that respects the various expansions and developments of nature?

Repair + Care

Team point of view — The proposed renewal strategy results in a network of self-regulating natural areas and public open spaces, predominantly along existing waterways, to provide lush, inviting green corridors throughout Gösting from the river Mur through to the hiking trails of Plabutsch. This will benefit locals, visitors, overall biodiversity and most importantly, enable the district to better negate the effects of a changing climate. Furthermore, significant changes are proposed to Wienerstraße, the central transport corridor, to better prioritise active and public transport whilst increasing density and activation in the district’s centre. This will ensure that the development of the new Transport hub compliments a vibrant activated and sustainably focused neighbourhood.

Author(s) — Therese Eberl (AT), Architect

Contributor(s) — Mitchell Gow (AU), Architect, urbanist

Jury point of view — The team makes evident that the green and blue infrastructure are taking dominance in shaping the city as opposed to the mineral and motorized mobility infrastructure. The project Repair + Care takes the mobility restructuring as a central focus of its proposal and develops it in terms of social and environmental impact. The most prominent feature of the project is the repairing the ‘mistake’ on the management of the streams leading from the hills on the west side. As the streams become part of the (urban) landscape again, social space regains access to the water and its dynamics and climatic influences, redefining public space as a complex urban and natural millieu.

Contact — Alban Berg-Weg 14/2, 1130 Wien (AT) • therese.eberl@gmail.com

Switch on the Swales

Team point of view — Water underlies the relations between all kingdoms of nature, all parts of each individual. Water is consubstantial with us and yet, it is the element most difficult for man to tame. What if instead of mastering it we decided to follow it? To circulate, to infiltrate, to reflect, to water, to purify: Such is the utopia of this project. The fragmentation of Gösting’s territory induces a series of ruptures at all scales of life. Our project aims to break down the dams, follow the breaches, consolidate the networks and irrigate the territory. This new landscape, structured by the network of swales, will improve the living environment of users in ethical, aesthetic and health terms, enriching the heritage value of Graz and demonstrating the area’s ability to meet the challenges of the future.

Renaturate, healing fractures

Jury point of view — The project is based on an in-depth analysis of how the site works and how different mechanisms could result in a toolbox of small-scale interventions. The structured analysis and layers of development propose actions of reconnecting, densifying and renaturalization, which would result in different, interconnected implementation – s wales as flood prevention measures, public parks, transversal corridors, and new construction of urban tissue. The public spaces are an anchoring mechanism of the wider area and places of interlinking of natural and build networks. The complexity of the proposal and the stepby-step development that embraces this complexity are strengths of the project.

Author(s) — Arthur Rundstadler (FR), Charlotte Sampson (FR), Marion Conte (FR), Léa Malga (FR), Architects • Jean-Pierre Serna (FR), Architect, urbanist, sociologist / Contributor(s) — Magda Meziane (FR), Architect Illustrator • Berenice Aubriot (FR), Esteban Borteele (FR), Bertille Bourgarel (FR), Amélie Lhomet (FR), Architects / Contact — Paris / Bordeaux (FR) • pile.experience@gmail.com

GRENSEN (NO)

How to adapt wooden buildings to create a living lab and social interface between city and campus?

SCALES: L/S

LOCATION: TRONDHEIM

POPULATION: 201,496 INHAB.

REFLECTION SITE: 34 HA / PROJECT SITE: 0.7 HA

SITE PROPOSED BY: NTNU (NORWEGIAN UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

ACTOR(S) INVOLVED: NTNU

OWNER(S) OF THE SITE: NTNU

Inhabited milieu’s challenges — The site is strategically located between the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and Norway’s 3rd largest city, Trondheim. NTNU is planning a major restructuring of its campus and these upcoming changes will make Grensen a strategic position as a campus access point from the city. The site and its listed historical wooden buildings have the potential to become a platform through which the campus can open up to the city, mixing uses and adding diversity and liveliness to the area. The university can feel like an isolated island and increasing concerns for the mental health of university students and staff make the task of connecting NTNU and the city through Grensen all the more critical.

Questions to the competitors — Can the site bring the university down from its hill and become a living lab where research and prototyping can happen in a real-life setting? How to transform Grensen into an extroverted, social and accessible urban environment so that the area can function as a social interface between the city and the university? How to bring innovative architectural interventions and thoughtful programming of university functions under an umbrella of a living lab that can generate knowledge for a better world? How to find the site’s potentials in relation to the planned new construction and look for a balance between old and new? How to keep the site relevant, flexible and a place for continued experimentation?

Grensen 2030: Circularity Apparatus

Team point of view — Grensen 2030 is a welcoming and vibrant place in Trondheim: it carefully preserves the existing built and green structures by giving them the new meanings and adapting to face the challenges of the future, responsibly integrates the new structures designed to foster biodiversity and human interaction, prioritizing sustainability, upcycling and circularity. Grensen 2030 places the synergy and continuous exchange between the existing and new at the focal point for its design. By taking this approach as a starting point, the project becomes a precedent for how the integration of the historical environment with the contemporary technologies can establish a long-term resilient framework dealing with the climate challenges and at the same time creating a new identity and a strong community: the circularity apparatus.

Author(s) — Eugenia Bevz (UA) Architect, urbanist

Contact — dddd studios, Stockholm (SE) • info@dddd.se, www.dddd.se

Jury point of view — This project stands out among all the proposals because it is a spatial strategy on how to transform Grensen into the living lab rather than being a proposal and a design for one or more set of buildings. This is the future, where buildings are shaped by what is at hand through reuse, either direct or through re-cycling. So the suggested buildings in the proposal are to be seen more as ‘placeholders’ or symbols than actual architectural designs. The neighbourhood in Grensen becomes a true labor atory for finding new, experimental and sustainable solutions, on all scales through a participatory process between students, researchers and university departments. Some buildings can be experimental design-build projects by students, some objects of research on energy efficiency, while others can be developed in more conventional ways.

In-Between Lab

Team point of view — The proposed living lab at Grensen offers a transformative approach to higher education that prioritizes soft skills development. By leveraging the benefits of informal settings and embracing the charm of heritage buildings, NTNU can create an empowering and inclusive environment for students, faculty, and the broader community. The integration of diverse skills with academic knowledge prepares the academic community to thrive in the dynamic and interconnected world of the 21st century, equipping them to succeed both professionally and personally. Through the living lab, NTNU can foster a culture of continuous learning and growth, empowering individuals to become lifelong learners and positive contributors to society.

Jury point of view — In-between lab draws attention to a characteristic Trondheim typology: the roofed inner courtyards and shielded outer-inner spaces. While fully respecting the fragile historic environment, the new construction serves a dual purpose, creating a second skin to insulate and protect while simultaneously creating new flexible spaces. The structure can be read as a greenhouse, but also something more, a structure, capable of solving ener gy and climatic challenges, preservation together with adaptation, along with spatial and programmatic considerations. This ‘in-between’ attitude is present in all the different scales of the project and represents one of the clearest architectural interpretations of the theme of Care.

Author(s) — Bachir Benkirane (MA), Megi Davitidze (GE), Architects Contact — bachirbnk@gmail.com, www.benkiranebachir.com, megi.davitidze@gmail.com, www.studio2am.ge

The Gatehouse: The Open Border

Team point of view — The Gatehouse provides an opportunity to rethink the University’s relationship with the broader community, creating a living lab that inhabits ‘the border’. The location of Grensen, metaphorically and physically speaks to ideas of transition, integration, and a larger sense of coming together. For these reasons, our proposal seeks to look at the site as a community hub that not only serves the students but also the residents, enlivening the area and contributing to a melting pot of activities, one that cares for the local community, the university population, and the character of place. The proposal works with ideas of integration, merging old and new, merging local and student bodies, and merging technology and tradition to produce spaces that can foster innovation and excellence.

Author(s) — George Guida (IT), Tatjana Crossley (GB), Konrad Holtsmark (NO), Bongani Muchemwa (GB), Architects

Contributor(s) — Steven Mccloy (GB), Architect, Mina Gohary (GB), Designer / Contact — London (GB) • info@architag.co.uk, www.architag.co.uk, www.mccloymuchemwa.com

LEIPZIG (DE)

How can existing housing estates be intensified to create new opportunities for all generations and population groups?

SCALE: L/S

LOCATION: LEIPZIG

POPULATION: 609,870 INHAB.

REFLECTION SITE: 115 HA / PROJECT SITE: 17 HA

SITE PROPOSED BY: CITY OF LEIPZIG

ACTOR(S) INVOLVED: CITY OF LEIPZIG

OWNER(S) OF THE SITE: CITY OF LEIPZIG, VARIOUS COOPERATIVES, MUNICIPAL HOUSING ASSOCIATION (LWB), PRIVATE HOUSING COMPANIES

Inhabited milieu’s challenges — Based on the Jupiterstraße neighbourhood centre in Leipzig-Grünau, spatial development concepts are being sought for the suburban settlements of the steadily growing city of Leipzig. It is the economic centre of East Germany and the 23 newly created lakes as a post-mining landscape around the city, shape the image of the waterside city. Spatial planning concepts combining living, working and green meeting spaces are being sought for this suburban district. Part of the site must be demolished, and an identity concept combined with a long-term vision is being sought. This vision must be exemplary for the future change in the importance of Grünau, this district in the west of Leipzig which seems largely isolated from the rest of the city.

Questions to the competitors — What strategies and visions are necessary to create a dynamic and attractive urban space on the scale of surrounding neighbourhoods? How can urban planning be developed to contribute to the debate on re-densification and the mixing of the social and the functional while reinforcing a community perspective for prudent urban growth? What are the spatial strategies and typologies of integration and flexibility for businesses, services and cultural and social offers, and what impact should this have on the mix of uses? How can we intensify open spaces and green spaces while preserving and qualifying existing structures to create opportunities for all generations and population groups?

Revitalizing Grünau-Nord

Team point of view — Grünau, a prominent housing estate in Leipzig, seeks a transformative journey towards rejuvenation and inclusivity. Embracing five core principles, the vision is to integrate newcomers and activities, diversify housing options, forge a unique neighbourhood identity, prioritize sustainable practices and reimagine open spaces. The planned interventions encompass restructuring, novel constructions, revamped entrances, and crafted public spaces. The green areas span private retreats, inviting parks, energizing sports zones, and captivating urban squares. An innovative mobility concept, centred around sustainability and community engagement, will reshape the neighbourhood’s transportation landscape. Grünau’s ambition is to emerge as a model of a sustainable, dynamic , and cohesive community.

Jury point of view — The application of typological add-ons and rather modest extensions to the existing built environment is a highly appreciated, adequate approach. The proposal also manages to put the right things in the right places while allowing for a step-by-step implementation. The catalogue of possible extensions addresses a broad variety of spatial situations and allows interventions sufficient to redefine the urban space while adding new and different uses to the area. This is regarded as a very good strate gical approach and fixes spatial problems inherent to the ‘Plattenbau’ typology. Furthermore, this approach is transferable to areas with similar conditions.

Author(s) — Maria Sophie Kimm (DE), Franzisa Michl (DE), Leonie Kübert (DE), Architects Contact — mkk-architektur@web.de

Common Soil

Team point of view — In view of the important historical background of gardens in Leipzig, they are to be used as a strategy to fill the gaps between superordinate green spaces and thus create a continuous green corridor from the Leipzig floodplain in the centre to Lake Kulkwitz. The neighbourhood centre of WK 7 will thus blossom with diverse and species-rich new plantings that offer residents a range of uses. With the help of restocking with productive greenhouses, additions of small-scale court garden houses and redensification of the centre with vertical garden houses, the gardens will also be interwoven with the building structure and create new residential typologies as well as workplaces. In the future, the soil of the neighbourhood will function as a link between the most diverse users.

Jury point of view — This controversial approach of embedding large, strong housing typologies in this neighbourhood within an extended system of the city’s larger green spaces has undeniable appeal. The proposal begins successfully by first focussing on the larger green network and the theme of gardens. However, questions remain as to whether the setting of the new buildings can indeed contribute to the redefinition and qualification of the open space. The new typologies offer a range of new housing varieties and social diversity. Further issues are the absence of a larger str ategy regarding development phases, the merely speculative proposed density for the area and the fact that it’s hardly imaginable if only small pieces of it are realised.

Author(s) — Fernando Nebot Gómez (ES), Architect / Contributor(s) — Larena Dix (DE), Student in architecture Contact — commonsoil@t-online.de

Take off for a solidary neighbourhood

Team point of view — The solidarity-based urban development concept for Grünau Nord is based on the principles of solidar ity-based agriculture, the design of neighbourhood streets with recreational quality and the integration of the common good economy in the Jupiter Centre. The goal is to create a resilient, sustainable and social community based on cooperation and resource conservation.

Jury point of view — The authors propose to initiate a process to transform a monofunctional and underused large housing estate into a diverse, lively and standalone large housing estate. While the proposal is detailed and carefully thought through and allows for the design of a broad participatory process, it is difficult to read. The spatial quality of the proposal is not immediately clear, but the new structures provide an intelligent contribution to the existing built environment, as they create very well-proportioned public and semi-public open spaces between the buildings. Furthermore, the public space is clarified in terms of the hierarchies of pedestrian, cycle and car traffic – a highly valuable contribution to the redefinition of the open space. However, the establishment of urban agriculture in this relatively small scale is considered critical.

Author(s) — Nikolai Werner (DE), Urban planner • Daniel Alain-Pierre Branchereau (DE), Moritz Scharwächter (DE), Vassilissa Airaudo (FR), Architects / Contact — Team Pesto, Cologne (DE) • mail@teampesto.de, www.teampesto.de

MADRID (ES)

How

to regenerate daily life by creating a public space in a broken and anodyne area?

SCALES: L/S

LOCATION: PLAZA DE ALMODÓVAR, DISTRICT OF CARABANCHEL

POPULATION: DISTRICT OF CARABANCHEL 256,283 INHAB.

REFLECTION SITE: 80 HA / PROJECT SITE: 2 HA

SITE PROPOSED BY: GENERAL DIRECTORATE OF STRATEGIC PLANNING, URBAN DEVELOPMENT GOVERNMENT AREA, MADRID CITY COUNCIL

ACTOR(S) INVOLVED: MADRID CITY COUNCIL

OWNER(S) OF THE SITE: MADRID CITY COUNCIL, PUBLIC SPACES AND BUILDING PLOTS

Inhabited milieu’s challenges — The urban fabric of the Plaza de Almodóvar is a broken and nondescript place, weak in its environmental and landscape components, affected by passing traffic and absent of social interaction. The existence of empty lots and unstimulating public spaces, owned by the municipality, offers a great opportunity, but their physical conditions prevent the consolidation of an active community space. Transformation of public space is configured by three interrelated objectives: to regenerate the quality of daily life; recover public space that is now exclusive to private vehicles; and reintroducing nature. The square will have as a reference for its reconfigur ation the project of two buildings of municipal property and public use, which will seek an integrating and identity social character, in a safe space.

Questions to the competitors — How to create a new node of peripheral centrality that will facilitate urban metabolism by promoting hybridization of uses and will provide answers to the challenges of climate change and social inequality? How to regenerate the quality of daily life in a broken and anodyne place, through a municipal action that contributes to social cohesion and generates identity? How to activate the municipal heritage of the unbuilt land and recover the inclusive public space, creating a social infrastructure of meeting for the neighbours?

El Jardin de Ladrillo

Team point of view — Carabanchel, a place where cultures flow, we step back and analyse it from a wider scale. We look at Carabanchel from afar and up close, we revitalise, repair and take care of it. Any outlined defect we want to turn into a potential. We examine its structure, its typologies, its characteristics, in order to propose different strategies for the greater area surrounding that of Plaza de Almodovar. We imagine the new cultural Institute of Carabanchel as a continuation of Plaza de Almodovar, a public space expressing openness, organized on a stack of large interconnected balconies. We recover a public space that inherits nature, society, mobility, and culture, acting as a new node to the urban structure in the area of Carabanchel.

Author(s)

Jury point of view — The project emphasises on environmental considerations and a design centred around the community. It effectively integrates the site within the larger urban landscape instead of seeing the project in isolation. The design underscores the commitment to enhancing the area’s environmental quality by addressing traffic concerns and boosting the green infrastructure. The proposal wisely combines the two separate buildings into one cohesive structure. This decision not only improves the project’s cohesion but also aligns it with the prevailing urban character of the Plaza de Almodovar. The design is rooted in principles of openness and flexibility. Its layered structure offers versatile spaces that merge the building’s interiors with the outside environment. Each level is designed to serve multiple purposes.

/

Wasteland-Scapes

Team point of view — The fundamental premise of this proposal is to preserve and enhance the vacant lots in this area of Car abanchel. To achieve this goal, the built and the void establish a new kind of agreement, whereby the essential traits of wasteland – informality, fertility, strangeness, ambiguity, emptiness, opportunity, fluctuation – become tactics to dignify the vacant lots, and guidelines to develop them.

According to this agreement, the new constructions must get in shape, slimming down as much as possible in order to make room for the void. And yet, without renouncing its ability to repair the urban fabric and to catalyze public activities. As a result, different functions coexist within the same spaces and volumes, including those typically associated with public space: playgrounds, courts, plazas…

Jury point of view — The proj ect seeks to preserve and enhance the significance of empty spaces within the area. This is realized through a careful consideration of the relations between the constructed elements and the vacant spaces. The inherent qualities of wastelands such as informality, ambiguity, and opportunity are not merely retained but are strategically deployed as desig n tactics. The proposal ensures the maximization of open spaces, flexibility for future adaptations and occupations, without compromising the integrity and functionality of the urban fabric. In its search for flexibility, the architecture offers a diverse array of indoor and outdoor spatial solutions rooted in a consistent tectonic design language.

Author(s) — Lluis Juan Liñán (ES), Andrea Gimeno Sánchez (ES), Josep Vicent Lluch Díaz (ES), Jesús Lazcano López (ES), Architects Contact — hello@rellam.org, www.rellam.org

ISO as a weak monument

Team point of view — While ISO has produced an alternative culture that is both diffuse and vibrant, its spontaneous nature has essentially produced internal ‘heterotopias’ that struggle to address the neighbourhood as a place in its own right. It is this lack of representativeness that political ambition now seems to be coming up against. The question posed by Europan goes in this direction: what public facility should embody this cultural renaissance? While the specifications called for a monument to embody the cultural renewal of Carabanchel, our project proposes instead to reveal the district itself in its ‘alter-monumental’ nature.

Author(s) — Camille Gineste (FR), Thomas Flores (FR), Architects, urbanists • Philipp Preiss (DE), Architect • Vincent Prevost (FR), Architect, landscape architect

MÜNCHEN (DE)

How can an existing commercial area be transformed into a place mixing work, shopping and housing?

SCALES: L/S

LOCATION: MUNICH, EUROPARK

POPULATION: 1,579,000 INHAB.

REFLECTION SITE: 25.7 HA / PROJECT SITE: 4.2 HA

SITE PROPOSED BY: CITY OF MUNICH

ACTOR(S) INVOLVED: REFERAT FÜR STADTPLANUNG UND BAUORDNUNG, STADT MÜNCHEN; HWB 39 GMBH & CO. KG

OWNER(S) OF THE SITE: 18 OWNERS FOR THE REFLECTION SITE, ONE OWNER FOR THE PROJECT SITE

Inhabited milieu’s challenges — The metropolis of Munich wants to be climate-neutral by 2035. A major challenge is to cope with the pressure of growth on the one hand and climate change on the other. Munich is trying to meet this by increasing the density of its inner city. The former Bavarian barracks are being transformed into a mixed-use district for about 15,000 inhabitants called ‘Neufreimann’. The competition area is located in the Europark commercial area and is to be sensibly integrated into the urban development context. The task is to develop forward-looking ideas for the redensification of the existing commercial area into a mixed, urban, productive and lively urban site. Questions to the competitors — What does it mean to redensify an existing commercial area in a future-oriented way? What building typologies are needed? What does the ground floor zone look like? What will happen on the roofs? How to come together work and commercial uses with residential use? Can the existing buildings be preserved in terms of sustainability and integrated into the overall concept? What could a hybrid, resilient urban development looks like in the existing context? What do concise public open spaces with a high quality of stay look like? How private and how communal (green) spaces? Where does climate protection and adaptation take place? What is needed in terms of construction so that synergies can be created between ecological, social, economic and cultural aspects? How does the neighbourhood link up with its surroundings?

METROpolis

Team point of view — Europark as an Urban District: The design aims to combine classic urban uses with those of the periphery to form an urban district. The previous structure of the Europark – designed in scale and grain for motorized individual transport – is therefore broken up by moving the halls to the vertical and increasing density along Maria-Probst-Str. While context and use determine the form and scale of the district, the circulation is developed by taking up the existing railway tracks. These are knitted further into green strips in a north-south direction and intersected by a varied sequence of squares. A series of high points, as well as the arrangement of public uses on the first floors, flank the sequence of squares and make possible an urban district in terms of density, uses and scale.

Jury point of view — The design illustrates a lively mix of uses and a helpful vision of a new urban centre. The project convinced on account of its realistic density and its attention to the design of the public realm and its relationship to the buildings’ internal organisation at ground level. This project also repurposes an existing structure. It has a clear, if not ground-breaking, concept for the ecological aspects of the scheme that include drainage, energy supply, and use of materials including the reuse of the existing structure. The designers have thought about how to link the proposals into the wider neighbourhood through realistic landscape and tr ansport connections.

Author(s) — Benedikt Herz (DE), Anna-Maria Grimm (DE), Daniel Grenz (DE), Architects, urbanists • Marta Fernández Cortés (ES), Landscape architect, urbanist

Contact — Studio FGGH • info@studiofggh.com, www.studiofggh.com

why not on top?

Team point of view — Freeing parking lots, embracing communal spaces with adaptive structures. Harmonizing logistics, segregating deliveries from pedestrian zones. Interweaving green oases throughout the quarter, mixed-use structures coexist with established buildings. Offices, businesses, residences converge in symphonic harmony. Maria Probst Street’s redesign elevates parkland allure. Landmarks honour Leopoldstrasse’s axis, mobility hubs unite sectors. Metro site revitalized with vertical expansion; verdant elements enrich surroundings. Tram station emerges as vibrant nucleus. Rooftops bloom with green sanctuaries for residents and employees. An urban oasis blooms, enlivened by markets and lush spaces.

Jury point of view — The scheme was praised for its clear vision and concept that focused on the reuse of an existing large shed structure. Further work is needed to establish the technical viability of this. The stacking of different uses was enjoyed, and suggests how to create a truly multi-functional, dense neighbourhood. The project’s landscape proposal was less convincing and would benefit from greater differentiation and definition, making its uses clear and communicating its hierarchy.

Author(s) — Europa Frohwein (DE), Architect / Contributor(s) — Luca Schulze (DE), Laurence Zafaranchi (DE), Students in architecture Contact — bureaueuropa, München (DE) • www.bureaueuropa.eu

NANTES (FR)

What process to pass from a megastructural hospital to an open and inhabited milieu with a regenerated soil?

SCALES: L/S

LOCATION: NANTES MÉTROPOLE

POPULATION: 656,275 INHAB.

REFLECTION SITE: 80 HA / PROJECT SITE: 18.4 HA

SITE PROPOSED BY: NANTES MÉTROPOLE

ACTOR(S) INVOLVED: NANTES MÉTROPOLE, CITY OF NANTES, SAMOA

OWNER(S) OF THE SITE: NANTES MÉTROPOLE, STATE, FRENCH

BLOOD INSTITUTION, UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL, UNIVERSITY OF NANTES

Inhabited milieu’s challenges — The site of the HôtelDieu is a mono-functional hospital-university block, densely built and without any link with the spaces that surround it. The large scale of its buildings nevertheless makes it very visible in the urban landscape of Nantes. This hospital megastructure is made up of a disparate group of buildings built between 1951 and 2013 with more than 250,000 m2 of floor space. As a result of these years of successive extensions, the site is hidden from the flow of the city and is 95% built and waterproofed, leaving little room for living animals and plants. The relocation of the University Hospital by 2027 to new buildings is an opportunity to give a new program and interpretation to the hospital vocation of this site by opening it up to the city, its inhabitants and, more broadly, to the living beings in all its diversity.

Questions to the competitors — How to reconstitute a resilient inhabited environment that is likely to encourage a certain form of biodiversity in the city? How to use the resources of the site to the best advantage in order to develop new ways of living and working in the city and to establish a diversity of activities? How to ‘make with’ or ‘start from’ this complex and heterogeneous heritage, while at the same time working towards the development of a healthier, more open and richer living environment? How to recover fertile, living, nourishing soil, but also active soil, public or common spaces, vectors of exchanges and encounters? What dialogue should be established with the Loire?

Matière Première

Team point of view — Matière première means re-establishing an in-depth relationship between the Loire and the north shore of Nantes. This by the creation of a large landscape and hydraulic structure structuring the ‘hollow’ mutation of the Hôtel-Dieu site. Matière première is the transformation of a built site based on upgrading rather than replacement. The emergence of a park system conducive to life through the progressive and differentiated regeneration of existing soils. The evolution of a monofunctional hospital site, towards a diversified city fragment by rehabilitating the existing built heritage. Matière première is the re-registration of the large original cross-shaped hospital building in its urban and Loire landscape, and as a condenser of a new residential dimension on the site.

Jury point of view — With a new urban, landscaped and hydraulic framework, the team proposes an opening up of the landscape and of the site towards the river to irrigate the island by means of a secondary network. The intervention on the structure and the cross building is subject to debate with respect to the heritage issue, but the proposal to remodel the site is very well controlled and accurate in its dimensions. The jury highlights the quality and scale of the work carried out by the team and its ability to be part of a project process and to pursue a vision on an urban and metropolitan scale.

Author(s) — Alan Benoit (FR), Tom Barbier (FR), Paul Riffault (FR), Thomas Catti (FR), Jean-Benoit Boccaren (FR), Architects, urbanists

Contact — 77 Avenue Philippe Auguste, 75011 Paris (FR) • matierepremiere@proton.me

L’île Mystérieuse Pacte alimentaire ligérien

Team point of view — Histoire d’une autophagie Insulaire L’Île Mystérieuse is being reborn from its territory, its history and its natural dynamics. It uses its available components and resources, its constraints and opportunities to adapt, transform and open up to understanding itself and its environment. Human being understands that he is part of a much bigger, stronger and greater whole. They understand that they are not at home, that they are only there for a time, they do not dictate the rules, they must be humble, observant and attentive to a slow, invisible, fragile, complex world that is constantly fighting for its own survival and on which they depend. He slowly reconnects with that forgotten world, that distant memory of a lost harmony, the one that gave birth to him, the one that nourished him, the one to which he owes everything.

Author(s) — Maëlle Lucas (FR), Louis Cayol (FR), Ángel Aguilera Delgado (ES), Architects Contact — Maëlle Lucas, Louis Cayol et Ángel Aguilera Delgado (FR) • maelle.lucas@outlook.fr, louis.cayol@gmail.com, angelaguileradelgado@gmail.com

Team point of view — At the crossroads of a site with a thousand-year-old history and a territorial geography structured by the Loire River, the former Nantes University Hospital is preparing to enter a new phase of its history.

The development of a nurturing park in the city centre raises the question of the future food model, at a time when crises are no longer a topic to be discussed.

Designed with the abundant practices in the Nantes metropolitan area and the heritage of the Hôtel Dieu, the park offers two new horizons: to the site, by opening it to the city and the Loire, and to the inhabitants of the metropolitan area, who are looking for healthier, more responsible nutrition.

Author(s) — Matthias Mercier (FR), Louise Castelli (FR), Architects Sullivan Josso (FR), Architect, urbanist Contact — castelli.louise@proton.me

REGENSBURG (DE)

How can an aging housing estate be repaired by reusing / replacing the existing and by addition of new uses?

SCALES: XL/S

LOCATION: REGENSBURG, ADALBERT-STIFTER-STRASSE / VITUSSTRASSE DISTRICT

POPULATION: 168,000 INHAB.

REFLECTION SITE: 124 HA / PROJECT SITE: 5 HA

SITE PROPOSED BY: STADTBAU-GMBH REGENSBURG

ACTOR(S) INVOLVED: STADTBAU-GMBH REGENSBURG, CITY OF REGENSBURG

OWNER(S) OF THE SITE: STADTBAU-GMBH REGENSBURG, EVANGELISCHE WOHLTÄTIGKEITSSTIFTUNG REGENSBURG (EWR)

Inhabited milieu’s challenges — Regensburg, located on the Danube, is a prosperous large city with a high quality of life. The competition site, which is home to an aging housing estate consisting of 18 apartment buildings, is located in the south of the city area. Most of the buildings in the proj ect area were built in the 1960s and some have already been modernised or replaced by new construction. Due to the intended redevelopment measures, many flats are currently vacant. The challenge is to carefully develop the existing neighbourhood in a sustainable way and to make it more attractive, mixed and colourful through new construction, conversion and modernisation.

Questions to the competitors — How can the existing neighbourhood be revitalised through urban design, architectural, open space and programmatic measures? How can a socially mixed, sustainable and lively neighbourhood be created? Which new buildings fit in with the existing ones? How can existing buildings be adapted, converted and further developed in a contemporary way? How to imagine floor plans adaptable and to be used by heterogeneous group of people? What does communal living mean? Can co-working be integrated? What social infrastructure does such a neighbourhood need? Where does the heterogeneous neighbourhood meet? What could a future-oriented mobility concept for the neighbourhood look like? What is the significance of climate-friendly building in this task? How to envisage concrete climate adaptation strategies look like?

Adaptable – building for resilient urban future

Team point of view — The large-scale housing development in the southern part of Regensburg from the 1960s is planned to be renovated and revitalized due to its current condition. Existing buildings and new replacements will be integrated into a sustainable overall concept to revitalize the site and positively impact its sur roundings. The central location offers potential for developing the housing development as a key hub in the urban open space system. Pedestrian pathways and additional public amenities will be created to promote a city of short distances. Open spaces will be interconnected, and diverse community areas will be established. The development will undergo moderate densification, allowing for various forms of housing. Floor plans will be designed to offer flexibility in their use.

Jury point of view — The proposal is most impressive with its few well-placed interventions; it shines in terms of urban scale, its transformation of the existing flats and its addition of new uses such as communal facilities. The insertion of individual structures allows it to define spaces, condense them individually and make them tangible in a new way. The existing flats are cleverly adapted to modern living with targeted interventions, such as the addition of spacious loggias, connections between the existing and new buildings via pergolas and the option of floor-through flats. The jury praised the astonishing simplicity of the interventions and the resulting spatial robustness.

Author(s) — Felix Beck (DE), Laura Moosmann (DE), Architects • Simon Bässler (DE), Landscape architect Contact — adaptable2024@gmail.com

25 fragments

Team point of view — How can we revitalize an unattended village that has been cut off from neighbourhoods? How can diverse groups coexist and thrive together as vibrant neighbours? Eventually, the essence of these two questions is how people and places could be familiar with their surroundings. The beginning of an answer to this inquiry lies in reflecting on the essence of our own identity and the process that fragments it. My ambition in this contest is to explore the concept of fragments by contemplating the intrinsic nature of disconnected places and diverse groups. By discovering these fragments, I aim to connect or gather them and sometimes daringly separate them to give shape to new possibilities.

Jury point of view — With just one urban development addition along with the radical interior modification and external reshaping of roughly half of the site’s existing buildings, the d istrict is set to become a new home for a lively mix of users. The work stands out for its great variance among the proposed transformations of the existing flats and the multiple typologies legible in the added structures. The jury considered the proposed pitched roof to be too striking as an externally formative symbol for the neighbourhood.

Author(s)

DIE HOFSIEDLUNG

Team point of view — The housing complex in the Kumpfmühl-Ziegetsdorf-Neuprüll district is currently a system of buildings, open spaces and pathways that are simply juxtaposed without a clear relationship among each other. In fact, as any typically modernist estate, the site is a system of objects and surfaces that today fail to work together and ignore the topography that characterises the site. Analogously, the current housing units on the site are the repetition of the same typology everywhere, regardless of different needs, age groups and diverse uses of space. Our proposal challenges the modernist approach by a careful rewiring of the relations between the elements of the site, reinforcing the potentials of what is already present. Through a set of simple architectural solutions, Die Hofsiedlung introduces gradients between the site and the city, between the existing slabs and the green spaces, between the individual and the collective.

Author(s) — Mattia Inselvini (IT), Marcello Carpino (IT), Federico Taverna (IT), Architects / Contact — (ab)Normal, Milano (IT) • info@ abnormalstory.com, federicotvrn@gmail.com, www.abnormalstory.com

RENNES (FR)

How can a hospital of the late 70s become an urban and living space linked to its agricultural environment?

SCALES: XL/S

LOCATION: RENNES MÉTROPOLE

POPULATION: 450,000 INHAB.

REFLECTION SITE: 160 HA / PROJECT SITE: 7 HA

SITE PROPOSED BY: RENNES METROPOLIS

ACTOR(S) INVOLVED: CITY OF RENNES, ASSOCIATIVE AND CULTURAL STAKEHOLDERS OF THE DISTRICT + PARTNERSHIPS WITH EDUCATIONAL AND RESEARCH INSTITUTIONS, ASSOCIATIONS OR COMPANIES INVOLVED IN CIRCULAR ECONOMY AND RECYCLING

OWNER(S) OF THE SITE: CHU, RENNES METROPOLIS

Inhabited milieu’s challenges — On the edge of the city of Rennes and in contact with the Blosne district, the site is part of the urban area’s green belt and opens onto a vast agricultural and natural plateau. The site will be entirely vacated in 2027 following the relocation of the University Hospital Centre. It is marked by a cross-shaped building (58,000 m²), built according to a model of hospital architecture from the late 1970s. The task is to explore the field of possibilities to prefigure the reconversion of the South Hospital in a larger scale vision, urban and landscape, ecological and environmental. It is also an opportunity for experimenting with new tools for circular urban planning, taking into account urban metabolism and resource management.

Questions to the competitors — How to imagine the return to use of a built heritage that is losing its initial function in order to adapt it to new, more diverse occupations that are likely to evolve over time? How to regenerate an artificial soil and re-establishing physical and ecological continuities with its environment? How to open the site up to the Blosne district and attract new inhabitants? How to treat the interfaces between the city, the infrastructure and the surrounding countryside? How to revive this site and develop new activities? What to do with this built heritage, between reuse or reconstruction?

CHAMP-CONTRECHAMP

Team point of view — Originally designed as a healing machine, the former South Hospital leverages its rational infrastructure to gain autonomy and resilience. The soil, the mother matr ix of life, is placed back at the heart of urban fabric. Becoming a food and agricultural hub, the building once ‘en contre-champ’ now turns its focus both towards the city and the Plateau d’Or son. With the proj ect Champ-Contrechamp, the Blosne neighbourhood reconciles with its nourishing past. As a showcase of the green food belt, it is a hybrid and fertile place. The architecture urges its inhabitants to reconnect with the cycles of life and take action against climate change. By the year 2050, new connections between the city and the countryside improve life in the Ville Archipel. The city and the countryside share a common destiny.

Jury point of view — Very well written and very well presented, the project has a manifesto dimension that goes beyond the scale of the site and questions the feasibility of the concept. The argument on food responsibility is convincing, but the idea of a platform dedicated to agricultural transition elicited debate within the jury. However, it appreciated the extremely detailed analysis of the function of soils, from their organic dimension to planetary issues. The project also includes detailed architectural proposals that evoke another radiant city with a multiplicity of uses.

Author(s) — Rozenn Balay (FR), François Vaugoyeau (FR), Architects

Contact — massstab atelier d’architecture, Nantes (FR) • contact@massstab.fr, www.massstab.fr, @massstab_atelier

Resuscitating the Blosne

Team point of view — Reviving the soil, Stitching up the infrastructure

The Blosne district and the Plateau d’Orson form two radically different yet complementary entities: urban/rural, dense/ dilated, urbanized/open. The project builds on these contrasts to strengthen the qualities of this duality (‘archipelago city’). Reading, orientation and regeneration tools are proposed to clarify the different environments (natural and built) and enable living beings to appropr iate them, understand them and orient themselves. Based on observation, enhancement and care for the ‘already there’, the project is broken down into three actions: resuscitating the Blosne, reviving the soil and stitching up the infrastructure. This strategy adapts to act on all levels: from the wider area to the reorganization of the former CHU floors.

Jury point of view — The project brings together two very strong guiding threads, one of landscape and the other architectural – on the one hand the rewilding of the Blosne on an urban scale, on the other the extension of an architectural model on the scale of the hospital building. The jury appreciated these two main ideas and the subtle intervention choices, in particular the metabolic structure attached to the existing building. These initial ideas still need to be brought together in order to consolidate the overall intelligence of the proposal.

Author(s) — Agathe Vincent (FR), Architect, urbanist • Jordan Froger (FR), Mathias Deniaud (FR), Architects Contact — bap, bureau d’architectures potentielles, Rennes (FR) • contact@b-a-p.fr, www.b-a-p.fr

RégénéRennes

Team point of view — Hôpital Sud, Rennes’ emblematic heritage building, is a symbol for all the people of Rennes to whom it gave birth. Unfortunately, it will soon have to give up its original functions. The time has come to give it a second life.

It’s an opportunity to create the symbol of a city that’s regenerating itself. This regeneration follows four axes: urban, landscape, mater ial and immaterial.

The building is part of the Blosne district, which is undergoing renewal. The ambition is to offer a place that faces up to its destination by introducing diversified programs based on a circular, resource-based economy. The project also aims to reveal an agricultural landscape and enhance a built heritage.

RégénéRennes, with its project-based urban planning, seems to be setting a real direction for the city.

Author(s) — Remy Itard (FR), Jules Padioleau (FR), Léonard Pinel (FR), Students in architecture • Fleur Morin (FR), Architect Contact — collectifppi@gmail.com

SCHORSMOLEN (NL)

How can an obsolete neighbourhood be socially reconnected by integrating new housing and adapting it to climate change?

SCALE: L/S

LOCATION: SCHORSMOLEN, BREDA

POPULATION: 45,000 INHAB.

REFLECTION SITE: 25 HA / PROJECT SITE: 5.15 HA

SITE PROPOSED BY: MUNICIPALITY OF BREDA

ACTOR(S) INVOLVED: MUNICIPALITY BREDA, HOUSING CORPORATIONS

OWNER(S) OF THE SITE: MUNICIPALITY BREDA, HOUSING CORPORATIONS

Inhabited milieu’s challenges — The Schorsmolen district is categorized as a ‘weak’ neighbourhood, with a low liveability, low social cohesion and low safety. There is little or no usable greenery and almost no recreational opportunities. All public areas are dominated by (inappropriate) parking, speeding traffic, alcohol consumption and waste on the street. The residents experience the neighbourhood as very unsafe. But it has one of the highest percentages of young people present in the neighbourhood. Because Schorsmolen is very close to the old city centre of Breda, it offers a very good chance of densification and realise a mix of housing typologies. Connecting, densifying, greening and orienting are the basis principles for tackling the challenges and opportunities of the Schorsmolen district.

Questions to the competitors — How to offer new forms of affordable, urban living with a greater mix of housing types and resolves the current problematic relationships between public and private and introverted nature at the street level in creating an attractive and socially inclusive neighbourhood? How to propose a new vision on the public space, streets and provision for parking by re-considering the balance of hard (asphalt) and soft (green) surfaces for Schorsmolen as a whole. How to include a phasing strategy for the implementation of the urban transformation strategy allowing block by block development and participation of local residents? How to pay particular attention to climate adaptation and think about a long-term urban strategy?

I’ll See You in Middelplein!

Team point of view — Our ambition for Schorsmolen is to create a vibrant urban environment that fosters the wellbeing of its community. We propose a strategy of focused interventions, aimed at upgrading the current neighbourhood and providing new possibilities for living, working, meeting, moving, and embracing nature. The key moves of our plan are:

– Activate public space and realise attractive places to meet;

– Open up the neighbourhood by realising important connections to the surrounding areas;

– Make Schorsmolen a healthy place to live for people, animals, and plants, by improving its ecology and climate-resiliency;

– Upgrade the existing building blocks to offer a wide range of living and working options; Provide a flexible framework for implementation, led by an inspiring and optimistic vision.

Jury point of view — The project employs a selective demolition approach, strategically removing specific areas while preserving parking and introducing a communal deck. This initiative aims to establish a new central area in the neighbourhood, featuring acupuncture-like urban interventions. Notably, blocks are partially removed to create more expansive public spaces. The overall densification strategy involves demolishing and relocating sections to expand urban areas, accompanied by the addition of new structures to foster connections between interior and exterior spaces. Combining both architectural and urban design elements, the project seeks to revitalize and reshape the urban environment.

Author(s) — Giacomo Gallo (IT), Catarina Breia Dias (PT), Architects Contact — New Environments, Amsterdam (NL) • info@newenvironments.eu, www.newenvironments.eu

Open Up Schorsmolen

Team point of view — Schorsmolen becomes a social, inclusive and lively green urban neighbourhood. Where inhabitants stop for a chat, greet visitors and keep an eye out on the streets from their balconies. With pedestrian friendly streets and lively public spaces. Open Up Schorsmolen brings the neighbourhood’s biggest quality into fruition, its social capital. The project allows inhabitants to open up to each other in cool and biodiverse public space. It activates the streets through opening up the blind facades with public programme. Inhabitants will open their door onto lush shared courtyards and new private outdoor spaces. A series of precise design interventions transforms Schorsmolen into a futureproof park, an active urban fabric and a legible neighbourhood.

Jury point of view — Prioritizing waterfront quality, the proj e ct seeks to create an active urban fabric by integrating a diverse program. Adopting a straightforward densification strategy, the focus is on enhancing urban density and functionality through various means. Emphasizing legible neighbourhoods, the design promotes clear structure and organization while encouraging diverse co-creation for the emergence of different typologies. A d istinct separation between public and private spaces is maintained to ensure well-defined boundaries for privacy and accessibility. Internally, blocks are accessed from the inside, fostering shared inner areas concentrated around entrances.

Author(s) — Corné Strootman (NL), Landscape architect / Contact — corne@kollektief.net, www.kollektief.net

Nurturing Schorsmolen

Team point of view — We start from the assumption that the sense of identity for a place emerges from the recognition of oneself in their own living environment. We feel at home when we recognize the traces of the many little rituals we conduct in our lives. Therefore, we aim to maximise the possibilities for each household to generate a spatial impact in their neighbourhoods. However, to nurture a productive environment for co-creation, it is important to provide clear structuring frameworks that balance the needs of Schorsmolen with the rest of Breda. For these, the role of the local governments remains fundamental to set common rules and targets. We propose a socio-spatial framework and a kit of collective actions to facilitate a co-creative transformation of Schorsmolen to a liveable future.

Author(s) — Stefano Agliati (IT), Mathias Gorz (PL), Ganesh Babu Ramaiah Perumalsamy (IN), Architects, urbanists Contact — ste.agliati@gmail.com

VÄXJÖ (SE)

How a hospital block can be reused to create better connections with the rest of the city?

SCALES: XL/S

LOCATION: VÄXJÖ, KRONOBERG

POPULATION: 70,500 INHAB.

REFLECTION SITE: 67 HA / PROJECT SITE: 5.37 HA

SITE PROPOSED BY: VÄXJÖ MUNICIPALITY

ACTOR(S) INVOLVED: COMMUNITY OF VÄXJÖ AND PROJECT INVOLVED PROPERTY OWNERS

OWNER(S) OF THE SITE: COMMUNITY OF VÄXJÖ AND PROJECT INVOLVED PROPERTY OWNERS

Inhabited milieu’s challenges — Växjö is the commercial and cultural centre of the region. Fires in the history of Växjö have redefined and still mark the urban landscape. The grid city that was created after the first fire is today of national interest. The project site is today a hospital area with 20th century buildings in the immediate vicinity of the historic and commercial centre, but their volume forms a barrier. In 2027, the hospital will be moved west of the city centre, leaving room for many square meters of functionless buildings that can be reintegrated into the city structure. New dynamics are needed. New meeting places, living ground floors and activities need to be added, as it is an important aspect of ‘care’ to enable people’s social needs.

Questions to the competitors — How can the structure within the hospital block be developed to create better connections with the rest of the city without demolishing all of the buildings? How can the existing buildings or their material be transformed or reused? How to propose new construction with the least climate impact? How to suggest new uses for the site? What new functions can replace the symbolical value of care that the hospital, centrally placed, gives to the city today? Since the transformation of the block will be a long rebuilding process, how can the area be attractive already early in that process?

Generative Care

Team point of view — Generative Care proposes a twophase intervention to unlock the potential of Centrallasarettet of Växjö. Phase One involves three interventions, while the hospital is still running in full functionality, to initiate dialogue and research, explore existing structures and landscapes, envisioning their transformation. Building on this knowledge, Phase Two focuses on a lar ge-scale transformation, creatively reusing materials, restructuring streets, and integrating the area with the city. Embracing a metabolic conception, the project engages the community, allowing the site to evolve organically over time while respecting its unique context. The project seeks to create a vibrant and inclusive environment that celebrates the city’s heritage and shapes a promising and green future for Växjö.

Jury point of view — Generative Care takes a strong approach to the question of reuse, demonstrating empathy and knowledge in its inventory and handling of buildings with different conditions and its comprehensive analysis of important existing every-day and recreational flows. Through precise interventions, new structures are added, while the overall design opens up for intersecting flows and connections to surrounding public spaces, through a comprehensive approach at the ground level.

Author(s) — Henrik Almquist (SE), Morgane Alonzo (DE), Architects, urbanists • Oscar Aparicio Chavez (BO), Léa Ganteil (FR), Architects Contact — Almquist, Östgötagatan 26, 116 25 Stockholm (SE) • henrik@a-a-a.se

Glänta

Team point of view — The history of Växjö is closely linked to the northern shore of Växjösjön. It was here, close to the Central Hospital, that five roads intersected and formed a favourable setting for trade and residence. It is reflected not least in the name, which originates from the Old Swedish words Vaegar (road) and Sjö (lake). As a gesture to the past, we propose that the new Cultural Quarter, which is emerging in the premises of the hospital is to be named Vägsjöstaden.

By reprogramming the hospital block, the dense area is opened up, adding lush greenery and public spaces. By removing unnecessary structures and re-cladding the buildings that are kept with recycled materials harvested on site, the site is adapted to new uses – gr adually chiselled into existence without an extensively waste of resources.

Author(s) — Tobias Thiel (SE), Oscar Forsman (SE), Architects

Jury point of view — The strength of Glänta lies in the proposal’s analysis and the well-crafted enhancement of the highly str ategic and identity-forming southeast corner, an attractive location towards both the park and the lake. Through preservation and new design, a central meeting place for the city emerges, whose solitary form is emphasized by a generous plaza that also invites water into the competition area. The analysis of preservation potential and the material library is convincing.

Contact — Tobias Thiel Arkitektur, Stockholm (SE) • kontakt@tobiasthiel.se, www.tobiasthiel.se

Länka

Team point of view — Sweden’s Smaland region is known for its blend of ecology and innovation, and Växjö, considered the commercial and cultural centre, embodies this spirit of entrepreneurship and ecological awareness. The city’s relationship with water and other resources has evolved over time, with a focus on restoring polluted lakes and transitioning to a fossil-fuel-free city in the 1990s. Växjö has been an early adopter of climate adaptation strategies and is now working towards the Sustainable Växjö 2030 vision, emphasizing carbon-neutral construction and holistic, care-based development approaches that bridge the gap between nature and culture. The city’s urban form includes a central hospital located at the edge of the city, near the intersection of the lake and the woodlands. This hospital has undergone continuous change and faces questions about its effectiveness as a contemporary care environment.

Author(s) — Giulia Chiatante (IT), Architect Dilara Kuran (TR), Architect, urbanist Contact — gl.chiatante@gmail.com, kuran.dilara@gmail.com

EIBAR (ES)

How to adapt an industrial building into housing for young people, linked to the natural environment?

SCALES: S/S

LOCATION: EIBAR (GIPUZKOA)

POPULATION: 26,983 INHAB.

REFLECTION SITE 13.56 HA / PROJECT SITE: 1.15 HA

SITE PROPOSED BY: DEPARTMENT OF TERRITORIAL PLANNING, HOUSING AND TRANSPORTS OF THE BASQUE GOVERNMENT

ACTOR(S) INVOLVED: EIBAR CITY COUNCIL + DEPARTMENT OF TERRITORIAL PLANNING, HOUSING AND TRANSPORTS OF THE BASQUE GOVERNMENT

OWNER(S) OF THE SITE: PUBLIC

Inhabited milieu’s challenges — Eibar is a city of industrial tradition and the geographical centre of the Basque Country, a key point for the articulation of the regional road communications. Nestled at the bottom of a valley, it has a hig h building density where communication infrastructures of regional scope, industrial uses and housing coexist. At present, almost all industrial activities have moved, leaving in place an important industrial her itage with imposing ruins that demand an opportunity to be occupied again. At the same time, the demand for housing in the municipality is very high, especially for rental housing.

Questions to the competitors — How to provide urban values to a very degraded environment? How can we achieve a balanced urban rehabilitation and regeneration operation that values the industrial heritage? How to adapt an industrial building with a vertical structure to new forms of housing for young people? How to explore new types of housing adapted to the needs of new lifestyles, to criteria of sustainability, which favour recycling and reuse, and to criteria of habitability, which also give greater prominence to outdoor spaces incorporated into the house, such as terraces and balconies? How to Integrate in the industrial property spaces for public use as equipment for the entire neighbourhood of Txonta? How to integrate the presence of large infrastructures with a natural landscape now degraded and hidden?

Ulysses began his Odyssey

Team point of view — In the Homeric poems, Ithaca is the homeland of Ulysses, whose homecoming is the central theme of the Odyssey. From a general point of view, the project proposes a romantic drift that seeks to restore the vitality of yesteryear to the Txonta neighbourhood, incorporating a new life to the abandoned industrial development through residential development and the reorganization of the mount. The project attacks the need to operate in the urban environment with the respect that the heritage value of the AIBE industrial building deserves, while vindicating its urban image, the public space, the habitability programmatic solution and the circulatory relations between the neighbourhood of Txont a and the natural orography of the city of Eibar. Activate through reusing and reinterpreting the ‘ruin’.

Jury point of view — The project introduces an impressively simple and self-evident orchestration of object, site and territory. Promoting the relational triangle of ‘the hill, the architecture and the plaza’ demonstrates a multi-scalar concern which is acted out in a subtle but highly precise way. The proposed transformations and interventions are based on a comprehensive understanding of the area’s urban structure whose vertical complexity follows the longitudinal flow of the topography. The project gives these geographical peculiarities a promising second life merging the scales of territory, place, and object. Inasmuch as its thoughtful handling of resources repairs the fabric and the territory through the repair of the object, the project acts as well as a second life-prototype for the future transformation of Eibar.

Author(s) — Miguel Ángel Díaz González (ES), Ignacio Hornillos Cardenas (ES), Architects / Contributor(s) — Eduardo Carlos Dipré Mazza (AR), Agustín Darío Lozada (AR), Morgan Przeracki (FR), Architects • Belen Meloni (AR), María Belén Ramos (AR), Melania Sauer (AR), Students in architecture / Contact — Alameda Mazarredo 41, PB 2i, 48010 Bilbao (ES) • miguelangel@based-architecture.com

Hyper-Txonta

Team point of view — Hyper-Txonta is a model for the regeneration of industrial constructions that arises from the study of a specific territorial context that shares common features with its built environment. It is constituted as a Decalogue that considers that the industrial heritage of the Basque region contains a strong potential for transformation and adaptation to the new architectural and urban paradigms. Due to its adaptability and flexibility, it can be exported to a broader casuistry within the territory. Hyper-Txonta follows the logic and operating principles of industrial constructions and works as a multi-layered connective and integrative system. Since it is conceived as modular, changeable and scalable, it can be applied totally or partially according to each case study. HyperTxonta presents a series of urban, climatic and typological strategies responding to new anthropocenic perceptions.

Jury point of view — Three scales and spheres of intervention promote the regenerative potential of the factory as a pilot for a local and territorial transformation. Based on a careful analysis of the socio-economic and material traces of Eibar’s industrial culture the project refers to different historical ‘specificities’, such as the strong collective culture, and the physical ecology of the industrial heritage. The jury acknowledges the ambition to give a certain dignity to social housing by an expressive materialization that explicitly represents the project’s conceptual depth and caretaking of ecological processes.

The project proposes a different opportunity for the program to be hosted by the building, opening up new insights in the possible impact that the regeneration of an industrial heritage might have on the future development of social housing.

Author(s) — Gonzalo Peña (ES), Victoria Collar (ES), Jon Garbizu (ES), Diego Sologuren (ES), Architects Contact — Kri, Madrid (ES), kri.arquitectura@gmail.com, www.kri.archi • Garbizu Collar, Basel (CH), mail@garbizucollar.com, www.garbizucollar.com Diego Sologuren, Vizcaya (ES), diegosologuren@gmail.com, www.diegosologuren.com

Berrelikatu Mutualism

Team point of view — Berrelikatu transcends the physical limits of the pre-existing building, it is proposed as a protocol for action in obsolete industrial buildings through their resignification. The structural characteristics of the old AIBE building allow it to be read as a flexible support with great capacity to experiment with new typologies capable of addressing the global challenges of the 21st century.

In this case it is interpreted as an inhabited water purification infrastructure. At a time when energy debates are more relevant than ever, water remains in the background, and yet the way we produce, distribute and consume it mobilizes our societies, shapes our metropolises and transforms our geographies. more radical than any other energy source.

Author(s) — Carmen Benítez Merino (ES), Juan Mateos Corona (ES), Architects / Contact — C/Aviador Zorita 13, office 404, 28020 Madrid (ES) • juanmateoscorona@gmail.com

Team point of view — The proj ect as a parasite and the ensemble as a symbiosis

Mutualism proposes a vertical and transversal workshop concept to strengthen new uses and urban connections. The approach encourages interactions between activities, fostering multifunctional spaces for collaboration among community sectors. Moreover, it provides typologically flexible dwellings. The proposal revitalizes the urban fabric by taking advantage of the building’s location to establish connections with the context. The project is thought as an artifact: this parasite benefits the existing building and its natural surrounding. One without the other would not exist. The ensemble that they form is understood as a symbiosis. By this approach, the project redefines the relationship of the building with the context rediscovering the existing architecture to rethink, reuse and revive it.

Author(s) — Yannick Marquès Schroeder (ES), Marina Gracia Montaner (ES), Sandra Juan Sánchez (ES), Guillem Florit Bosch (ES), Architects Contact — T. +34 667487212 • sygmarchstudio@gmail.com

The hinge

Team point of view — The hinge is an architectural mechanism which allows things to (un)fold being at the same time in a fixed position. The aim of our proposal was exactly that: to generate an architectural and topographical device that despite being rooted in the ground, generates folds which allow us to solve the multitude of broken connections we identified in the site. On the west side, the urban context, on the east side, the natural hill, evocative of almost a rural environment, and in the middle our abandoned building waiting for a new life, acting as a barrier between these two antagonistic realities. As we see it, only by transforming a barrier into a porous device, vertically and horizontally, can we revert this situation.

Author(s) — Maria Dimitroudi (GR), João Salsa (PT), Zoe Tzika (GR), Architects / Contributor(s) — Matteo Bassi (IT), Architect, Olegk Stathopoulos (GR), 3D designer / Contact — C/ Roger de Lluria 134 3-1, 08037 Barcelona (ES) • thehinge.eibar@gmail.com

How to Design a Second Life

By Carlos Arroyo Zapatero (ES) – PhD architect, urbanist, linguist, teacher in Madrid’s Universidad Europea. Founder and director of Carlos Arroyo Architects www.carlosarroyo.net

This article focuses on the tactical aspects of the proposals. While strategy is the overarching plan to achieve long-term goals, tactics are the specific actions taken to execute that plan in practice. There is high value in an architecture that is strategic, but it may come to nothing without the right tactics. We can easily agree on certain strategic ideas, but the real difficulty may be just what to do about it.

We have selected five projects dealing with the strategic idea of adaptive re-use, the idea of a second life to our existing constructions to minimise the carbon footprint of demolition and new construction. In most cases, the strategy is already clear in the brief, it is a given, a part of the question.

In Eibar (ES) the question is very explicitly about designing a second life for existing industrial buildings, while in Rennes (FR), it is a hospital that needs to change its function. In Brussels (BE) the brief was more open, but is still about a reformulation of an existing park and cultural hub, which over the years had taken on major infrastructural public works. In Grensen (NO) the aim is to transform the site adapting the existing buildings to new uses and while the possibility of relocating certain wooden structures – or even demolishing some of them – remains open, the preferred strategy is to find them a second life. In Madrid (ES), on the other hand, the idea of a second life is brought in by the competitors as a proposed strategy.

In any case, the question ends up being about how to implement that strategy: the tactics.

How to Transform Industrial into Domestic

In Hyper-Txonta (fig. 1), the runner-up team in Eibar proposes a systematic approach to the repurposing of obsolete industrial buildings by means of very clear tactical elements, a series of addons to instil programmatic change, introduce services and manage energy balances. These elements follow the principles of industrial construction, as if they were parts of a catalogue, and are therefore changeable, scalable and to be implemented in stages by simply ordering more items.

The water harvesting roof is a self-referenced structure that may be added to any building as if it were just one more element in a scaffolding system. The low-tech façade envelope is also a generic

product with which to clad almost any structure with wooden frames and woollen insulation. Prefabricated service cores are fitted in to house both wet and electric ducts to transform the usability of the spaces. The catalogue of add-ons includes nesting opportunities for birds, containers for plants to grow, etc., all fitted to the scaffold-like auxiliary structure.

The resulting image for the industrial structure transformed into housing focuses on living conditions with generous spaces and windows for humans and an oasis of peace for non-humans.

How to Transform a Hospital into an Ecosystem

The runner-up proposal in Rennes, Resuscitating the Blosne (fig. 2), also adds wood to a concrete structure, introducing smaller spans, which reduce the scale to a more domestic dimension, as well as warmth in look and feel. This new dimension is overlayed as an ʻaugmented grid’ over the concrete spans, aligning with it to ensure adequate transmission of the added loads. Further wings following the wooden pattern are proposed, completing the concrete gr id to create a new system of courtyards and transition spaces.

This proposal also looks at natural pre-existing features, to give them a second life. The buried Blosne river is resurfaced, breaking up the asphalt of the access roads, while the former parking structure is kept as an observatory of the rewilded expanse.

The tactical aspects of the proposal are emphasized in the presentation, showing the successive phases of the implementation, and including cranes and machinery caught in the act of transformation.

How to Deal with Heavy Underground Infrastructure

The runner-up team in Brussels behind proj ect 71.50 ASL a Mani fest for Civic Infrastructure (fig. 3) proposes a calendar to increase civic uses in the Jubilee Park through transformation rather than construction of new buildings, in parallel to the necessary evolution of means of transportation in the city.

On the site, a succession of motorway-like infrastructure for cars with tunnels, trenches and ramps, weaves through the park creating a barrier before diving under the cluster of cultural buildings.

The team assumes that there is a gradual shift in the heart of Brussels towards public transport and bicycles away from private cars. Bicycle lanes are much lighter than motorways and metro line

tunnels are much smaller, so the shift would free substantial footage within the infrastructures dividing the park.

The proposal takes advantage of the situation of those motorway tunnels diving right under the existing buildings to transform them into a large atrium linking all the programmes and providing an open space to accommodate civic activities within the large spans of the heavy infrastructure.The trench that used to divide the park becomes an agora. A new relationship is established between the different parts while maintaining a zero-new-building policy.

How to Change the Scale of Existing Constructions

The authors of The Gatehouse: The Open Border (fig. 4) special mention in Grensen, need to transform an area including a cluster of small houses into a large student facility while adopting a strategic commitment for the radical renovation of the existing.

They solve the typological conflict by transforming the street into an atrium connecting the existing buildings. It is a simple operation that manages to modify the scale of the place while maintaining its char acter.

The domestic scale of the buildings is maintained, but the addition of this large shared long atrium linking all of them creates a larger body that, in turn, provides a link to a larger territory, acting as a gateway between two parts of the town. The atrium not only links the existing buildings either side of it, it also creates a connection between the educational facilities and the surrounding suburbs of Trondheim, as well as visually linking the Gothic cathedral on the other side of the river and the Neo-Gothic headquarters of the university.

Material continuity is provided by the choice of wood as main building construction, while the linear structure and its criss-crossing roof resonate with the Gothic character of its neighbours.

How to Care for the Second Life of a (Non-)Vacant Plot

In Carabanchel, El Jardin de Ladrillo (fig. 5) winning proposal in Madrid, is not about the second life of buildings; it is about the continuity in time of public space, open space, vacant plots, courtyards and spontaneous greener y.

The task is to produce new buildings here, which would normally complete the urban blocks with new façades following the line of the planned streets and sidewalks. Contrary to that automatic answer, the team decides to offer a second life to the open spaces and their vegetation, concentrating the program on a smaller part of the intervention area.

In coherence, the new construction is not a formal building, but a layering of open spaces in height, with a scattering of small buildings to house the program. The four levels of open space are visualised in the main image of the competition documents as an unfolded perspective, where we see all the new open spaces in continuity with each other and also with the network of existing open spaces that the team decided to provide a second life for. The tactics here are as radical as the strategy, resulting in a really innovative kind of public space.

How to Prepare a Future Second Life

In other chapters of this catalogue you will find further tactical approaches. For example, the winning project in Østmarka (NO), A Home for All (see more P.227), maintains a number of housing blocks that were earmarked for demolition, while proposing a way for the old and new to be integrated as a holistic concept.Then, the winning project in Vaasa (FI), (me)tsä (see more P.239), proposes a typological approach reminiscent of Habraken’s S.A.R. principles, as well as the early work of the author of this article, with a floor plan that leaves the structural elements out of the way of possible rearrangements and concentrates utilities along central strips to facilitate future adaptations.

An important role of this catalogue, not just this particular text, is to collect tactical ideas that will help people around the world implement the strategies that we can all agree on. I propose that we continue reading this book identifying valuable tactics, valuable ideas on just how to do it.

Ways of the ‘Living City’ to Regenerate Life in Weakened Neighbourhoods

By Dimitri Szuter (FR) – PhD architect, researcher and performer. Founder of P.E.R.F.O.R.M! www.perform-the-city.org

The act of regeneration is at the core of the ʻLiving City’: all the sites of this site family are neighbourhoods suffering from a lack of vitality. In Madrid (ES), a network of residual spaces at the core of the Carabanchel district require to be transformed into a regenerative interface to host a renewed social and cultural life; in Regensburg (DE), Leipzig (DE) and Schorsmolen (NL) the neighbourhoods are considered as devitalized or even dangerous places to live in: actions are needed both in terms of architectural interventions and of public space strategies in order to reconnect with more dynamic networks and to enhance communities life. Finally, in Etten-Leur (NL) the transformation of a massive shopping centre – the heritage of an outdated way of designing cities – is about to be transformed into a vivid meeting place for the neighbourhood towards new ways of ʻconsuming’ and living together. Throughout the winning projects, we identified three ways to regenerate life – specifically associated to the ʻLiving City’ shifts. The two firsts relate in a synergistic way to the ability to empower both nature and communities. The winning teams invite us to give them more space and resources by developing new strategies and tools to regenerate the living conditions. The third way results from the two firsts: teams are building new references regarding the different ways new commons for the living (humans and more-than-humans) can be shaped, both in terms of spaces and values.

Empowering Nature

The living city requires to think more in terms of subtraction rather than of addition. The no-more-asphalt policy is gaining power and serves the renaturation of soils, the restoration of ecological continuities, and the massive plantation of trees. Runner-up project Common Soil in Leipzig (fig. 1) is all about that. The project seeks to fill the gaps between existing and isolated green islands in order to create a continuous green corridor. Moreover, the team is giving the soil an important social function for the neighbourhood, as they plan to make it a link between communities in order to strengthen the coexistence of all local residents. In addition, and towards a process-oriented development of the neighbourhood, the team proposes to implement a vertical tree nursery that plays an essential role: on one hand, it is used to grow plants and trees to be planted in time, using time as a productive agent of the transformation; and on the other, the simple scaffolding structure becomes

a public observatory of the progressive mutation of the neighbourhood. Empowering nature strategies also calls for a new contract regarding unbuilt places and the economic pressure of densification.

Among the shifts of the ʻLiving City’, wastelands and residual spaces are not perceived as places to fill up anymore, but to preserve as biodiversity shelters. Runner-up project Wasteland-Scapes in Madrid offers a leading manifesto: a prospective inventory of wasteland fragments dedicated to be consolidated and networked within the neighbourhood as refuges for nature (fig. 2). By detailing the inner qualities of these ʻempty’ spaces, the team addresses a change of gaze regarding the existence and potentialities for an urban ecology. They are underlining – and anticipating – the risk of transforming the inventory as prior targets for urban densification. Indeed, they are promoting John Dewey’s ʻvaluation’ philosophy to avoid a financial ʻvalorisation’ of land. By building the values of the wasteland as a precious vacant lot to remain empty, pervious, fertile, green, porous and accessible they are thinking of the vacancy not as ground for a future building, but as a potential for a unique kind of public space. To achieve this goal, the team imagines a new kind of agreement between the built and the void, whereby the essential traits of wasteland – informality, fertility, strangeness, ambiguity, emptiness, opportunity, fluctuation – become tactics to dignify the vacant lots, as well as guidelines to develop them.

Empowering Communities

By means of empowering the living, we are thinking of the interweaving of re-naturation processes and the reinforcement of social ecosystems as joint driving forces to regenerate life in devitalized neighbourhoods. Following Judith Butler’s guidelines, the empowerment of communities is particularly at stake in special mention project Nur turing Schorsmolen in Schorsmolen. In fact, the team is developing regenerative strategies dedicated to giving more agency to people. More than helping them to inhabit in better conditions, they are helping them to transform their daily environments by themselves (fig. 3). To do so, and to transcend the ʻcurse of anonymity’, they are focusing on how they can empower citizens to shape their own cities. For them, it starts by developing a sense

of place and for that, they propose a specific ʻaction kit’ in order to plan short-, medium-, and long-term actions, ranging from building communities, building transformations and ultimately, building a living Schorsmolen. From public spaces activation and transformation to architectural interventions, they are scoping a range of tactical urban planning tools, like the neighbourhood festival that functions as an experimental platform to gather and act for the progressive rewriting of their own narratives and environments. In short, the team is perceiving the project as a socio-spatial framework to co-create a liveable future.

Shaping New Commons

A renewed idea of the ʻCommons’ is at work within the living city shifts. To revitalize neighbourhoods, the hypothesis of generating a sense of belonging – together – is crucial and demands to identify what to share, with whom and how to shape spatially and in time these restored relations. Runner-up project 25 fragments in Regensburg presents an interesting attitude for it. The team explores the concept of fragments by contemplating the intrinsic nature of disconnected places and diverse groups. By discovering these fragments, they seek to connect or gather them and sometimes daringly separate them to give shape to new possibilities. The various and creative combination of 8 groups of people and 8 fragmented elements of programs that make a neighbourhood healthy and dynamic – education, care, commerce, resident community, sports, health, religion and mobility – generates 25 innovative fragments that triggers the re-shaping of the living environment (fig. 4). These 25 fragments become the essence of the project and are spread at various scales: the scale of the city and of the neighbourhood and finally, inside the buildings. The regenerative strategy

is driven by the implementation and transformation of the existing through these fragments: to shape new commons.

Beyond fragments, winning project Future Nostalgia in EttenLeur is carried out by the quest of new ʻliving patterns’ driven by a feeling of nostalgia – specifically provoked by the uncertainty of the future. To do so, the team developed three strategies to transform the existing shopping mall and its surroundings: ʻon top’, ʻin between’ and ʻon void’ (fig. 5). The first prototype of ʻon top’ densification consists in the reusing of the large commercial structures and the addition of a hybrid infrastructure suitable for housing and community spaces. The second ʻon void’ approach reclaims the huge parking lots to reactivate them as a hybrid and vibrant public space. The final ʻin-between’ approach seeks to break up large pr ivate courtyards by retrofitting and fragmenting gardens into smaller human spaces. Besides the re-shaping of living patterns and commons, it is the values and purposes of spaces that are shifted by the winners. Indeed, they are designing ways of experimenting life more than consumption, as they say: ʻfrom man understood as a pure consumer to man as a social animal’.

The E17 rewarded proj ects draw ways of regeneration of weakened neighbourhoods that illuminates the new paradigms of the living city. Beyond demolition or unreasonable densification, they guide us towards an extended vision of the potentialities of the existing. They are trying to repair the broken structures of the built environment instead of erasing; to restore an urban ecology that functions as a regenerative spine for all instead of artificializing soils and milieus; and to reconnect places and people by empowering them instead of ignoring. Beyond spatial shifts, it is the attitude of professionals that are deeply shifted in order to give more agency to nature and people.They seek to equip environments so that they can continue to transform themselves and to enable possibilities to emerge.

Magic Mountains, Mysterious Islands and Urban Health

By Socrates Stratis (CY) — PhD architect, urbanist; associate professor, Dpt. of architecture, Univ. of Cyprus. Co-founder

of AA&U. www.aaplusu.com; www.socratestratis.com

Quiquendone is an imaginary Flemish town where writer Julius Verne locates his story ʻUne fantaisie du Docteur Ox’ (1872), a fascinating experiment about instrumentalising the town’s life support system, precisely its atmosphere. L’île Mystérieuse1 is the title of another of Verne’s fantastic stories and the title of the Europan 17 special mention proposal in Nantes (FR), Verne’s native city (fig. 1) The special mention team identifies a system of riverine islands and regards the site of the hospital to relocate as part of the river’s ecology. The sites in Rennes (FR – fig. 2) and Växjö (SE – fig. 3) are also about hospital relocations. Magic Mountain, the 2030 scenario for Bad Lobenstein (DE2 – fig. 4), exemplifies the therapeutic nature of the Thuringean landscape and aims to regenerate a mud-bath & spa resort. The critical mass of a new territorial collective comprising twenty municipalities around the Thuringian Sea – which is not a sea but a vital water reserve for the region – may catalyse the envisioned regenerative dynamics.

Magic , mysteries and fantasies concern the sites where the Europan 17 winning projects are invited to imagine a second life of former or current healthcare sites. Let’s see how they relate to the reinvention of Quiquendone…

Doctor Ox is the protagonist of Verne’s story: he wants to design and construct an innovative gas lighting system in Quiquendone. Thanks to his offer for free installation and service, he gains the town’s local authorities’ and citizens’ approval despite their extremely indecisive and procrastinating temperament. The new infrastructure is supposed to provide gas for lighting the town’s public buildings, streets and homes. Yet, it is a cover-up of Doctor Ox’s experiment. Instead, he pumps up harmless oxygen in the town’s outdoor and indoor environment. As a result, the plants grow gigantesque and the hesitant and reserved inhabitants become aggressive, willing to push any argument to its limits. They decide to go to war with the village next door. The factory’s destruction due to an accidental mix of oxygen and hydrogen ends the story and saves the peaceful town and its phlegmatic inhabitants.

Through Doctor Ox, Julius Verne tells us that the city is a living lab of instrumentalizing life support systems. How atmospheres, decisive agents for urban health, can be compromised by infrastructures. In other words, he senses – back in 1872 – the not-sopromising role of the Industrial Revolution in compromising the

1• Sentences in quotes are taken from the project’s A1-panels and document under study.

2• Competition site br ief, p.30.

health of humans and other-than-humans. Relations between urban processes, health disparities and development planning define urban health. Promoting social justice through sustainable food systems is also crucial to urban health3

How can urban health be part of re-imagining a second life for the soon-to-be-obsolete structures of healthcare institutions (like in Nantes, Rennes, Växjö)? How can urban health be enhanced thanks to a second chance given to a declining spa destination (like in Bad Lobenstein)? Both questions concern the 17th session of Europan on Living Cities. Yet, when we dare to imagine, we become aware that such second lives and second chances require radical agents of change. The urban health scholars remind us that it entails a groundbreaking leap of consciousness to change the relations between urban processes and health disparities, as well as to establish sustainable food systems and social justice4. How do the winning proposals on the four sites entail radical agents of change?

Radical Agents of Change, Trapped in a Nested Scale?

The Europan 17 Living Cities theme supports the re-use of the existing building stock and urges urban actors to reduce the exploitation of natural resources through new urban expansions. It calls for synergies between humans and other-than-humans to give value to what is already there. Yet, three of the four sites result from the relocation and construction from scratch of immense healthcare infrastructural institutions, often based on medical rather than on urban priorities. How do the Europan 17 winning proposals position themselves on those sites vis-à-vis the bigger picture of the hospitals’ relocation?

Generative Care, winning project in Växjö (fig. 5), brings forward the enormous financial burden for the town’s hospital relocation. The team creatively incorporates the ongoing public debate for such controversial matters in their strategic design scheme. The first phase of a two-phased intervention, a radical agent of change, is a support structure to enhance a deeper collective consideration for the hospital’s relocation. An ʻavant-projet’ takes place while the hospital is still operational. The first phase comprises three medium-sized wooden structures placed at the edges of the hospital’s enclave. Their radicality lies firstly in facilitating the collective reconsideration of the relations between medical and urban projects.The project’s radicality lies in the design of typologies of transforming the existing ʻself-contained organism’ into a potentially welcoming urban entity, as the team calls it. The three wooden structures are urban porosity agents5, both in the physical and programmatic sense

3• University College London’s Master of Health in Urban Development https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/development/study/health-urbandevelopment-msc (accessed February 10, 2024)

4• Rober t Biel, Sustainable Food Systems. The role of the city, (London: UCL Press, 2016): 10.

5• Socr ates Stratis Welcome Back In My Back Yard: an urban porosity interrogation, Rebois, D. (editor) Ideas Changing, Europan Implementations, (Paris: Europan Europe editions, 2012): 46-50.

6

(knowledge production on re-use and citizen engagement). The transformation typologies support a metabolic urban landscape, including a process of matching donors and receptors regarding the re-use of on-site materials.

A metabolic territorial landscape is at the heart of the ʻMagic Mountain’ project’s imaginary in Bad Lobenstein – another genre of healthcare institution that does not depend on hyper-centralised building infrastructures but on networked localities. The Green Heart, runner-up proposal takes care of Bad Lobenstein’s existing qualities. It transforms the centre into an extensive inhabited park by connecting the dominating forest hill around the castle with the Palace grounds, the therapy campus and the lodging area. Cars are kept out of the inhabited park, giving the possibility to re-naturalise part of the streets. The Green Heart aims to be a radical agent for change by breaking away from the town’s nested scale, thus preparing the ʻMagic Mountain’ to play a nodal role in the network of spa facilities around the Thuringian Sea (fig. 6)

Why couldn’t the Generative Care and The Green Heart proposals be seen as examples for the sites in Nantes and Rennes? Why couldn’t the networked health facilities approach of The Green Heart proposal be relevant regarding the site in Växjö? Because urban design is trapped by default in a nested action scale where territorial decision-making and healthcare programme production often happen on other scales. However, the genre of the Europan competition allows competitors to challenge such nested scales of decision-making.

Soils, Grounds and Sustainable Food Systems

The Europan 17 proposals break away from nested scales to celebrate the entanglement of the extra-small with the planetary thanks to the transformation of soils and grounds. They invite us to face another big picture, that of the relationship between urban health and sustainable food systems.They formulate urban design as an active agent in changing the status-quo of current food systems’

diagram of soil regeneration is drawn on the upper left runner-up proposal in Rennes. The world map of +4 degrees Celsius, showing water-stressed areas, populates the lower right-hand corner of the same panel. The proposal builds on the rising citizens’ movement against intensive agriculture close to the city. The citizens claim the 300-hectare agricultural land controlled by the city to become the city’s food production gardens. The proposal introduces the ʻParliament of the Soil’ to support sustainable food systems. It turns the former hospital site into a new centrality of such endeavour, linked to a ʻSocial Security Alimentation’. The team urges Rennes’s urban actors to ʻre-generate the built by the non-built’6 (fig. 7)

The Île Mystérieuse proposal in Nantes introduces ʻautophagy’ as a metaphor for a regenerative design approach to transform the former hospital site. It creates another kind of centrality to a hospital, a sanctuary of all sorts of humans and other-than-humans, a ʻcity life shelter’. The former self-contained organism of the hospital is simultaneously insular and a node of many networks, including food production. Food is supposed to be produced on the re-naturalised ground and the building roofs. The ground floor of the existing structures opens up to allow the ʻground city’ to take place: a web of soft mobilities and vegetated public spaces (fig. 8)

6• Project’s Document, ZG 079, p.2.

The Matière Première, winning proposal in the same city, departs from the challenge of re-naturalising a ground comprising building debris from World War II. Nurseries, resource centres, and an arboricultural school are programmatic radical agents of change regarding the site’s soil. The proposal pushes the river’s ecology into the enclave thanks to a landscape armature. The team turns the ground floors of the existing structures into covered public spaces accessible to the city and the upper floors into housing thanks to a second building skin, recessed a couple of metres from the hospital facade. Protecting the integrity of the initial building’s architecture, the team adds another landmark to the city’s archipelago of landmarks (fig. 9)

Incubators for Radical Change Reinventing Quiquendone

Looking back at the five proposals under study and Doctor Ox’s experiment, we may realise that their radicality as agents of change lies in understanding the project both as a field of multiple possibilities and an infrastructural apparatus for making it happen. Unlike Doctor Ox, who tricks the urban actors and puts Quiquendone’s health at risk, the young Europan design teams are bluntly honest about the urge to see urban health differently and how to change it. Thanks to their enrolment in the Europan’s biennial competition, the sites’ urban actors seem to defy Quiquendone’s citizens’ undecidability and procrastination. They are getting ready to address the challenges of the climate change crisis regarding urban health. Yet, the ground-breaking leap of consciousness is a collective endeavour. It requires them to see the winning teams as equal partners for the sites’ transformation and not just a source of inspiration7

7• ʻ…A first source of inspiration: … But be careful, none of ʻthese projects are intended to be car ried outʼ, specifies Nantes Métropole, which will also launch citizen participation in parallel with technical studies. The answers provided constitute a first source of inspiration for the city and the metropolis which will fuel the studies and reflections to be carried out.’ www.20minutes.fr/nantes/4066176-20231210-nantes-reconversion-siteactuel-chu-commence-dessiner#:~:text=C’est%20l’un%20des,sur%20 l’%C3%AEle%20de%20Nantes (accessed February 10, 2024)

Theme 3

Think tabula non-rasa!

Designing new habitats as a holistic environment

Some nature reserves around the world are deserts – hot or cold –, but they host all kinds of animals and microorganisms hiding in the cracks and crevices, under the rocks. Some of our sites look empty, vacant, but they are not. They are full of life: in the soil, in the air, in the breeze.

They are part of a larger balance of natural forces and processes.

On these sites, substantial new volumes of programme are required. Think of these sites as the opportunity to multiply the number of life forms, think of the request to build new habitats as an opportunity to design a holistic environment.

Think tabula non-rasa!

'T ZOET (NL)

How to bring together culture, city and ecology?

SCALES: L/S

LOCATION: ETTEN – ‘T ZOET, BREDA

POPULATION: 184,000 INHAB.

REFLECTION SITE: 13.7 HA / PROJECT SITE: 2.65 HA

SITE PROPOSED BY: MUNICIPALITY OF BREDA

ACTOR(S) INVOLVED: MUNICIPALITY OF BREDA

OWNER(S) OF THE SITE: MUNICIPALITY OF BREDA

Inhabited milieu’s challenges — Breda is growing from a centre where in 2020, 21,250 people lived and 25,500 people worked, to in 2040, 43,000 people will live, and 32,500 people will work. ‘t Zoet is designated to become a complementary, inclusive, energy-neutral and international living and working environment. Building homes in this vibrant area will significantly contribute to solving the housing shortage in Breda and the region. Multi-family, multi-generational homes, flexible living, and new forms of collective living are expected. The connection with sustainability and proximity is essential. It involves energy-neutral living, growing your food, and relaxing in your own environment. The Suikerplein will be an iconic area on the Mark river with space for hospitality, culture and leisure. The cultural quarter will be designed with a chain of urban facilities, connecting the city with the surrounding landscape through a high-quality green boulevard and a strong relationship with the river.

Questions to the competitors — How to imagine an urban/architectural strategy for transformation that includes ideas for buildings, programs and waterfront public spaces connected to the location and its history? How to create a dynamic p ublic space, ecological landscape design that incorporates the city’s current vision on connecting city and nature? How can the existing waterfront be re-thought taking advantage of the changing water levels? How to consider more broadly the role, form and position of the bridge(s) over the river Mark? How might the bridge(s) act as the public space and be inviting as an urban stage? How to re-use existing foundations of the demolished factory present on the site?

Strata-scapes

Team point of view — Strata-scapes project embraces the visible and hidden layers of ‘t Zoet, reassembling them as foundations for the future growth. Each space is envisioned as a habitat, and the city itself as an ecosystem, adapting and evolving over time through the influence of anthropological and biological factors. The added strata follow the principles of bioregional design and have their own functions: Basic Infrastructures unlock the site’s technical and social potential, supporting Testing Grounds where existing and new materials are cultivated and experimented with, before being used for Bio-based Infills of new activities. The result is a living laboratory shaped by culture and nature, where architecture and landscape are conceived as one, fostering regenerative spatial pr actices.

Jury point of view — Strata-scapes project places a strong emphasis on process and strategy, prioritizing an alternative approach to current development practices rather than detailed design. The proj ect advocates for sustainable building practices by promoting the creation of a local material, Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT). Despite its focus on strategy, the design of Stratascapes stands out with its lightweight, fun, and playful elements, suggesting a potential for creative and innovative solutions. Serving as a sandbox-like scenario for Het Zoet, the project introduces wood manufacturing to the area, contributing to an industrial ambiance.

Author(s) — Izabela Słodka (PL), Architect, urban designer • Federica Zatta (IT), Architect, landscape designer Contact — Studio Iza Słodka, Rotterdam (NL) • contact@izaslodka.com, www.izaslodka.com

Blij-da

Team point of view — Throughout history, ‘t Zoet symbolizes the fusion of Breda’s identity at several periods. Naturally, ‘t Zoet is also supposed to evolve into an iconic location with a future identity. Breda aims to transform into the international hotspot of TT&C industry. This ambitious goal requires the creation of working and living environments that cater to new generations and lifestyles. In Blij-da, we create a revolutionary space that blends work and living in a healthy manner, fostering vibrant social interactions that ignite inspiration. This innovative place with an ‘undefined’ future, offers a green and open environment with diverse activities. With unrestricted access, it stands as an iconic hotspot, symbolizing the fusion of Breda’s history, dynamic present, and boundless future.

Jury point of view — Blij-da project is conceived as a welcoming and recognizable destination, catering not only to locals but also drawing visitors from Amsterdam. Its design incorporates a substantial yet flexible program, accommodating a range of uses, from serving as an event venue to hosting smaller-scale activities. Notably, the project features a significant amount of open space intentionally left ‘undefined,’ fostering versatility and unrestrictive use. The branding revolves around the concept of a place filled with possibilities, promoting an environment of creativity and adaptability.

Author(s) — Shuangyun Chen (CN), Landscape architect • You Wu (CN), Urban planner Contact — Rotterdam (NL) • vis.steden@outlook.com

Back to the Future

Team point of view — Back to the Future investigates a new urban paradigm based on the coexistence between humans and non-humans, between production and nature, to achieve the resiliency that a territory needs to face the challenges of climate change and the continuous economic-productive and health crises of the last two decades. Back to the Future is understood as a pilot project developed as a complete ecosystem that researches the boundary between what is anthropic and more-than-human: the design process deepens natural and productive environment that end up merging to create an active, inclusive, productive, vital and interspecies urban environment. A set of strategies to create a regenerative urban landscape that, thanks to its resilience, will evolve autonomously over the next few years.

Author(s) — Maria Vittoria Tesei (IT), Architect, urbanist Flavio Martella (IT), PhD architect / Contact — m²ft architects, Madr id (ES) • info@m2ft-architects.com, www.m2ft-architects.com

BERLIN (DE)

How can a railway infrastructure become a place of exchanges and encounters?

SCALES: XL/L

LOCATION: BERLIN, PANKOW

POPULATION: BERLIN: 3,821,800 / PANKOW: 418,250 INHAB.

REFLECTION SITE: 1145 HA / PROJECT SITE: 66 HA

SITE PROPOSED BY: CITY OF BERLIN

ACTOR(S) INVOLVED: BERLIN SENATE ADMINISTRATIONS, DISTRICT OF PANKOW, DEUTSCHE BAHN

OWNER(S) OF THE SITE: VARIOUS

Inhabited milieu’s challenges — Berlin’s population grows continuously. The district of Pankow in the north of Berlin is one of the fastest growing districts and has a particularly dynamic development. At Karower Kreuz – where city turns into countryside – there are several large brownfield sites with significant urban development potential for Berlin. The regional and suburban railway station ‘Karower Kreuz’ can provide impulses for redevelopment. The aim is to overcome urban development barriers and create a place of networking and interconnection that links the various urban and landscape spaces and enhances them in terms of design. An urban vision is to be imagined that shows how the development of a hybrid traffic junction can become an impulse generator for the further urban development of existing residential quarters.

Questions to the competitors — How to create a development concept that makes efficient use of the space potential, integrates the railway station into the overall concept and allows the public space to be a place of exchange and encounter? What degree of urban density and what building forms could be appropriate so that to create a recognisable city entrance that acts as attractor for the surrounding area? How to establish a new centrality that does not compete with the existing local town centres and their supply function, but is stimulated by new programmes? Which programme components can be added to new office and commercial buildings so that the public space becomes an urban meeting place, safe and fear-free?

Karow Kreuz Klub

Team point of view — Our club took its origin and most extreme form in Plot 4. Karow Kreuz Klub is a shift of human-centric approach towards the new ecoscene where nature plays a centr al role while people are its mere subscribers. That brings the idea of a new model of ownership, which can be fractional, collective, temporary or even in the form of membership! With our changed perspective, we first prepared the area for a boost of biodiversity by connecting the most significant biotopes through enabling ecotones. Then we focused on finding clever ways to maximize the presence of nature while inhabiting threshold spaces with a new type of dwellings. Rules:

1. We are NOT the protagonists. 2. New model of ownership.

3. To stay you need to build – build for nature first.

4. Staying is caring. 5. We DO talk about the club.

Author(s) — Andrea Suardi (IT), Ani Safaryan (AM), Architects, urbanists Contact — Bergamo (IT) • noharch@outlook.com, www.noharch.com

Jury point of view — The jury recognises the conceptual, strategic approach of the proposal, which presents a complex, participatory development process for the competition site. Landscape and nature are seen as resources that are negotiated through a participatory process – and supported by the integration of digital media. In its strategic orientation, the proposal reflects the characteristic features of the suburban location and develops a site-specific transformation process by way of targeted structural interventions. The process is presented in a convincing way using a story book.

Living Cross

Team point of view — The design Living Cross consists of four project parts. The result is a sustainable urban quarter with many exciting areas and squares that offer residents a wide range of possibilities. The design is embedded in a landscape with many open spaces. The park in the northwest also contributes to this. At the same time, it connects the previously separate spaces along the railroad. New residents are not the only ones to benefit from convenient public transportation connections. The entire neighbourhood has been designed with a low-car footprint and is dominated by pedestrian and bicycle paths. For the connection there is an autonomous bus and a large promenade to linger and relax. All in all, the area is very versatile and offers all kinds of interesting uses and different building structures.

Jury point of view — The jury recognises the strategic orientation of the proposal: the S-Bahn and regional rail hub planned by the railway as a supra-regional transport infrastructure is used as the starting point for an urban development process in a suburban context. The proposal is for a high-density district to radiate fr om the railway hub. It will see the creation of new areas for living, working and residential infrastructure that are connected to Berlin’s city centre – and the surrounding area – by the supraregional public transport network.

Author(s) — Rolf Starke (DE), Architect • Taisija Miloslavski (DE), Jöran Steinmetzer (DE), Urban planners Contact — taisija.milos@web.de, T. +49 1785548606

BORKUM (DE)

How

to rethink a health city?

SCALES: L/S

LOCATION: BORKUM, KURVIERTEL

POPULATION: 5,160 INHAB.

REFLECTION SITE: 45 HA

PROJECT SITES 1 (SOUTH): 18 HA / 2 (NORTH): 4.5 HA

SITE PROPOSED BY: CITY OF BORKUM

ACTOR(S) INVOLVED: CITY OF BORKUM, NORDSEEHEILBAD BORKUM GMBH

OWNER(S) OF THE SITE: CITY OF BORKUM

Inhabited milieu’s challenges — The North Sea island of Borkum is located in the Wadden Sea Nature Reserve. Between the port area and the town centre, there is ʻOstlandʼ, an extensive dune area with a diverse flora and fauna. Around 5,000 residents live on Borkum all year round, and in the summer months, around 300,000 visitors come to the island, making tourism a strong economic factor. At the same time, tourism poses great challenges: it requires a variable infrastructure, as well as many seasonal workers. This results in a shortage of housing – for islanders, but especially for seasonal workers. The spa district, with its historical architecture from the 19th century, houses the most important spa and cultural facilities as well as hotels and leisure activities and is the flagship and unique selling point of Borkum.

Questions to the competitors — How can Borkum continue to develop its tourism and find ways to offer added value for visitors, health resort guests, and residents alike? How to develop a new programmatic and spatial perspective for the spa district that take care of the importance of the place and offers a multifunctional mix of uses that is inclusive for guests and residents? How can recreation and healthcare be developed in a future-proof manner for all? How can the range of leisure activities be expanded, even for the off-season and bad weather days? What does the future hold for the ʻculture islandʼ which dates back to 1977 and is in need of renovation? How to think about life cycle costs and recycling of building materials? What do open spaces look like that are attractive to different groups and contribute to climate adaptation?

Re:duce Re:use Re:new

Team point of view — The concept aims to make the Kurviertel of Borkum more attractive and vibrant by utilizing the existing resources to the fullest while respecting the natural environment. The integration of the Kulturinsel, Bismarckstraße, and Kur park creates a harmonious interplay between nature and culture, captivating both locals and tourists alike. The renaturation of the dune and the expansion of the dune landscape into the city contribute to the protection of Borkum’s unique nature and adaptation to climate change. The deliberate reuse of building components demonstrates a conscious approach to limited resources and promotes sustainable construction on the island. These measures can transform the Kurviertel into a lively and sustainable place that equally delights residents and visitors.

Jury point of view — The project proposed a strong conceptual and symbiotic approach to the coastal climate and pristine natural landscape of Borkum. Its approach regarding circularity and reuse of existing resources and materials seems to be fertile ground for a sustainable future. The concept of the partial demolition of the large structural solitary buildings, the tidal areas (Gezeitenland), cultural island (Kulturinsel), and play island (Spielinsel), and the subsequent reuse of the recovered materials for new development and identity, is innovative and convincingly conveyed. It succeeds in both breaking up the problematic largescale structures and providing innovative impulses and incentives.

Author(s) — Tom Seeger (DE), Student in architecture • Fabian Klein (DE), Architect

Contributor(s) — Ralf Hinrichs (CH), Student in architecture / Contact — tomseeger@outlook.de

New Perspectives Together Borkum // Area Groyne

Team point of view — The combination of expanded career options, new educational opportunities and activities as well as the creation of an inclusive atmosphere improve the attractiveness of Borkum, leading towards a younger and growing population. Adding this to a wider spread tourism, the Kurviertel becomes a vibrant, living quarter the whole year. Looproad, themed streets and viewpoints improve the connection. An adaption to the effects of climate change plus the reduction of dependence on the mainland and approaches towards a circular economy increase Borkum’s sustainability. Through specific, careful additions and modifications to the existing structures, New Perspectives on and for Bor kum with a Kurviertel that continues to be recognizable while being more focused on the Islanders, will be created.

Author(s) — Alejandro Goebels Muzquiz (DE), Architect

Contributor(s) — Bianca Belz (DE), Fabian Bomke (DE), Nicolas Jochum (DE), Students in architecture Contact — bianca.belz@yahoo.com

Team point of view — Borkum is one of the seven East Frisian Islands on the German North Sea coast, located within the Wadden Sea National Park. Since 2009, the Wadden Sea has been recognised as a UNESCO World Natural Heritage site. The East Frisian Islands is known as a spa and tourist destination and are competing with each other. Borkum, covering an area of 31 km2, is the largest among the seven islands and due to its location, it is the only one with a high sea climate besides Hel goland. The air is low in pollen and rich in iodine, making it particularly suitable for people with allergies. Norderney stands out in comparison to the other islands. Although it is smaller than Borkum, it likely attracts more annual visitors due to its high number of hotels/beds. Norderney also has slightly more residents. Among all the islands, only Borkum and Norderney allow motorised vehicles.

Author(s) — Nina Reichert (DE), Architect Contact — reichert_nina@outlook.com

CELJE (SI)

How to requalify a polluted area in order to create a sustainable district?

SCALES: XL/L

LOCATION: CELJE, STYRIA REGION

POPULATION: 49,007 INHAB.

REFLECTION SITE: 350 HA / PROJECT SITE: 31 HA

SITE PROPOSED BY: MUNICIPALITY OF CELJE

ACTOR(S) INVOLVED: MUNICIPALITY OF CELJE

OWNER(S) OF THE SITE: MUNICIPALITY OF CELJE

Inhabited milieu’s challenges — The ʻStara Cinkarnaʼ site (former zinc smelter) is marked by a history of industrial production which has influenced the economic, cultural, natural and health conditions of the city and its surroundings. These metallurgical and chemical activities still have a strong impact today since the soil is heavily polluted and makes the area impassable and isolates it from the city despite its proximity and good connections to the transport network. The challenge is to encourage sustainable development of the site which will at the same time prevent further negative impacts of contamination on the immediate and wider surroundings, and to design development which considers the openness and connectivity of the site, rooted in its history, as an essential asset. The burden of space must therefore become its strength.

Questions to the competitors — How to take advantage of the openness, connectivity and centrality of the site as a strategic location for the development of the whole city and to re-evaluate its role in the region, the country and internationally? How to contain, stabilise and nullify the impact of pollution on plants, animals and people in the immediate and wider surroundings? How to cope with more than 10 times the levels of heavy metals in the soil and what attitude should be established towards the vegetation that has grown on these inhospitable soils? How to reflect on the creation of a new identity for the site and the city itself, based on the heritage of the past in all its multiple facets and stimulating the orientation of society towards a future of solidarity and sustainability?

The Parliament of Cinkarna

Team point of view — The parliament is formed out of the necessity to decontaminate the soil, but also to rethink our approach towards the land, including its flora and fauna as well as its significance for Celje and its people. It consists of the local agents which are affected by the pollution and the measurements of cleaning as well as the future development. As a reverence point to approach the restoration and densification of the project area, the declaration of the Parliament of Cinkarna aims to establish flourishing symbioses of reflecting the needs and desires of the different local agents. To approach the restoration and densification of the project area four major challenges are tackled: – mitigate the existing pollution; – allow careful densification; – establishing long term habitats and communities of various species; – mediate human and non-human presences.

Jury point of view — The project offers a strong message of collaboration and storytelling of the project and shows a tremendous amount of optimism and hope about the potential of incremental change. The multi-actor dimension of this project is highly valued, as it shows how different communities can learn to interact and focuses on engaging people, rather than thinking about how to exclude them. One of the values of this project is the recognition of a legal and procedural framework that is needed to develop such a complex site. This aspect is further reinforced by the proposal to base further development on active participation of the inhabitants without excluding the ‘voiceless’ actors such as animals and nature itself.

Author(s) — Dorothee Huber (AT), Architect • Paula Fernández San Marcos (ES), Architect, urbanist • Adrian Judt (DE), Urbanist

Contributor(s) — Helene Schauer (AT), Architect / Contact — Vienna (AT) / Sevilla (ES) • cinkarna.parliament@gmail.com

Back Off!

Team point of view — The current biodiversity, climate and environmental crises may be seen as results of a human/non-human relationship in which the human perspective has dominated and sought to control the non-human. Working with distance and separation therefore necessarily becomes the most sustainable and respectful technique to (re)connect and include non-humans in human society. For that reason, Back Off! translates distance not only as a spatial dimension, but also as a temporal one, so that a new balance can be found. The proj ect intends to activate a gradual process of non-humans’ remediation and caring, starting a regenerative process capable of actuating a landscape metamorphosis which, after having been sedimented and spread, return to coexist with the human sphere

Jury point of view — The proj ect proposes a different approach and recognition of existing conditions. It suggests a process with firstly taking a step back and then proposing a new approach.

Despite controversial opinions, the elevated walkways can encourage people to reflect on the landscape and promote a sense of ca re for the land. That also allows some areas to be left undisturbed, while in others rewilding is key. It is very much appreciated for this statement to be taken to the city and use it as design research, showing the value of doing less. In that sense the project can be under stood as an educational resource.

Author(s) — Flavio Martella (IT), Mariacristina D’Oria (IT), PhD architects • Maria Vittoria Tesei (IT), Architect, urbanist Contact — m²ft architects, Madrid (ES) • info@m2ft-architects.com, www.m2ft-architects.com, doriamariacristina@gmail.com, www.mariacristinadoria.com

EL PRAT DE LLOBREGAT (ES)

How to create a new district with positive energy balance linked to the river?

SCALES: XL/L

LOCATION: EL PRAT DE LLOBREGAT, EIXAMPLE NORD

POPULATION: 65,030 INHAB.

REFLECTION SITE: 500 HA / PROJECT SITE: 100 HA

SITE PROPOSED BY: INCASÒL

ACTOR(S) INVOLVED: EL PRAT DE LLOBREGAT CITY COUNCIL, INCASÒL

OWNER(S) OF THE SITE: 20% INCASÒL / 38% ONE PRIVATE OWNER / 42% OTHER PRIVATES

Inhabited milieu’s challenges — El Prat del Llobregat, located 10 km west of Barcelona, has a link in a metropolitan context of communication and access to large infrastructures; is an enclave within a natural environment to be protected; and is an urban nucleus with local characteristics on a small, friendly and peaceful scale that it is wished to conserve.The study area is a completely flat and unoccupied site, in contact with the metropolitan agr arian park, with the urban centre, with the metro station, El Prat Estació, line 9, built but not in operation and with a large commercial area in activity, of which 60% is a parking area. Based on the results of a competition of ideas for its urban development in 2008, guidelines and strategies were defined for the planning of the area of the directional centre of El Prat de Llobregat and its surroundings.

Questions to the competitors — How to convert the area into a model growth area by 2050, with a positive energy balance? How to combine public space and areas free of buildings, and the space occupied by private buildings? How to include proposals for optimising efficiency, sustainability and energy savings with alternatives for reducing emissions or increasing collection? How to be optimally connected to the green infrastructure of the agrarian park, to the blue or hydrological infrastructure of the Llobregat river and its indispensable relationship with water? How to offer efficient mobility; and foresee measures for adapting to climate change: drought, floods, heat waves, extreme weather phenomena?

The Joy of the Vegetable Garden

Team point of view — The Llobregat delta is one of the most vulnerable European landscapes in the face of climate change. That is why we have decided to understand the proposal not only in a current context, but also in an increasingly near future situation. Given the delta’s vulnerable situation, its survival as a natural space lies in its capacity for connectivity with other natural environments. The area where the project is located is transformed into a junction point that will connect the agricultural park with the Llobregat, creating an ecological corridor approaching it to Barcelona, giving value to the agricultural heritage of the area.

The urban planning respects the original proposal, integrating this large corridor with the transformation of the C31 road into a proposal for metropolitan connectivity.

Jury point of view — The project is based on the analyses of 3 main risks of climate change. These risks introduce a specific vulnerability for the territory around the Llobregat delta exposing it to the rise of the sea level, rainfall flooding, and heat island effects. The proposal suggests repairing the masterplan’s serious shortcomings as for ecology, climate change and site specificity, upscaling it by a spectrum of cross-connections that link the Prat Nord’s perimeter with the larger territory. Rather than being an end in itself, urban growth becomes an opportunity of transforming the fragmented territorial situation, establishing a field of mutual synergies that stabilize the ecologically vulnerable situation of the Llobregat-delta: An ecological corridor with public and social amenities absorbs the masterplan’s green band, connecting the agricultural park with the Llobregat.

Author(s) — Carles Esquerra Julià (ES), Gabriel Casals Serrano (ES), Architects Contact — Carrer Cartagena 264, 08025 Barcelona (ES) • T. +34 686753415, ceskerra@gmail.com, gabicaserra1@gmail.com

Estanyat Pota Blava

Team point of view — Understanding the fragility of the deltaic ecosystem, the project aims to integrate the urban development of Prat Nord within an environment defined by water dynamics. Beyond the surface water structure, the significance of the Delta’s aquifer requires addressing the proposal from the subsurface. Building upon the current planning, a series of guidelines are introduced to achieve the following objectives: Maximizing permeable surfaces to ensure infiltration based on the ‘fit for purpose’ pr inciple. Local management of parking and energy production. Territorial consolidation through the re-prioritization of the road network. Recovering local techniques, is essential to ensure that construction in the Delta does not lead to its destruction.

Author(s) — Andrea Capilla (ES), Carolina Capilla (ES), Architects

Joan Martí (ES), Architect, urbanist Contact — andrea + joan arquitectes, Sant Feliu de Llobregat (ES) info@andrea-joan.com, www.andrea-joan.com

Team point of view — The extension to the north of El Pr at de Llobregat should begin within a decade (2033). Due to this wait, we reflect on how urbanism has changed since the plan was designed in 2007. The seriousness of water scarcity, due to climate change, is imminent. The Baix Llobregat is a delicate ecosystem that would cease to be sustainable if agriculture is cancelled. Likewise, the 2008 mortgage crisis has meant a decline in housing construction. Investors now buy buildings in city centres, the cost of housing is increasing. We put into practice the New culture of water, social housing and preserving existing ecosystems, all of which are characteristic of El Prat. It is a path in symbiosis with the ecosystem, taking the lead in housing policy and offering a habitat that incorporates agriculture.

Author(s) — Alfredo Palomera Zaidel (ES), Architect, urbanist

Contributor(s) — Alejandra Duran Castellanos (CO), Lawyer Contact — Calle Sant Guillem 8, 1º 1ª, 08006 Barcelona (ES) a.palomera.zaidel@gmail.com

KASSEL (DE)

How can a suburban housing development be resource-efficient and climate-neutral?

SCALES: XL/L

LOCATION: KASSEL, WOLFSANGER NORD

POPULATION: 203,479 INHAB.

REFLECTION SITE: 400 HA / PROJECT SITE: 27 HA

SITE PROPOSED BY: CITY OF KASSEL

ACTOR(S) INVOLVED: CITY OF KASSEL

OWNER(S) OF THE SITE: CITY OF KASSEL (UNDEVELOPED AREAS)

Inhabited milieu’s challenges — Kassel has been experiencing dynamic development in recent years, which is reflected both economically and in increasing numbers of inhabitants. The housing supply, especially for households with low incomes, has deteriorated. According to the 2020 housing supply concept, around 8,000 ho mes would need to be built by 2030 based on population growth forecasts. The major challenge for the city of Kassel is to create the necessary housing on the one hand and to achieve the desired climate goals on the other. The previously undeveloped northern outskirts area in the Wolfsanger/Hasenhecke district is one of the few outer reserves for building development.

Questions to the competitors — How to develop a sustainable, innovative and experimental urban planning model that shows what compact, ecologically and socially sustainable housing development on the outskirts of a city might look like? How to take into account the ideas of minimizing land use, of soil sealing, sponge city, rainwater management, shading and cooling, and biodiversity? How to create a resource-efficient, climate-neutral district? How can a lively neighbourhood emerge? What uses can be combined with living to generate a vibrant neighbourhood? How can communal living forms find a place? How can the new neighbourhood be optimally integrated into the settlement and landscape?

SEX in the city

Team point of view — For this lovely place we promote 3 ideas for future development: ‘Sex in the city’ advocates for a gender-inclusive and feminist urban representation, emphasizing equality, inclusivity, and safety, with gender-equitable mobility and safe public spaces. ‘Sex in the bushes’ promotes a post-binary nature culture urbanism, harmonizing city and nature, with several urban ecosystem axis, biodiversityfocused architecture, and reproductive agriculture. To ensure ‘Sex in the future’ we need a climate-adapted urbanism, utilizing existing buildings, enhancing wind corridors, and prioritizing sustainability and densified urban development. The overall vision is to create a sustainable and resilient urban environment that respects diverse lifestyles and fosters a sense of community and well-being.

Jury point of view — The project offers bold and innovative strengths. The morphology of the proposed buildings connects the existing settlements with the landscape, creating diverse in-between spaces of ecological and community value. The balance between built areas for human use and climate-adaptive wet and unsealed open spaces is highly appreciated. The proj ect proposes a wide range of housing types and additional shared and service spaces. The proposal is based on a deep understanding of urban ecology and feminist theory and practice. There is a high probability of initiating a specific and contemporary one-of-a-kind neighbourhood.

Author(s) — Paul Raphael Schägner (DE), Architect / Contributor(s) — Carolin Renno (DE), Kim Finster (DE), Architects Contact — PRSch (Paul Raphael Schägner Planungsgmbh), Düsseldorf (DE) / Hamburg (DE) • info@prsch.net, www.prsch.net

KENNISKWARTIER (NL)

How to imagine a living incubator for knowledge, residents and business?

SCALES: S/S

LOCATION: KENNISKWARTIER, TILBURG

POPULATION: 217,259 INHAB.

REFLECTION SITE: 9.5 HA / PROJECT SITE: 1.1 HA

SITE PROPOSED BY: MUNICIPALITY OF TILBURG

ACTOR(S) INVOLVED: MUNICIPALITY OF TILBURG

OWNER(S) OF THE SITE: MUNICIPALITY OF TILBURG

Inhabited milieu’s challenges — In Kenniskwartier, the city wants to link education, economy and housing in one area, and make it the second incubator in Tilburg where knowledge institutions, residents and the business community will coexist and flourish. As acceleration task Kenniskwartier is to house ±1,000 homes based on a high urban ambition, the program will be a mix of housing, work and social facilities. In parallel, the existing University station is inadequate and lacks a good connection with its surroundings and Tilburg University. This station must be transformed and a bicycle route, a parking/mobility hub are to be considered. On the project site a new iconic building is envisioned hosting programs like business incubator, knowledge networks, productive businesses, co working, housing, student short/long- stay housing, starter homes, etc

Questions to the competitors — How to develop an iconic spatial intervention to attract talents? How to design a mixed-use building(s) or a cluster of buildings that incorporates innovative living typologies for various generations and income brackets, both local and international? In addition to living and working, which unique potential programs can be brought together in this mix-use building while also contributing to Brabant’s approach circular construction? How to create a strong architectural design vision which contribute to knowledge exchange and meeting of different social groups, by avoiding strict private-public separation creating vibrant street life. How to create a highly connected open neighbourhood? Will the current pond and surrounding green areas be preserved?

SYMBIOSIS

Team point of view — The project redefines the urban landscape of Tilburg, harmonizing built environments with nature, and fostering a symbiotic ecosystem for cooperative living and working. By interweaving elements of interaction, community engagement, shared resources, and respect for individual rhythms, the design promotes an adaptable and vibrant environment. It reimagines ownership, urging collective interests over exclusive rights. With a fluid interplay of shared and private spaces, a simple grid system facilitating diverse typologies, and an innovative approach to existing edifices, the project serves as a potential prototype for future urban developments, championing inclusivity, sustainability, and flexible adaptability to life’s dynamic changes.

Jury point of view — The project showcases a mixed-use program strategically distributed throughout the block, fostering diversity and functionality. Central to its vision is a commitment to striking and innovative design, incorporating elements that push the boundaries of conventional architecture. Two contrasting plazas flank the building, with the east side harmonizing seamlessly with Tilburg’s blue-green axis. The ground floor serves as an inviting and dynamic space, a testament to the creativity and productivity of its occupants. The design places a significant emphasis on expanding shared spaces, underscoring the importance of community engagement and collabor ation.

Author(s) — Nicolas Gustin (BE), Miguel Serrano (ES), Przemek Witkowsky (PL), Architects Contact — hello@contexo.studio, www.contexo.studio

Density: Mode d’emploi

Team point of view — How to formalize the density and how will the future inhabitant of Tilburg live in a dense city?

The spatial research Density: Mode d’Emploi springs from these questions. The field of application – Tilburg West – is a palimpsest (Andre Corboz, 1987) on which the traces of post-war urbanization insist, with its Kennisas and an intense mosaic of green and blue mixed with buildings formally heterogeneous, but functionally homogeneous.

The idea of the proj ect stems from the desire to maintain the genius loci of the area, reinterpreting the morphologies that insist on the context and organizing them in the Super Block. Here, the social and functional mixity are the main design tools in order to make the city constantly vibrant and dynamic.

Jury point of view — Celebrated for its captivating and optimistic composition, the proj ect adopts an engaging and light-hearted approach to urban development. The Super Block is strategically organized around a picturesque lake, establishing connections with urban pathways and shaping an urban layout that revolves harmoniously around the water feature. At the heart of this design is the podium, functioning as a central hub where multiple streets intersect, hosting public activities and serving as an open gallery accessible to the entire city.

Author(s) — Davide Casaletto (IT), Antonino Caridi (IT), Architects Contact — Via Frejus 108A, 10139 Turin (IT) • info@fluidiforme.eu, www.fluidiforme.eu

An Unexpected Neighbour Wonen is een recht

Team point of view — Our aim for this multifunctional building is to transcend the cliché of creating separate boxes to live, work and learn. We propose to weave instead. Within a modular structure various actions take place in parallel. Tapering to the top, it creates spatial variety without impacting the park. Trusses elevate the structure to incorporate the flows of the surroundings on ground level. The heart of the building is a public swimming pool, inviting everyone inside. The woven spaces above are sprinkled with open spaces to foster interaction and to learn about each other. The flexible structure, open for spatial and programmatic changes, is a place where all people of Tilburg can come together and grow. An Unexpected Neighbour aims to present interaction as an essential part of life.

Author(s) — Martijn Dahrs (NL), Italo de Vroom (NL), Nick Boer (NL), Architects Contact — minplusarchitecture@gmail.com, @minplusarchitecture

Team point of view — Wonen is een recht is a building which does not solve the housing crisis but dedicates itself in the architectural pursuit of tackling the two most pressing issues architects face. That is meeting the requirements of Article 25 in the Declaration of Human Rights to provide adequate housing for humans and protecting our natural habitat. The urban strategy secures a maximum amount of area to be isolated from human contact. The interior of the project is only for nature, for biodiversity and ecology to rewild. The building is a separating barrier which is also a highly densified modular housing system based on a grid coming from the minimum width for a wheelchair user multiplied by 5%. Wonen is een recht aims to equalize living conditions for every individual.

Author(s) — Matthijs la Roi (NL), Simone Tchonova (BG), Architects Contact — Tchonova + la Roi, London (GB) www.tchonovalaroi.com, info@tchonovalaroi.com

KRØGENES (NO)

How to transform a car-based area?

SCALES: XL/L

LOCATION: ARENDAL

POPULATION: ARENDAL 45,891 INHAB.

REFLECTION SITE: 118 HA / PROJECT SITE: 42 HA

SITE PROPOSED BY: ARENDAL MUNICIPALITY

ACTOR(S) INVOLVED: ARENDAL MUNICIPALITY, CIVIC SOCIETY ORGANISATIONS, LOCAL BUSINESSES AND PROPERTY DEVELOPERS

OWNER(S) OF THE SITE: PRIVATE OWNERS

Inhabited milieu’s challenges — Krøgenes is a car-based area in Arendal, consisting mainly of big box retailers, warehouse facilities, parking lots as well as industry. Today the area sits in the middle of several developments, including a new battery factory, under construction, that will create more than 2500 new jobs With thousands of new inhabitants moving into the Krøgenes area, the area needs a strategic approach to urban development. The success of the transformation will largely hinge on productive collaboration with local businesses, civil society and inhabitants. The prevalence of monofunctional car-based trade areas detached from their surroundings, lack of pedestrian and bicycle connections and low housing qualities all provide tangible starting points on the path towards developing a better Krøgenes.

Questions to the competitors — How to propose a holistic intensification and transformation of Krøgenes into a well-connected, local urban centre that supports the needs of the growing population? How to take into account the needs of the existing neighbours’ communities and local businesses? How to make a regenerative environment that can help heal and recreate some of the area’s natural habitats? How to make new proposals in terms of regenerative capabilities, urban typologies, sustainable building practices, mobility and social sustainability? How to provide meeting points, recreation and ocean access? How to image a process involving local actors, businesses and civil society in the transformation?

Co-Krøgenes – Community is care!

Team point of view — Community is care. Since the beginning of time, people have come together, lived together, and taken care of themselves and their community. This is how our cities and societies came into being. In today’s fast-paced world, these community ties are often diminishing, and people are becoming more and more lonely, despite growing cities.

The concept of co-krøgenes sees the solution in an approach that focuses on the community, the immediate lived environment and all those involved in it. Community is care! In contrast to the classic profit-oriented or simply housing-focused approach, the concept of co-krøgenes stands for a holistic approach. A caring community focuses on the needs of the residents, the environment and the future.

Author(s) — Marc Rieser (DE), urbanist

Jury point of view — The project proposes a realistic and sustainable strategy for transforming the big box typologies in Krøgenes. It succeeds in showing a strategy for maintaining and repurposing a maximum number of existing retail buildings, preserving them as they are, and developing a vibrant mixed-use and car-free urban environment around them. Co-Krøgenes takes the parking issues seriously and demonstrates how the commercial life of the area can be sustained during the transition from carbased big box shopping into a credible mixed-use cluster centred around a successful 10-minute city concept. Furthermore, it integrates a well-developed intermodal structure into the site. This enables Krøgenes to become a well-connected district centre with a walkable interior and robust public transport connections while allowing its retail businesses to serve the car-based suburban neighbourhoods around it.

Contact — caos caos, Hamburg (DE) • info@caoscaos.eu, www.caoscaos.eu

Krøgenes Peninsula

Team point of view — Our vision is to tear down the asphalt and restore the natural habitat in and around Krøgenes for people and nature to thrive together. We propose to re-establish the old lake, creating a lush lake meadow as an entry point to Krøgenes. The recreation of the lake together with the existing shoreline will define Krøgenes in a new way, as a peninsula. A peninsula where nature and inhabitants coexist with beautiful vistas of coastline and landscape. The existing plateaus are reused to create new dwellings while the different elevations create diverse neighbourhoods which are all interconnected via the new Green Loop. The neighbourhoods are given gathering points to create a strong sense of belonging to a strong local community. Our approach is holistic, defined by 8 strategies to transform Krøgenes to a green-blue Peninsula where inhabitants and nature thrive.

Reuse-Reduce-RepurposeViews

Jury point of view — The project offers a comprehensive plan which does not just propose a more feasible step by step process, well developed architecture and detailed social infrastructure, but also takes the call for regenerative and climate resilient solutions seriously. One of the key features of Krøgenes Peninsula’s vision is re-establishing the old lake. This redefines Krøgenes as a peninsula, which lays a striking new basis for the urban structure. The project proposes eight strategic tools from a blue-green perspective, taking nature, buildings, the community, and mobility into account. The proposed housing exhibits numerous qualities, striking a good balance between the built and the natural landscape.

Author(s) — Maria Crammond (DK), Architect, urbanist / Contributor(s) — Nanna Vindeløv (DK), Architect Contact — Chicago, Illinois (US) • Mariacrammond@gmail.com

Sea you in Krøgenes

Team point of view — Our ambition is to develop Krøgenes into a vibrant local centre, where public spaces connect neighbourhoods. The Krøgenes of the future will be a meeting place. With a library, a square and an activity park that facilitate activities and experiences for everyone.

Arendal and its surroundings has a long maritime history, and shipping has been important to the area. In Krøgenes, the traditions a re carried on with a new quay for a ferry connection to the centre of Arendal. The seaside will be made available to the public with a coastal path, bathhouses and various activities connected to the sea.

Author(s) — Rune Nistad (NO), Architect, spatial planner

Markus Domaas Lindahl (NO), Architect, urban designer

Contributor(s) — Irene Camilla Heiaas (NO), Cultural advisor

Contact — runenistad@yahoo.no

NYKÖPING SKAVSTA (SE)

How to think an attractive and living district in an airport city?

SCALES: XL/L

LOCATION: SKAVSTA AIRPORT, NYKÖPING – SÖRMLAND

POPULATION: 58,000 INHAB.

REFLECTION SITE: 324 HA / PROJECT SITE: 28 HA

SITE PROPOSED BY: NYKÖPING MUNICIPALITY

ACTOR(S) INVOLVED: EXPLORE SKAVSTA, NYKÖPING MUNICIPALITY, REGION SÖRMLAND

OWNER(S) OF THE SITE: EXPLORE SKAVSTA, NYKÖPING MUNICIPALITY

Inhabited milieu’s challenges — Skavsta is known for its international airport, located at 7 km from Nyköping and about 100 km south of the City of Stockholm. Stockholm Skavsta Airport was historically an important military airbase. The site is today mostly surface car parking and unbuilt land. The construction of a new national railway line, with a station planned next to the airport will make Skavsta a unique intermodal node in Sweden. This gives the opportunity for the area to be developed, to create a resilient and self-sufficient area where working, commuting, travelling, services and recreation are interwoven through solutions that encourage creativity and innovation. Due to the noise levels from the airport, permanent housing is not suitable at Skavsta. Skavsta can however provide space for the establishment and growth of new companies.

Questions to the competitors — How can that space meet both the needs of the people commuting and the travellers arriving at the airport? How can such a living environment be created with urban planning and architecture as tools? Which structures bring people closer together? How can the central public square be reinvented for this context? How can greenery, recreation and stormwater management be integrated into the public space in a new way? How to promote new ways of social and ecological aspects in the living environment so that the area can become self-sufficient in terms of energy?

Skavsta Forest City

Team point of view — Skavsta Forest City is a multi-layered city where nature and urbanity meet and merge into a vibrant and sustainable mix of wildlife, attractions, and business. The living and innovative city is thoughtfully designed to accommodate everyone, including workers, locals, commuters, children, visitors, tourists and animals. Existing scenic areas of forest land found throughout the site are carefully preserved and extended to form an interconnected network of green spaces that provide a framework for the city’s development as well as serving as attractions in themselves. Interspersed and allocated between these forested parts is the built environment that is designed to have a positive impact with regard to ecology, social sustainability, energy and food production. The buildings made out of wood will provide workspace for 10,000 people

Jury point of view — Through strong craftmanship based on a robust diagram-driven analysis Forest City convincingly, shapes a credible and flexible urban structure, with green streets and a strong, welcoming central space. The concept of urban space is built on developing urbanity in close harmony with preserved contiguous nature and important green corridors, supported by a visually powerful language that inspires a discussion of how far such a concept can be taken.

Author(s) — Dženis Džihić (SE), Staffan Svensson (SE), Vlad Capitanu (RO), Jon Bossuyt (SE), Architects Contact — Reflex Arkitekter, Stockholm (SE) • dzenis.dzihic@reflexark.se

Nurture Nature!

Team point of view — Nurture Nature! makes space for a renewed generous and responsible human culture that can shepherd and foster nature in various aspects of the built environment. This design proposal champions the eco-cultural transition through integration of different ecosystems, uses, and spaces.

Following up to the vision ‘Innovative Skåvsta,’ the project will tackle spaces to attract and retain a new generation of talents, travellers, and commuters. Flexible typologies, healthy lifestyle infrastructures, and a beautiful yet connected context are the leading strategies. The land-art-like design of the district will stand out upon landing at Skåvsta airport. This will further symbolically mark this productive cluster as the creative South gateway to Stockholm, a gateway to the future

Jury point of view — In a captivating manner, Nurture Nature highlights the potential of creating several small workplace neighbourhoods, broken into small-scale urban spaces with central gather ing squares, by incorporating green wedges connected to important green corridors. The area is gracefully accessed through a larger plaza at the northern end of the central High Street. The close connection of the built structures to nature within these integrated green wedges is seductively illustrated. The project proposes an adaption of various types of activities within the same block structure. A car-free internal structure has been achieved through a clever solution for car traffic access close to the surrounding main street.

Author(s) — Davide Fuser (ES), Marta Benedetti (IT), Maria Letizia Garzoli (IT), David Vecchi (IT), Architects

Contributor(s) — Gianni Vecchi (IT), Student in architecture / Contact — e17.nurturenature@gmail.com

The Sweet Spot

Team point of view — Skavsta Park is a visionary Business park that harmoniously coexists with nature, fostering a regenerative environment.The Doughnut model guides its sustainable development, ensuring a balance between social well-being and ecological limits. A cooperative business model encourages ownership and community, while shared values promote a circular economy. Soft and hard infrastructure, combined with the Power of Provenance, create a nurturing ecosystem for businesses and visitors alike. The project serves as a living laboratory for innovation, applying sustainable practices in construction, mobility, and energy production. Sustainability and biodiversity are paramount. Skavsta Park aims to be a thriving, responsible, and inclusive living city, a Sweet Spot demonstrating the future of sustainable urban development.

Author(s) — G. Afentoulidou (GR), D. Papadopoulou (GR), A. Vagias (GR), Architects • A. Examiliotou (GB), Architect, urbanist / Contributor(s) M. Markopoulou (GB), Sustainability consultant • T. Thurston (GB), R. Antoniadis (GR), S. Berg (SE), Illustrators / Contact — GB/SE T. +44 730865026, despoina@maziarchitects.com, atva@liljewall.se

ØSTMARKA (NO)

How to design a densified area taking care of its natural environment?

SCALES: XL/L

LOCATION: TRONDHEIM

POPULATION: 210,1596 INHAB.

REFLECTION SITE: 94 HA / PROJECT SITE: 7.4 HA

SITE PROPOSED BY: TRONDHEIM MUNICIPALITY

ACTOR(S) INVOLVED: TRONDHEIM MUNICIPALITY

OWNER(S) OF THE SITE: TRONDHEIM MUNICIPALITY

Inhabited milieu’s challenges — Lade peninsula, on which the site is located, contains many listed buildings and historical sites dating back from Viking settlements to listed modernist architecture from the sixties. The area is known for its green landscape and rolling hills, much of which also has different categories of protected status. Lade is unique in Trondheim for its soft interaction between wildlife and people and functions as an important recreational area. With Trondheim being one of the fastest growing cities of Norway, Lade has become a strategic area for densification, leading to an increased need for municipal services, especially care for the elderly. The Østmarka area already contains a range of different public services such as a school, kindergartens, assisted living facilities, and a psychiatric hospital. The municipality has the intention of building a nursing home on the site and in addition, they plan a commercial housing scheme. Østmarka has obvious cultural and natural values and the municipality wants to strengthen and make them more accessible.

Questions to the competitors — How to reconcile the contested character of the site, and develop it in a holistic way that can address both the concerns of inhabitants and provide the care services the overall population needs? How to find innovative concepts that balance social sustainability with care for the ecological systems on the site? How to design a scalable housing programme with that is sensitive and well adapted to the site? How can the nursing home provide a meaningful home in the last phase in life?

A Home for All

Team point of view — The site we are called to design is barycentric to the peninsula of Lade and works as the pivot of many green connections and cultural institutions. Inserting any new program in Lade should be a thoughtful procedure guided by careful attention in not disturbing or destroying its ecological presences. Imagining a bridge between the past of Lade and its future should necessarily pass through the dismantling of anthropocentric misconceptions, understanding the importance and also the benefits that tr ans-species coexistence could bring to this site. A home refers to any location that a person thinks of as the place where she lives and that belongs to her. The project A Home for All aims to create a place where people, animals and plant species could be home.

Jury point of view — The project successfully integrates both a nursing home and the necessary housing units into the site with a subtle yet distinctive touch. Through a ‘green ring’, the project links the site to the existing green corridors of the Lade peninsula stretching inwards from the coast. They build a successful overarching green strategy of living with other species that is implemented at both the neighbourhood and architectural scales. There is a clear strategy on where on the site there is room for building new, how and why the existing building mass is kept, and where large green areas are left untouched. The project successfully collects programs in denser points in order to leave other parts untouched for the sake of the other species with which we share this site.

Author(s) — Michele Marini (IT), Architect / Contributor(s) — Francesca Calzolari (IT), Urbanist-environmentalist • Enrico Gobbi (IT), Lemuel Pedrotti (IT), Students in architecture-visualizer / Contact — /mò· le/ • mole.collab00@gmail.com, www.molecollab.com

Østmarka Therapeutical Landscapes

Team point of view — Today Østmarka occupies a strategic and prominent position in Lade that offers unparalleled scenic qualities, inspiring views of the fjords and a rich biodiversity. Building on these unique attributes, Østmarka Therapeutical Landscapes seeks to unlock their potential and make them accessible, valuable, and cherished by the present and future human or non-human inhabitants of Lade. In particular, the project tr ies to approach the landscape as a transformative element, capable of providing therapeutic, recreational, and meditative experiences, while encouraging the coexistence of diverse species.

To detail this vision, we propose three distinct phases: nature for all!, recreation and care, life and community.

Jury point of view — Therapeutical Landscapes proj ect introduces a subtle approach towards the landscape and the site with a clear phasing strategy, capitalising on the existing qualities by making them accessible. It is formulated through a strong narrative, which underlines its processual character and shows robust str ategy marked by intelligence and potential. The project focuses on densifying in specific areas and preserving and repurposing not only the buildings on site, but also the school. It showcases a commitment to allowing nature to shine and be accessible, and the approach to the southern part of the site could complement the winning proposal.

Author(s) — Alberto Roncelli (IT), Nicole Vettore (IT), Nathan Baudoin (FR), Architects Contact — Theklavej, Copenhagen NV (DK) • albertoroncelli1@gmail.com

Østmarka Re-enacted

Team point of view — Østmarka is located on one of the two prominent hilltops in Lade. Together with Ringve, it will be strengthened as an ecological haven, a viewpoint and beacon for new ways of coexistence with nature, in a time where coexistence has become an urgent necessity. The proposal will treat the site as a park, keeping the hilltops open and strengthening the ecological connections across the site. It balances the demand for housings, the nursing home, and local urban ecologies by innovating typologies which both regenerate ecologies, adapt to terrain and foster a closer synergy between humans and nature. It places buildings on the edge of the site, framing a sequential outdoor space, which will strengthen the local forests and identity of both a historical healing landscape and cultural landscape.

Author(s) — Sarita Poptani (FI), Landscape architect, architect Guðni Brynjólfur Asgeirsson (IS), Landscape architect • Marta Lata (PL), Mateusz Pietryga (PL), Architects Contact — Markveien 59b, 1000 Oslo (NO) • martalata95@gmail.com

Way to Care

Team point of view — In the beginning comes The Path. It meanders through the forests, fields and backyards of Østmarka. It incorporates the existing buildings and ecosystems. It does not obliterate anything, just builds upon it. It stimulates developments around it. New clusters emerge like beads on a necklace. It is nature that sets the tone for anything that follows, may it be a path, a house or a playground. All new interventions land onto the landscape without altering it. They follow topography lines, wrap around trees, fuse with the existing buildings and hoover above the ground to keep the soil alive. The proj ect shows a way for Østmarka to go forward. A way to care. To care equally about every member of the ecosystem: worms, fungi, wood chips, oaks, deer, rooks, humans and buildings.

Author(s) — Ada Jaśkowiec (PL), Architect, urbanist • Michał Strupiński (PL), Architect • Kinga Murawska (PL), Urbanist • Zuzanna Sekuła (PL), Landscape architect / Contact — Statenweg 185B, 3039 HP Rotterdam (NL) • ada.jaskowiec@gmail.com, www.strupinski.net

PITEÅ (SE)

How to create a central mixeduse area by strengthening the city’s connection with water?

SCALES: XL/L

LOCATION: PITEÅ MUNICIPALITY – NORRBOTTEN

POPULATION: 42,320 INHAB.

REFLECTION SITE: 657.26 HA / PROJECT SITE: 99.87 HA

SITE PROPOSED BY: PITEÅ MUNICIPALITY

AND THE SWEDISH TRANSPORT ADMINISTRATION

ACTOR(S) INVOLVED: PITEÅ MUNICIPALITY

AND THE SWEDISH TRANSPORT ADMINISTRATION

OWNER(S) OF THE SITE: PITEÅ MUNICIPALITY

AND THE SWEDISH TRANSPORT ADMINISTRATION

Inhabited milieu’s challenges — Piteå is a coastal town in Northern Sweden which have to face to an economic and population growth, requiring new housing and infrastructure. The new railway North Bothnia Line must connect the region’s coastal towns, improving transport and climate impact. At present, areas west and south of Piteå’s city centre are characterized by open spaces that lack urban qualities. The fact that the land still elevates due to the postglacial rebound, makes the coastline constantly move further out. The city centre is coming further away from the seaside.This distance forms a large barrier that cuts off the city from the park, water and shoreline at Sörfjärden. The suggested corridor for the future railway track passes in this area, between the centre and the water. This project should implicate new life and an improvement of the area. The main goal is to increase high-quality urban spaces and provide meeting places for all ages.

Questions to the competitors — How to expand Piteå centre by extending to the West, creating an attractive area where housing, commerce and businesses are mixed? How to enable the city centre to grow closer to the shore, to remove the barriers in order to strengthen the city’s connection with the water? How to develop the green area/recreation area at Sörfjärden and to make it as a social meeting place? How to imagine a welcoming, traffic-safe and sustainable transportation hub?

Solander Ring

Team point of view — The implementation of the North Bothnian Railway provides an opportunity to rethink Piteå’s future development towards a connected, vibrant, and sustainable urban environment. The Solander Ring is an urban and ecological strategy for Piteå. By celebrating Solander’s progressive figure we aim to implement an innovative strategy that bridges the past with the future of Piteå. The ring coincides with the traces of the former island of Piteå that embraces the historical centre defined by an orthogonal grid morphology. This linear structure is centred on slow mobility, climate-adaptation, and biodiversity. Existing and new parks, gardens, and urban developments are linked to the ring, turning it into a continuous urban ecosystem that fosters an harmonious symbiosis between humans and nature.

Jury point of view — Solander Ring demonstrates a good understanding of the site and convincingly showcases quality in holistic thinking with a high level of craftsmanship. Thoroughly examined and proposed urban spaces are gathered around two strategically important points: the designs around the station and the placement of the ring-shaped bridge. The other two bridges are logical consequences of the overarching green ring around the city, which, in a straightforward and engaging manner, accentuates and shapes barrier-breaking connections. The campus park south of the station points to an interesting and credible approach that should be further studied in its entirety, potentially serving as a stepping stone forward depending on industrial development.

Author(s) — Giacomo Gallo (IT), Agnese Marcigliano (IT), Architects • Jacopo Gennari Feslikenian (IT), Architect, urbanist • Nancy Smolka (DE), Urban planner • Ishaani Paresh Shah (IN), Xinyi Xiang (CN), Landscape architects / Contact — New Environments, Amsterdam (NL) info@newenvironments.eu, www.newenvironments.eu + BLU.works, Rotterdam (NL), info@jgf.works, @blu.works

Reclaiming Territories

Team point of view — Forget the single-minded economical focus when developing Piteå; We must create a holistic city that will sustain! With the new North Bothnia Line Piteå has the potential to grow into a thriving urban hub. But within this golden opportunity lies also a potential urban recession: the new proposed line for the railway will cut the city off from Sörfjärden – a major recreational value for Piteå – and have the city turn its back to the waterfront. The city of Piteå has many existing qualities which must be enhanced. The city has always been closely linked to the waterfront. With this proposal for the future development of Piteå we wish to reclaim the territories of the coastal line, recreate the narrative of the industry and resurrect Piteå as a living city! This is done by creating new connections across all levels of the urban environment.

Jury point of view — Reclaiming Territories project highlights two strategically chosen points for barrier-breaking intersections. Testing an underpass extension from Uddmansgatan, with the clever approach of shortening the distance of the passage and creating more greenery towards the lake by moving the road and railway closer together, is particularly interesting. The initiative to create an attractive public space along the green ring around the city is well-conceived. The proposed development southwest of the track inspires interesting discussions about future development.

Author(s) — Benedicte Rahbek (DK), Architect, Jens Nyboe Andersen (DK), Karl Johan Baggins (DK), Landscape architects Contact — Strandgade 30, 1401 København K (DK) • www.nalandskab.dk

Lagom

Team point of view — Lagom is built on the idea of care, aiming to enhance the ecological system of Pitea by designing a biophilic infrastructure capable of nurturing the nature, animals, and humans. Lagom has been developed through an environmentcentred approach, which emphasizes regenerating the natural environment for improving social aspects and fostering sustainable and inclusive economies. It proposes the creation of lush green parks, comfortable sea-front residences, and a contemporary hub, to address the town’s needs for sustainable development and reconnect the residents of Piteå with nature and biodiversity. Our inspiration has been drawn from the genius loci of Piteå, as the natural sur roundings have guided our choices, along with elements of the local culture expressed by words, as Lagom.

Author(s) — M. Negrello (IT), S. Marzio (IT), Landscape architects S. Lanteri (IT), Architect, urbanist • F. Fiandanese (IT), C. Fabbri (IT), A. Monaldi (IT), G. Barucci (IT), Architects / Contact — Turin (IT) collettivoselvaticus@gmail.com, www.collettivoselvaticus.wordpress.com

SKELLEFTEÅ (SE)

How to transform a former industrial area into an urban district where people, animals and nature can coexist?

SCALES: XL/L

LOCATION: URSVIKEN, SKELLEFTEÅ

POPULATION: 74,000 INHAB.

REFLECTION SITE: 800 HA / PROJECT SITE: 40 HA

SITE PROPOSED BY: SKELLEFTEÅ MUNICIPALITY

ACTOR(S) INVOLVED: SKELLEFTEÅ MUNICIPALITY

OWNER(S) OF THE SITE: SKELLEFTEÅ MUNICIPALITY

Inhabited milieu’s challenges — The largest battery factory in Europe has been established in Skellefteå. Together with the richness of natural resources from forests, rivers and minerals, as well as well-developed renewable energy production, it gives this city unique conditions for the new green industries from a global perspective, attracting multimillion industrial investments. Skellefteå is growing from 74,000 inhabitants to 90,000 in 2030. Hence, the need for new residences is very high. A former wood pulp industrial area is being considered for the development of a new district. But part of the soil is after a decontamination still not reaching the requirements for housing.

Questions to the competitors — How to transform this old industrial site to a vibrant neighbourhood where people, animals and nature may co-exist in a unique place close to the river? What kind of innovative and sustainable solutions can be found to build safe residences despite the partly contaminated ground? How to find ways to build on the exclusive location next to the river and to create recreational opportunities for residents and the public? How can the new residential area highlight the history of the location, taking into consideration the previous function as a prosperous global trading port and the wood industries? How can accessibility to Scharins increase for residents and visitors? How to strengthen the area as a meeting place for a variety of people? What functions, businesses and services could be added? How to enhance biological diversity and climate change adaptation?

SAFESCAPE

Team point of view — The Scharins Site in Ursviken, Skellefteå, faces challenges of housing demand, brownfield conditions, and underutilization. Excitingly, it offers an opportunity to become a new local centre, recreational hub, and revitalize the connection between Skellefte River, Town, and surroundings. Historical traces of the industrial past gain new meaning, transforming into an all-inclusive pedestrian and cycling-oriented backbones which bind the project priorities of safety, context, ecology, and mobility. The activated riverfront is dedicated to public space and recreation. This densified, balanced approach plans to provide approximately 2300 residences over the next two decades, welcoming diverse species and cultures to call this place home.

Jury point of view — Through craftsmanship and an evolvable structure, Safescape convincingly handles a well-adapted scale, meticulously designed public spaces, consideration for history and the landscape, and connections to surrounding pathways and residential areas. Within permissive and inviting urban spaces, a fine sequence of interactive meeting places is drawn, through which the proposal commendably highlights the river as a central gathering point, credibly connecting existing residential areas to the activation towards the water. The continued process of the proposal is reinforced by clear diagrams that facilitate further development.

Author(s) — Mahla Ebrahimpour (IR), Agnieszka Lula (PL), Architects, urbanists • Jan Wańczyk (PL), Architect • Yuan Lin (CN), Urban planner Contributor(s) — Nathaniel Carden (US), Architect • Maya Sleiman (LB), Civil engineering consultant Contact — info@novel-terra.com, www.novel-terra.com • T. +1 4016124636

Influencer Flod. A land from the beginning

Team point of view — Our vision for Skellefteå is an attempt to think and act with care for a landscape that needs listening to the natural bodies as well as the needs of a fast-growing population of workers and to the activities that should be offered to them. The project has an effort to include everybody and everything in the newly regenerated area, in an act of care as the obligation to overcome the nature/culture bifurcation, going beyond the anthropocentric binaries and boundaries, engaging in an ethical more-than-human project. We accept the flows and the always becoming of the river, while welcoming modern needs of urbanization, though in an effort of creating a just and ethical dialogue between the two. The site becomes the scenery for the tale of a river, and the tale of people living with the river.

Jury point of view — Influencer Flod, with a well-conceived overall approach in its presentation, highlights the inspiring strategy of letting the landscape be the starting point and setts the pattern for how the urban environment takes shape, with the potential to create unique values and distinctive urban spatial qualities. Influencer Flod convincingly addresses the issue of mobility by solving car parking and positioning the train station in a way that encourages eco-friendly travel, while simultaneously promoting a high-quality car-free lifestyle.

Author(s) — Saverio Torzoni (IT), Landscape architect • Gioia Romani (IT), Filippo Marconi (IT), Architects • Isabella Trabucco (IT), Architect, urbanist Contributor(s) — Carlo Pisano (IT), Architect / Contact — filippo.marconi1996@gmail.com

The Octopus Enigma

Team point of view — The Octopus Enigma presents a comprehensive approach that delves into the harmonious coexistence of urban life and nature. It underscores the importance of achieving sustainable development through a balanced integration of natural landscapes with human settlements. Central to this vision is the concept of treating landscapes as infrastructure to protect ecosystems. This novel perspective perceives urban habitats as microcosms that can seamlessly blend with the surrounding nature. By employing fictional scenarios and analyzing different situations, our approach aims to bridge the gap between urban life and nature. The key focus lies in intelligent urban planning and thoughtful reflection, fostering a compassionate society that lives in harmony with nature, working towards a sustainable and interconnected future.

Author(s) — Joffrey About (BE), Noël Picaper (FR), Architects Contact — Brussels (BE) / Paris (FR) • picaper.noel@gmail.com, joffrey.about@gmail.com, @noelpicaper, @joffrey.about

VAASA (FI)

How to create a vision of a future living urban milieu integrating sea and nature?

SCALES: L/S

LOCATION: NORTHERN PART OF VASKILUOTO ISLAND

POPULATION: VASKILUOTO 340 INHAB., VAASA 68,000 INHAB.

REFLECTION SITE: 33 HA / PROJECT SITE: 11.4 HA

SITE PROPOSED BY: CITY OF VAASA

ACTOR(S) INVOLVED: CITY OF VAASA

OWNER(S) OF THE SITE: CITY OF VAASA

Inhabited milieu’s challenges — Vaskiluoto island, situated to the west of the Vaasa city centre, is connected to the mainland by an embankment in the east and a bridge in the south. The activities on Vaskiluoto today are very diverse: one third of the area is in the use of industrial and port activities – in the process of change; one third is in residential and other accommodational use – including a camping site; and one third consists of nature and recreational areas for locals and other Vaasa residents, as well as tourists. The central location calls for developing Vaskiluoto as a unified part of the Vaasa urban area. The re-use of the sites of the camping area and demolished hotel is being considered for the development of a new housing area closed to nature and sea. The connection with nature and the shorelines is apparent but not necessarily of a high quality.

Questions to the competitors — How to figure out a vision for a future, sustainable lifestyle for new residents? How to support the community of the new residential area from the very beginning? How to turn into an advantage the location’s natural conditions: dark, snowy winters? Springs and summers with a lot of sunshine and daylight? Ever-increasing heavy r ains and stormwaters? How to maximise greenery and to promote the biodiversity of the environment in all forms? How to take into consideration the needs of different lifestyles, age groups and cultural backgrounds in society? How to enhance strategic and social connections between the project site and the Vaasa City Centre?

(me)tsä

Team point of view — (me)tsä emerges from the union of two finnish words: me (us) and metsä (forest), that embrace the inclusive and resilient spirit of the proj ect. We understand forests as a constant changing living organism where non-living and living species coexists in interdependence and establish a self-sufficient and sustainable community aware of its nearby environment. Basing the proposal on these principles, (me)tsä attends contempor ary society housing requirements from a 21st century architecture perspective. Being aware of the environmental impact of construction, the project implements zero-waste management policies and sustainable industrialized timber and CLT systems to its development, ensuring a low energy consumption urbanism and architecture.

Jury point of view — The project weaves together human activity and biotic and abiotic landscape elements into a whole, exploring the prevailing challenges of urban development through design solutions. Learning from forests, the project is conceived as a resilient ecosystem that adapts to changing conditions over time, not only during its lifetime but also during the design process. The contrast between built and nature as well as the ideas of an active urban space and a new kind of living in the city are clear. The result is a thriving hybrid ecosystem that not only preserves the biodiversity but actively enhances it, nurturing a thriving interdependence between all living beings.

Author(s) — Guillermo Pozo Arribas (ES), Justo Diaz Diego (ES), Architects Contact — padd studio, Madrid (ES) • info@paddestudio.es, www.paddestudio.es

Paapuuri

Team point of view — Paapuuri envisions a sustainable neighbourhood, promoting a future-oriented lifestyle that cherishes the proximity of the forest and the sea. Our design showcases tall buildings inland, with housing descending towards the shore, providing equal sea views. Enchanting eco-campuses enhance biodiversity and offer tranquillity for residents and wildlife. Along the sh oreline, a dedicated road for light traffic attracts tourists and promotes eco-friendly mobility. Our apartment blocks and townhouses embody sustainable architecture. Furthermore, we propose a cable car network, offering a carbon-neutral transportation. Paapuuri exemplifies a holistic approach to sustainability, quality of life, and the integration of nature and humanity, setting an inspiring example for the future of urban living.

Jury point of view — The overall concept presents a vision for a comprehensive neighbourhood in Vaskiluoto that embodies sustainability, adaptability, and a deep connection between the forest and the sea. The design aims to create an attractive living environment that promotes a sustainable lifestyle for future residents. This cleverly crafted and imaginative proposal has a superb concept and a brave formalistic approach, but the design proposal does not quite manage to meet all objectives.

Author(s) — Sampo Ojala (FI), Milja Leinonen (FI), Architects • Sara Lähdesmäki (FI), Student in architecture

Contributor(s) — Rebecca Maresia (FI), Anna-Juulia Alaruikka (FI), Students in architecture • Claudia Antão (PT), Architect Contact — UKI Arkkitehdit, Oulu (FI) • T. +358 503822409, sampo.ojala@ukiark.fi, www.ukiark.fi

Field of Connections

Team point of view — The bundle of roads connecting the city of Vaasa offers an opportunity to develop a project at a ter ritorial scale which focuses on the forest and the road as the catalyst for urban development. We preserve this natural wealth through the reuse of the existing roads and the minimum occupation of the building surface. Our living proposal requires a rethinking of the forest as a sequence of ever-changing gardens. We leave the AK-2 site as free as possible by pushing the housing development to the edges. With a simple interior organization (4x4 sqm for main rooms, 2x4 sqm for service rooms) we propose a perimeter of service rooms for the apartments and the gardens. We have an external ring of main rooms, an intermediate ring of service rooms, an interior ring of communal spaces and gardens, and a forest heart. The territorial proposal is made up of different follies with a common language.

Author(s) — María Amador (ES), Mario Montero (ES), Julio Sánchez (ES), Architects / Contact — 14.30 studio, Sevilla (ES) • @14.30studio

WAALWIJK (NL)

How to densify a residential district by introducing multi-uses and a new mobility system?

SCALES: L/S

LOCATION: TAXANDRIAWEG, WAALWIJK

POPULATION: CITY 55,000 INHAB.

REFLECTION SITE: 19.5 HA / PROJECT SITE: 4.35 HA

SITE PROPOSED BY: MUNICIPALITY OF WAALWIJK

ACTOR(S) INVOLVED: MUNICIPALITY OF WAALWIJK

OWNER(S) OF THE SITE: MUNICIPALITY OF WAALWIJK

Inhabited milieu’s challenges — Employment in Waalwijk is growing the fastest in all of Brabant and is leading to accelerated population growth to reach 55,000 inhabitants. This growth requires raising the level of equipment in the city and with good regional connections to become an integral part of a larger urban network. The car traditionally occupied an important place on the streets of Waalwijk. A new vision of the value and position of public transport is necessary as well as a new mobility system that adapts over time and promotes the growth of the city and its economy. By combining the mobility system with housing, logistics business-related programs and cultural programs, Waalwijk aims to create a new urban area with a unique identity that can increase the well-being of people and their environment.

Questions to the competitors — How to propose a transformation and densification strategy that fosters exchange between local residents and workers by providing space for socializing, co-working, product launches, workshops and so forth? How to propose a mixed-use area with diverse housing types that can accommodate the housing needs of local residents and logistic workers? How to integrate a public transport and think about a vision of smart mobility concept for Waalwijk? How to think about a phasing out strategy for current parking located on the site? The highway functions as a mental barrier. How to overcome this? Within the reflection area, how can the qualities of the existing morphology be enhanced while at the same time find strategies for urban densification and improving the connections?

About belts and hats

Team point of view — The growth of Waalwijk must address its current disconnection to function as a cohesive city. This project is strategically located at its breaking point and proposes a growth strategy based on two elements: connecting belts and densifying hats, with efficient mobility as a common thread. We merge the two urban fabrics through 3 thematic belts that serve as bridges over the highway and converge at the densification project. These belts connect to 3 hubs: the mobility, the logistic, and the creative hub, which are the ground floor of the hats, housing blocks with different units linked to the 3 phases of the development. This model can be replicated in similar cities, creating a network of intermodal mobility hubs within SRBT.

Jury point of view — The project improves connectivity by establishing clear connections, incorporating a growth strategy centred around two key elements: belts for connection and hats for densification, all unified by an efficient mobility theme. The strategy involves three distinct belts – the landscape belt, commercial belt, and dynamic belt – each carefully programmed with a color-coding system, adding both visual and functional elements to the urban development. With a phased approach, the project envisions a long-term strategy for connecting two parts of Waalwijk, beginning with the Landscape belt and a mobility hub, followed by the Commercial belt and logistic hub, and concluding with the Dynamic belt and creative hub.

Author(s) — Joaquim Olea Fernández (ES), Mireia Martín Salvanyà (ES), Architects / Contributor(s) — Olímpia Solà Inaraja (ES), Architect Contact — quim olea estudi • quim@quimolea.com, www.quimolea.com + Més arquitectura • mireia@mesarquitectura.com, www.mesarquitectura.com

Climate Safari

Team point of view — Nowadays, the challenge in our cities is how to develop strategies to face social and ecological collapse and how the creation of sustainable energy plays a key role. Thus, the project the only thing that does is promote an idea that already exists in the citizen consciousness, creating of a network where new parasites could be joining, boosting an urban metabolism among all.

Climate Safari considers the Energy HUB as a heart of an energy efficiency system, a motor able to improve all the processes involved with consumption and waste reduction. Our Energy HUB is not just a support supplier of energy for parasites complex buildings, it is also a control centre of management and transformation of the minimal waste and wastewater that they gener ate.

Jury point of view — The project stands out for its innovative urban composition, introducing a fresh and playful perspective to the urban landscape. Its solution is characterized by adaptability and flexibility, effectively addressing the needs of both city sections. While initially deviating from the city’s morphology, the project later establishes spatial connections, reaching into the industrial area and creating a new entrance through the Energy HUB, providing direct access for citizens from the city centre. The Energy HUB serves as the focal point of an energy efficiency system, contributing to various processes related to consumption and waste reduction.

Author(s) — Luis Navarro Jover (ES), Carlos Sánchez García (ES), Architects

Contributor(s) — Nuria Martínez Martínez (ES), Jonathan Berna Amorós (ES), Architects

Contact — La Errería Architecture Office, Novelda (ES) • info@erreria.com, www.erreria.com

INFRANATURE

Team point of view — Seamlessly integrating with the existing landscape, the project fosters connectivity and curated experiences. Embracing eco-consciousness, it envisions a blend of nature and infrastructure. Utilizing prefabricated elements, it promotes fluid movement and shared spaces. Energy-producing walkways and blade-less windmills showcase its sustainable ethos. Utilizing prefabricated elements, the construction process is efficient and sustainable. The building’s porous, demineralized ground fosters a coexistence of human and non-human life. With a focus on community involvement, the project encourages inhabitants to actively participate in its ecological vision. This transformative design epitomizes a new era of thoughtful and sustainable development.

Author(s) — Andrei Barbu (RO), Alexandru Moldovan (RO), Ioana Cojocaru (RO), Architects / Contributor(s) — Ioana Radulescu (RO), Philosopher • Alice Georgescu (RO), Danut Mario Cacu (RO), Architects Contact — shaft, Ixelles (BE) • info@s-h-a-f-t.org, www.s-h-a-f-t.org

WIEN (AT)

How to reconcile an existing agricultural area with a dense urban development?

SCALES: XL/L

LOCATION: VIENNA, AM HEIDJÖCHL

POPULATION: 1.9 M INHAB.

REFLECTION SITE: 70 HA / PROJECT SITE: 35 HA

SITE PROPOSED BY: CITY OF VIENNA

ACTOR(S) INVOLVED: CITY OF VIENNA, WOHNFONDS_WIEN

OWNER(S) OF THE SITE: SEVERAL HOUSING ASSOCIATIONS & CITY OF VIENNA

Inhabited milieu’s challenges — Vienna is growing fast. In the next few years, the city is expected to surpass the 2 million mark, which causes an increasing demand for housing. Vienna has made considerable efforts to expand its public infrastructure. Extensions of metro lines now quickly reach the fringes of the city. Densification along these corridors is a strategy that the city is pursuing. The site Am Heidjöchl, is located along the new U2 underground line in Vienna’s 22nd district, Donaustadt. Around 11,000 people will live here in about 4,900 residential units. Local residents value the relaxed atmosphere on the outskirts with lots of green and open spaces and need to use the car more than an average Viennese. Therefore, the project must address existing requirements while proposing an alternative model inclusive and in tune with our planet, where harmful habits can be easily abandoned.

Questions to the competitors — How to adopt a holistic approach to social inclusion, the presence of green space and an urban foundation for resilient development? How to reconcile the existing with the emerging? What can a dense but very green urban quarter look like in this well-connected location? How can the transition between private, semi-private, and public zones be managed, especially on a porous ground floor? How can nature become an integral part of the whole site and be connected to larger green corridors? How to work with the local climate and expected effects of climate change to ensure an urban fabric fit for future habitation and well-being, conceiving the planet as a shared habitat for humans, animals, and plants?

Into the Wilderness

Team point of view — Soil is a living species by itself. Streets are no longer asphalt and concrete surfaces but open strata for green life and all species to thrive. Traditional car-planned infrastructure is replaced by an ecological lung that spreads towards the entire site, covering it completely with different intensities of wilderness. This new green infrastructure spills into the existing peripheric urbanism and towards the new to be built. Additionally, special care is bestowed on the ground floor areas, becoming transitional spaces that balance living units and facilities. Sustainability, conciliation, caring, and respect for the environment are the urban tools that define Into the wilderness.

Jury point of view — The proj ect takes an innovative approach to the relationship between greenery and built volumes. It is seen as an optimistic approach to a new vision for a city. The jury appreciates the proposal of a new ‘typology of greenery’, where greenery and built space is immersed – all in one. Into the Wilderness proposes a hybrid landscape of a new kind – allowing for other usages and a new understanding.

Nature acts as a central structure, and the concept of a green lung that branches throughout the neighbourhoods, gradually evolving into varying degrees of wilderness, is particularly noteworthy.

Author(s) — Alejandro Caraballo Llorente (ES), Carlos Rebolo Maderuelo (ES), Pepe Lacruz Vela (ES), Architects Contact — CRAC, Madrid (ES) • hola@tallercrac.com, www.tallercrac.com + Pepelacruzarch, Onda (ES) • pepelacruzarch@gmail.com, www.pepelacruzarch.com

The Park that Reaches Every Home

Team point of view — Our proposal starts with the identification of a structured and functional network of open spaces, the preservation of their values and the definition of a central park that completes the existing green corridors and stretches through different categories of elements: integrated green streets, gardens for biodiversity and inner patios between buildings. These connect the new quarter with the surrounding neighbourhoods and articulate the new urban tissue while nourishing it with excellent environmental qualities. The introduction of urban life has been thought considering 3 scales linked to 3 types of spaces necessary for everyday life: a 5 min walk (Neighbourhood unit), a 10 min walk (Superblock), a 15 min walk (new Quarter), these provide essential services for social and community life.

Jury point of view — The project demonstrates an appealing approach that skilfully combines public green space and the built environment. The green areas act as initial points and are considered important reference points for graduation of necessities in people daily life. The concept is illustrated at different spatial levels, from smaller neighbourhood parks to vivid public squares along Hirschstettner Hauptallee. The idea of three different neighbourhood scales was positively emphasised by the jury.

Author(s) — Samuel Llovet Montardit (ES), Paloma Mosto Zavala (ES), Architects, urbanists

Contact — C. Pamplona 92, 2º 5A, 08018 Barcelona (ES) • samuel.llovet@gmail.com, pmosto@gmail.com

Feldstadt am Heidjöchl

Team point of view — Vienna is one of the fastest growing cities in Europe, a fact that is especially apparent in the surroundings of the project site with multiple ongoing large-scale developments. This urban growth sparked societal protest concerning the loss of farmland and the construction of a new highway (‘Stadtstrasse’) in direct adjacency to the site. Although Vienna is well known for its unparalleled social housing model, it needs yet to address the demands posed by the climate crisis. Feldstadt Heidjöchl therefore proposes an urban model that takes climate protection through soil management, bio-based building construction, and climate adaptation equally into account. By preserving large areas of agricultural land, the project offers its inhabitants to play a part in their own food supply. Living next to the field, the new district empowers the local community to take an active role in confronting the climate challenges of today.

Author(s) — Elisabeth Ableidinger (AT), Klara Jörg (AT), Architects Julian Raffetseder (AT), Architect, urbanist / Contact — elisa.ableidinger@gmail.com, klara@jorg.at, www.futureproblems.eu

EIVISSA (ES)

How to renew a suburban residential area and link it to a natural environment?

SCALES: L/S

LOCATION: CAN ESCANDELL, EIVISSA

POPULATION: 50,643 INHAB.

REFLECTION SITE: 31.5 HA / PROJECT SITE: 0.5 HA

SITE PROPOSED BY: GENERAL DIRECTION FOR HOUSING AND ARCHITECTURE. REGIONAL GOVERNMENT OF BALEARIC ISLANDS (GOIB)

ACTOR(S) INVOLVED: REGIONAL MINISTRY OF MOBILITY AND HOUSING GOIB + EIVISSA CITY COUNCIL + SEPES

OWNER(S) OF THE SITE: EIVISSA CITY COUNCIL + SEPES

Inhabited milieu’s challenges — The site is located in the peripheral area of the city, in the middle of the two main ring roads that isolate it from both the city and the countryside. A Special Plan, already validated for the area, provides around 470 dwellings. A subsector is intended for a rental social housing development. And another one will be the subject of a partial plan for private development in which the continuation of the park and the implementation of a health facility are planned, in addition to residential use. It is necessary to study the interaction of a new centre of more than 1,500 inhabitants with the rest of the city and its connection with the other areas of the municipality. It is essential to seek proposals for mobility in its pedestrian and road traffic variants, integrating the new neighbourhood into the urban fabric so that it is not isolated within the city itself.

Questions to the competitors — How to find innovative architectural solutions in the field of public rental housing development? How to explore imaginative housing typologies complemented with common use spaces for users, in order to optimise the use of the available buildable space and contribute to improving the economic and environmental sustainability of the projected buildings? How to provide an extra element of social, energy and sustainability optimisation? How to integrate the sector into the urban fabric and explore interconnections with the surrounding landscape, especially towards the hills bordering the vacant developable land that are protected as natural spaces?

Vénda de Ca n’Escandell

Team point of view — The proposal is based on the constructive tradition of the island. The vénda is the minimum unit of the territorial organization of Ibiza. It works as an intermediate scale between the domestic sphere and the natural environment, and it is also a meeting space for the community. The proposal updates these concepts. Located between the city and its natural surroundings, the public space connects human activities and the environment. The housing building is coherent and versatile. Its ground floor hosts a diversity of use while offering – here and in the standard an attic floors – a wide variety of housing units, all of them with exceptional comfort conditions, thanks to an atrium which is the main passive climate control system.

Jury point of view — The project is a reflection on the traditional way of inhabiting the island of Ibiza. On a large scale, a connection between the natural environment and the urban context is proposed. A green bridge crosses the motorway, and the park is designed as a public and productive Mediterranean landscape. The new block is perforated by courtyards around which two U-shaped dwellings are developed. By recessing the building on the top floor, dwellings of different sizes are achieved. The ground floor is understood as an important meeting place on different scales with a mixture of uses. The jury also valued the domestic scale of several elements of the project, such as the access walkways to the dwellings that create very interesting semi-private spaces, the image of the courtyards shared between two dwellings or some façade elements inspired by the island’s traditional architecture.

Author(s) — Ventura Godoy Garcia (ES), Javier Esteve Casañ (ES), Claudia Ferrer Riera (ES), Architects / Contributor(s) — Milagros Maria Machado (AR), Architect / Contact — ATZUR arquitectura, Ibiza (ES) • info@atzur-arquitectura.com, www.atzur-arquitectura.com

Sa Muralla

Team point of view — The proj ect is based on the reinterpretation of the rural built heritage of the island of Eivissa and its application to the contemporary needs of the housing development in Ca n’Escandell. The proposal regains the vernacular systems of the past architecture for harnessing natural resources linked to the territory.

Sa Muralla starts with the objective of reconnecting, on a territorial scale, the ‘Serra d’Eivissa’ with the town and historic centre. This connection will be possible through a new green axis that crosses the E-20 and extends towards the sea.

The design of the ten buildings aims to avoid a rigid behaviour, opening up on the ground floor to the park. Bioclimatic architecture concepts are used to achieve hygrothermal comfort without the need for excessive mechanical systems.

Jury point of view — The building proposed by Sa Muralla rises on pilotis on two of its sides, forming a mostly open space on the ground floor and thus allowing street-park continuity. The block is organised into ten cores that give access to four dwellings respectively. A small linear courtyard runs along the inside of the block and acts as an intermediate space between dwellings and as a ventilation chimney. The proposed housing typology, based on a modular system with bedrooms of reduced dimensions and a suggestive area in front of them, allows for the variation of different dwelling sizes. This typology offers simplicity, flexibility and sensitivity.

Author(s) — Carla Ibáñez García (ES), Gemma Ramon Centelles (ES), Èric Romeu Mur (ES), Pau Quingles i Lamarca (ES), Architects Contact — Barcelona (ES), samurallaeivissa@gmail.com

Aire, pan y agua

Team point of view — This project focuses on the ʻhabitatʼ, not only as a space closed between walls, but rather as an urban concept. With this perspective, we want to remember that inhabiting the ‘white island’ requires a specific urban model to offer to its inhabitants decent and quality conditions of life, adapted to a diverse population. In the words of Xavier Monteys, ‘today, in this time of diets, fasts and good purposes, it seems to me that it is not bad remembering three things that a city should aspire to: clean and breathable air, of course, but also good water with good taste in the tap and, in addition, a quality bread with all that implies, origin of flour, harvest and quality. Air, bread and water, three things we could take as building principles’.

Build, Live and Repeat

Team point of view — This project highlights the challenges o f contemporary architecture in the face of imminent Climate Change and resource scarcity. It exemplifies how buildings must adapt to their surroundings, utilizing cross ventilation and staggered design for thermal comfort. Emphasizing a minimal impact on the environment, it proposes a green connection between urban spaces and preserves native vegetation. The solution lies in modular construction, synchronizing with occupants’ changing needs and supporting various uses. Moreover, by adopting refurbishable and sustainable building practices, such as dry joint systems and locally sourced materials, it aims to minimize waste and reduce the construction sector’s environmental impact. This forward-thinking approach encourages a more resilient and eco-conscious future in architecture and urban planning.

Author(s) — Romain Lucas (FR), Belén Ramos Jiménez (ES), Architects Contact — Carrer de sant Marc, 25, 08012 Barcelona (ES)

Author(s) — Luis Bernardo Vaamonde (ES), Ignacio Burgos González (ES), Ana Méndez Garzo (ES), Architects / Contact — Terrario Arquitectura, Madrid (ES) • estudio@terrarioarch.com, www.terrarioarch.com

Ibiza 360

Team point of view — Ibiza is characterized by its vernacular architecture and its natural environment. We want to rescue, learn and update one of its most paradigmatic elements: the organization through a system of walls.

This context has the opportunity to be reversed, not only physically but also by avoiding the city-nature duality. The proposal focuses its efforts on integration and coexistence. It exemplifies conscious construction and resource efficiency, eliminating barriers, and promoting integration.

The constructed elements must serve as an example of sustaina bility, energy efficiency, waste management and a social and resilient paradigm. A completely versatile, replicable, and resilient model designed with the premise of spatial quality and universal comfort.

Author(s) — Javier Estebala Alández (ES), Miguel Ruiz-Rivas Avendaño (ES), Architects Contact — miguel.ruirivas@gmail.com, javier.e@alandez.es

From Rasa to Reverse

By Aglaée Degros (BE) – architect, teacher and director of the Institute of Urban Planning at Graz University of Technology. Co-founder of Artgineering www.artgineering.eu

Working with the existing situation and considering it as a set of found conditions on which to base the design requires a deep understanding of these conditions, but also of the existing systems. The existing situation is obviously made up of visible physical objects: buildings, green spaces and infrastructures, which are the ʻas found’ conditions. To these conditions the existing systems that underpin them can be added too: water and energy cycles, materials and mobility flows.

In terms of infrastructure and mobility systems, the situation is often ecologically disastrous. Most sites are dominated by car mobility and the presence of road infrastructure. These asphalt infrastructures are as abundant as they are costly to maintain, and they are also rooted in standards that present them as ʻas found’ conditions.

It would be an aberration to say that we have to start from an existing situation without thinking about the systems that govern it. With regard to the current challenges facing the discipline, it seems obvious to filter out the systems that are moving the discipline towards an ecologically and socially sustainable world. In many projects it is therefore a question of looking for traces of ecology and community in the existing situations and prioritising them in future developments.

It is a matter of applying a sort of urbanism in reverse, where priority is given to what has been neglected in Anthropocene urbanism. Priority is given to sustainable systems: green and blue ecological continuities, land reclamation, active and collective mobility at an ecological level, etc. Previously housed in residual spaces, these systems are becoming structuring elements of the territory. As for the development of social aspects, the aim is to prioritise the community in order to transform the site into an inhabited and non-speculative project.

Prioritising Nature

The condition found to prioritise on the Piteå (SE) and Wien (AT) sites is the environment.

In special mention project Lagom in Piteå, the system proposed to achieve sustainability is a combination of public (tramway) and pedestrian mobility.The infrastructure consists of a mobility hub and

a long promenade on stilts running along the coast (fig. 1). In special mention project, Feldstadt am Heidjöchl, in Wien, it is – as its name suggests – the existing fields and the planning to preserve them at the heart of the project that structures the new development. The proposed system to achieve sustainability is a combination of public transport (tramway), shared spaces (bicycle, pedestrian and emergency vehicles) and two main roads.The infrastructure is made up of streets and footpaths, one of which serves as a promenade through the entire site (fig. 2)

The infrastructure thus becomes biophilic. Infrastructure and nature merge to form ʻnature immersed paths’ or a hub that is more like an Ecoduct than a covered building in the Lagom project (fig. 3). There is a search both in the textual narrative, using the concepts of Smulltronstaellet, Goekotta Lagom, and the graphic reconciliation of the human and the non-human or the infrastructure ʻstitching together’ the different habitats. The Feldstadt am Heidjöchl project, like on the Piteå site, is developed in synergy with the environment: an ʻorchard route’ crosses the site and the secondary paths allow the articulation of a system of recovery and circular water cycle (fig. 4). The profiles developed focus more on water than on mobility. The morphology used seeks to reconcile the agricultural parcel with the built environment (fig. 5)

Prioritising the Community

The condition found on the Krøgenes (NO) and Kenniswartier (NL) sites is the potential to create, on the basis of existing buildings, a neighbourhood for a community.

Runne r-up proj e ct Co-Krøgenes – Community is care! in the Norwegian site proposes to create a caring community (fig. 6). In this case, it is more the social aspect that is emphasised than the ecological one, although the community spaces are all ecologised (green roofs, Ekevalen, parks, natural baths, etc.). Runner-up project Density: Mode d’emploi in Kenniswartier creates interaction between

4 – Wien (AT), special mention – Feldstadt am Heidjöchl > See more P.249

5 – Wien (AT), special mention – Feldstadt am Heidjöchl > See more P.249

residents by creating shared spaces that link the different fragments of the neighbourhood (fig. 7)

In both projects, the infrastructure becomes a vehicle for collective facilities, a meeting place for shared activities. This form of urban planning aims to make the most of interstitial spaces as places where the community can meet and develop. In a way, it means ensuring that social challenges are met not just at the plot level by the individual, but at the level of the common space by the community. In this vision, infrastructure is no longer a residual space, but a structuring space which by its very nature as collective spatializes the community. In the Density: Mode d’emploi project, a pedestrian infrastructure linked to the rail system, called the podium and gallery, provides a meeting space (fig 8). Pedestrian mobility becomes a binding element of the site, making it possible to stroll along the water or cross the buildings with their collective functions. In the Co-Krøgenes project, the transformation of essentially automotive mobility has made it possible to reclaim the car park spaces flanking the shopping halls and transform them into genuine public spaces: parks, square, etc., most of which have been demineralised (fig. 9)

On both sites, the pedestrian infrastructure becomes an element that links the built fragments of the site and structures the amenities, the car being relegated to the periphery of the project. The infrastructural space makes it possible to reinterpret the existing buildings and develop common spaces.

The condition found in Waalwijk (NL) is similar to that found in Krøgenes and Kenniswartier, i.e. the potential to create a neighbourhood on the basis of existing buildings, but there, the fragmentation, both spatial and social, is more a matter of urban planning than of architecture. Winning project About belts and hats proposes to create connections between the different fragments of this part of the city (fig. 10). The infrastructure is conceptualised as three Belts of active mobility (cycle, pedestrian and micro mobilities) that crisscross the site and links the different fragments together. Spatially, these Belts take the form of footbridges directly linked to the built environment (fig. 11).

In this case, the cycle infrastructure plays a dominant structuring role, superimposing itself on the automotive infrastructure and relegating it to a secondary role. Priority is given to cycle links, which become connections between the different parts of the site and to the city. This is less an infrastructure as a community space than an infrastructure enabling the community to take shape through the links it establishes (fig. 12)

The learnings of these projects – although they are based on the sites’ spatial potentials: natural environments, existing building resources, etc. – is above all the questioning of the systems, including mobility, that enable the sites to be transformed into sustainable places. There is indeed a spatial re-use of places, but above all there is a fundamental reassessment of the systems that support them.To illustrate this, the space dedicated to car parks are not being built on: the existing structure is considered as an ʻas found’ condition, but the mobility system is reorganised using mobility schemes to free them from the functional aspect of car mobility. They are being demineralised and transformed into genuine public spaces. We could therefore speak of a systemic reverse rather than a spatial tabula rasa, where the systems prioritised are those that are the opposite of the system prioritised in Anthropocene urbanism. The systems put in place no longer value individual mobility as the top of the travel pyramid, but rather mobility that builds a community in harmony with its environment, i.e. active mobility. Spaces, while structurally reused, are now seeing their materialization transformed: asphalt is giving way to wood duckboards or the greenery of concrete/grass pavement, while their layout no longer responds to the desiderata of speed, but rather to their potential as meeting places or places of activity and re-naturalised space (fig. 13)

re-Placing –Narratives of Rehabilitation

By Bernd Vlay (AT) – architect, co-founder of StudioVlayStreeruwitz, teacher in Wien www.vlst.at/en/

This text picks up projects which stand up for a provocative interpretation of a habitat: a habitat can only be vital if it abandons its human-centred authorship and opens up to non-human companions introducing a fascinating ʻtrans-human urbanity’. This new ʻspecies’ not only liberates urbanity from the Procrustean bed of our deceptive understanding of city-growth and urbanization. Moreover, it creates a radically different notion of site specificity, putting a harsh end to the centuries old fata morgana of ʻinferior land’ to be replaced by city development of higher value. Rather, trans-human urbanity deviates the vector of development re-or ientating the idea of growth. Instead of cannibalising these areas from the outside it provides an opportunity that something from within can start to blossom, no matter how desperate the situation seems to be.

Two groups of projects – one facing the apparent threats of contamination, intoxication and fragmentation; the other facing the alluring availability of still ʻunbuilt’ land, ready for densification – shall reveal how the notion of trans-human urbanity can trigger the transformation of deficiencies into resources, creating fascinating perspectives, synergies, intensities and ʻmixités’ that operate beyond the Anthropocene-driven imagination.

1. Therapy-Labs

The Europan 17 sites of the cities of Celje (SI) and Berlin (DE) represent exemplary wounds that manifest the centuries-long abuse and exploitation of our environment. Each site incarnates an environmental disaster suffering from heavy decontamination and a total loss of biodiversity. Can our disciplinary expertise as planners and designers become an appropriate remedy that works with the symptoms of the patient itself instead of just replacing them with familiar patterns of city development that ignore the sites’ self-healing potential?

Working WITH the symptoms – this is exactly what the winning teams suggest. Their proposals look behind the curtain of the miser y, exploring the sites’ indigenous resources as a remedy to cure the disastrous condition. They provocatively claim a therapeutic coup of resources: the subversive inversion of a site-specific misery into a promising opportunity – and disaster becomes potential.

In Celje winning project The Parliament of Cinkarna establishes a trans-human agency of local actors that co-creatively contribute to the site’s comprehensive repair (fig. 1). Significantly, the colonising format of a ʻManifesto’ is countered by the democratic format of a ʻDeclaration’, which respectfully declares the symbiotic empowerment of the ʻalready there’. A comprehensive soil-decontamination ther apy becomes the main source of a fascinating trans-human urbanization including the nano-urbanity of subterranean micro-organisms. They prepare the ground for future life by transforming contaminated soil in black earth ʻwho’ will host a biodiverse habitat being nursed, maintained, and inhabited by humans and non-humans alike. Time horizons establish a long-term framework for the site’s projective repair beyond classic densification. Ephemeral programs initiate a comprehensive process of transformation that triggers an indigenous potential of uses: amongst others, moving glass houses act as wandering soil-mining labs that can be seen as forerunners of the Cinkarneum, the future institutional centre where culture, research, events and educatory programs merge. Most explicitly, the Cinkarna trail illustrates the trans-human urbanity of the Parliament’s regenerative programming: walking the trail provokes a peripatetic encounter with an indigenous landscape full of explorative joy – a landscape of post-traumatic urbanity.

In Berlin winning project Karow Kreuz Klub explores the potential of infrastructural scars that cut apart the suburban carpet of single-family homes. Instead of filling up the unbuilt areas with new neighbourhoods the project suggests a multi-scalar cure of the existing, subordinating human-centred urban growth to the emergence of a biodiverse and experimental landscape. Densifying means preserving open space and intensifying the existing, not replacing it. Different scales of cross-programming introduce tactics of affordability and new forms of co-habitation: the experimental landscape of ʻWetland Village’ (fig. 2), the inhabited station, the inhabited edges, the inhabited supermarket and the single-family-home plug-ins multiply the talents of the existing: inasmuch as they enable densification they trigger (bio)diversification and transformative preservation of open land at the same time.

2. Re-PLACING Housing

The availability of still unbuilt land in direct proximity to build up areas is highly susceptible for being engulfed by the logics of city growth. The need for new housing is satisfied by residential neighbourhoods, which usually fill up available ʻempty sites’ with a good residential milieu that follows classic contextualisations. The winning projects for Østmarka (NO) and Kassel (DE) go a decisive step further. Based on a projective analysis of the sites’ potential the teams consider housing not to be a satisfying response. Instead, they suggest a fruitful complexification of the residential program extending its spectrum of responsibility and radius of action. Climateadaptability, biodiversification, natural heritage, social and physical vulnerability, cultural assets, cooperative opportunities, sustainable mobility – they all become resources that matter, providing a contextualization that powerfully enlarges the residential program. Instead of replacing a seemingly empty site with a housing project they suggest to expose housing to site-specific considerations that fruitfully ʻinfect’ the residential program.

A Home for All , winning proj ect in Østmarka, introduces ʻTrans-Species-Design’ (fig. 3) emancipating the right of animals, plants and the soil as participatory actors. Based on a careful study of topography, soil condition, cultural attractors, social facilities and territorial landscape conditions the project multiplies the resources of the existing by relocating areas of densification, figuring out specific habitats and discovering programmatic links that generate a ʻtabula-non-rasa life’ beyond Anthropocenic urbanity – ʻprogram follows site’.

SEX in the city, winning project in Kassel, makes a bold plea for a ʻpost binary nature-culture urbanism’ that takes sex as an allegory for ecological reproduction of different life forms at the Northern edge of the city. Instead of replacing agricultural land with a residential neighbourhood the project establishes a site specific ʻprogrammatic ecotone’, which triggers a transformative diversification of the residential and agricultural program in symbiotic interaction (fig. 4) Sustainable small-scale agriculture with local crops intertwines with linear building types that host a wide range of living models and neighbourhood infrastructure.

Talentification – Tabula Rasa is Nowhere

Facing the symptoms of a planetary multi-crises all four projects rehabilitate the sites tracking their ʻtalents’ as elementary sources for establishing a resilient living milieu. This ʻtalentification’ entails a fundamental shift of paradigm: potentially, a genius loci can be everywhere, whereas a tabula rasa is definitely nowhere, be it post-industrial wasteland, like in Celje and Berlin, or just innocent available land like in Østmarka and Kassel.

Building Green to Inhabit a Damaged World

By Nicolás Martínez Rueda (ES), architect, founder of the architectural competition for students DOCEXDOCE www.docexdoce.org

Towards an Organic Society

Architecture produces habitability. We produce, and maintain, a socially necessary habitability. But in the era of the Anthropocene, it is ‘suddenly’ critical to maintain the habitability of the planet in front of the ‘global warming’s terrifying new math!’1. The planet is becoming increasingly less capable of ensuring our survival, mainly due to our own fault: we live with nothing more than the side effects of our industrial production model. We must seek a global rethink of our social metabolism and our way of relating to the environment, at any scale. It is impossible to continue doing what we have done so far, but what is it that we must do?

During the era of the Industrial Revolution, we transitioned from an approximate population of 800 million people at its inception to over 8 billion coexisting individuals today, with the consequential issues it has generated. Architects of the 20th century had to work with a completely different society from that of their past, with their new problems, but also with its new materials: reinforced concrete, large-format glass, asphalt, etc. In addition, the emergence of climate control machines was promising but led to traditional construction techniques for seeking comfort with passive systems becoming rapidly obsolete.

The challenges of ensuring habitability during the industrial era could be seen as analogous to those of the present one, with new urgent habitability problems arising from our collective ecocide2 However, the solutions available are not that clear. We might need to chart a course toward decarbonization3, but how? What are the resources that society currently offers us? Are we starting from a tabula rasa or rather from a still legible palimpsest?

1• See Bill McKibben, ‘‘Global Warming’s Terrifying New Math!’, RollingStone, July 19, 2012, https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/ global-warmings-terrifying-new-math-188550. Bill McKibben is a writer, environmentalist, and activist known for his work in raising awareness about climate change. In 1988, he authored ʻThe End of Nature,’ the first book written for a general audience on the topic of global warming.

2 • According to Ashley Dawson research on modern species loss, a global ecocide is documented and evidenced by the loss of over 140,000 species annually. See Ashley Dawson, Extinction: a Radical History (New York: OR Books, 2016)

1 – Eivissa (ES), special mention – Build, Live and Repeat

> See more P.253

3 • See Albert Cuchí, A Necessary Experience (El Croquis, no. 219, IBAVI 2019 2023)

Frugality and Compensation

Let’s analyze two projects that, despite having starting points almost opposite at most levels, aim to comprehend their proposals not only linked to climate (fundamental and inherent to architecture) but also to the local conditions of the site with two strategies: decarbonization of materials and achieving comfort without relying on commercial energy sources.

Within the remarkable work carried out in recent years by IBAVI (public housing agency of Balearic Islands government), the project awarded a special mention in Eivissa (ES), Build, Live and Repeat, presents us with a synthesis of much-needed moderation and ingenuity. On one hand, it conducts an evolutionary typological exploration over time (moving away from the ‘classic’ reproductive nuclear family) (fig. 1), while on the other hand, it proposes passive comfort acquisition systems by leveraging bioclimatic strategies offered by the environment: orientation towards suitable winds, ensuring cross-ventilation, compactness and intermediate spaces, and controlling solar radiation to harness thermal inertia. While new materials normally present higher amount of embedded energy, this project is presenting a traditional material exploration that advocates for decarbonization: rescuing marès as a traditional material that will provide thermal inertia, rediscovering oceanic posidonia as an insulating element, as well as recycling materials for previous ‘habitats’ (fig. 2)

The winning project in Nyköping (SE), Skavsta Forest City (fig. 3), exhibits similar attitudes to that of the Mediterranean island, despite responding to different programs and belonging to opposite climates. This site ‘consists mainly of planted forest land which has been felled at different stages’. Therefore, it emphasizes the use of wood as the primary raw material for the intervention, a material closely linked to the local productive conditions of this landscape and reinforcing the ʻimportance of the city as a trading site’. Wood is a sustainable resource that allows for construction with lower embedded energy (unlike concrete structures), while still enabling

the creation of large openings for maximum solar gain and interior habitability quality. Unlike in Eivissa, the pursuit of hygrothermal comfort is primarily active, but self-sufficient with systems powered by the by-products and waste from wood production, thereby creating renewable sources like bioenergy, but also extensive use of solar panels on the roofs and facades. Most of the forest land remains untouched and will be preserved, to provide this ‘Living in the forest’ idea through an ‘interconnected network of green spaces that provide a framework for the city’s development’.

In transition from the built object to the territory, the winning project in Borkum (DE), Re:duce Re:use Re:new, showcases a symbiotic approach to the pristine natural landscape of dunes, UNESCO biosphere reserve. The project emphasizes dune restoration as its essential element, and thus the flora and fauna inhabiting it, but also focuses its energy on working with a radical material circularity system: a process of urban mining is set up to avoid the long transport of materials to the island. Existing materials will be reused from a series of buildings to be dismantled (either totally or partially) as exclusive construction material for the various pavilions that accommodate and promote sustainable tourism in the area (fig. 4)

From Symbiosis to Sympoiesis

The territory serves as the reference point. In the face of a global economy that relies on distant resources (both in time and space), several keys contribute to fostering sustainable habitability on larger scales of implementation. The proj ects mentioned here aim to reclaim the productivity of the territory and rectify the damage caused, not only through the relationship between

individual organisms but also through the interaction and collaboration among different elements of a broader system. This system may include organisms, technologies, natural environments, and other components.

In El Prat de Llobregat (ES), the Pota Blava special mention project begins by disconnecting from the existing urban planning that marked an unsustainable development strategy halted by the 2008 economic crisis. The project proposes sustainable management where the hidden presence of water will be the main articulator of the new public spaces: connecting existing and new channels, reintegrating the delta, introducing phytodepuration strategies for reusing rainwater and greywater in buildings, etc (fig. 5). Combined with energy self-sufficiency through solar capture and water as a sustainable climate regulator, it will improve the microclimatic conditions of the centre, still allowing agriculture to coexist with urban expansion areas for an affordable and sustainable lifestyle model, according to the authors.

While El Prat is flexible in configuration, its climate does not require a strong level of stress with the change of seasons. These fragile situations in constant mutation are crucial in the case of the special mention proj ect, The Octopus Enigma , in Skellefteå (SE), where snow is captured to insulate buildings from winter cold and thermal conform is rethought considering the fire as the heart. In spring, as the snow melts, small cabins can be found along the riverside, while ‘the river slowly fills with small aquatic creatures’, as quoted by the authors. The nature here is nature is meticulously designing the locations that are developed and thus respected by the project (fig. 6)

In conclusion, we’ve gone through some E17-winning projects that embody attitudes aimed at ʻovercoming the risky deadlock of continuing-businnes-as-usual’4. They play the same old game but on a new board that presents many more scales, consequences, and variables to explore (inter-species justice, ethical mutuality, sustainable co-belonging…), reclaiming all the valuable knowledge that the Industr ial Revolution failed to harness.

4 • See Socr ates Stratis, ʻCaring for…? Toward a Territorial Geographic Repair Approach’, Europan 16 Living Cities I Catalogue of Results, p. 162.

Europan 17 Juries

How did the jury work?

First, all projects were reviewed by the jury. The secretariat of Europan Belgium introduced each project, with notes from their technical analysis. A discussion with the site representatives followed. Secondly, the jury deliberated independently to make a first selection, to be presented in the forum of cities and juries. The selection cr iteria combined the general topics of the current Europan session and the specific expectations of the site brief.

Two jury members and one site representative participated in the forum. In the meeting that followed, they provided feedback, sharing their reading of the debates.

The final decision was made by consensus, choosing three projects that the jury considered had strong ideas for the various challenges, and that could even be carried forward in coordination, as they would complete each other.

What are the main themes covered by

the prize-winning teams?

In the context of Living Cities, the difference between a park, a square or a plaza becomes blurry, and so does the difference between wild nature and educated nature. The challenge is to reframe the living park as a highly active civic hub.

The project scale and the park position in the topography demand a clear vision regarding rainwater management, specifically stormwater retention. This theme was key when choosing the winner.

The infrastructural challenge calls for long-term plans, whilst site representatives need a shorter-term intervention within six years.

Phasing becomes a key.

What to do with cars? Is it legitimate to hide them under the carpet with motorway tunnels, or should we phase them out of our cities altogether? What to do with the resulting obsolete infrastructure? This was key when choosing the runner-up.

The current buildings in the park are monuments to the Belgian colonial past, which is currently in question. How to reframe those buildings? Can major transformation in perception be achieved with light interventions? This was the key when choosing the special mention.

Carlos Arroyo, Chairman

URBAN/ARCHITECTURAL ORDER

Valérie Depaye (BE) • Director ERIGES (Régie Communale de Seraing) (BE) • www.eriges.be

Hardwin Dewever (BE) • Director of the Urban Renewal Projects division at Municipal company AG Vespa, Antwerpen (BE) • www.agvespa.be

Georgios Maillis (BE) • Charleroi Bouwmeester, Charleroi (BE) – represented by Paolo Ruaro responsible of the implementation process of the E13 winning project in Gilly-Charleroi www.charleroi-bouwmeester.be

URBAN/ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN

Carlos Arroyo (ES) • Architect, urbanist, teacher, Carlos Arroyo Architects, Madrid (ES) • www.carlosarroyo.net

Pia Maier Schriever (DE) • Architect and Set Designer member of the New European Bauhaus Roundtable • www.urlz.fr

Orla Murphy (IE) • Assistant Professor in UCD School of Architecture Planning & Environmental Policy, Co-Director of UCD Centre for Irish Towns (CfIT), member of the New European Bauhaus Roundtable (IE) • www.urlz.fr

Anna Ramos (ES) • Architect, Director of the Fundació Mies van der Rohe (ES) • www.miesbcn.com

Bas Smets (BE) • Landscape architect, Bureau Bas Smets (BE) www.bassmets.be

PUBLIC FIGURE

Chris Younès (FR) • Psychosociologist, PhD. in philosophy, searcher, professor, Paris (FR) • www.urlz.fr

SUBSTITUTES

Gery Leloutre (BE) • Winner Europan 7 Tubize, Architect, Urbanist, Leading professor at ULBrussels Faculté d’Architecture, Co Founder Karbon Architecture (BE) www.karbon.be

Olivier Goffin (BE) • Winner Europan 11 Marche en Famenne, Co-founder ICI Architects (BE) • www.iciarchitectes.be

How did the jury work?

Along with representatives of the eight local juries that had preselected the final candidates, we spent two days discussing the qualities of the projects in a targeted manner and ultimately chose the prize recipients. The tasks and locations within Germany were varied. While this made it difficult to find a fair baseline for evaluation, the work covered a broad range of current issues. It proved challenging to construct a common dialogue to address the different skills and perspectives of the jury members. Overall, the jury’s broad collective expertise helped to justice the projects.

What are the main themes covered by the prize-winning teams?

Most of the projects reflected the major themes currently dominating the discourse on architecture, urban development and open spaces. Above all these include transformation along with addressing and expanding existing buildings and open spaces. However, it became clear that the issues surrounding re-use and remodeling are particularly challenging within the Europan format – the str uctural quality of the existing built environment cannot be fully ascertained, while the ecological and economic proportionality of the proposed measures can only be partially demonstrated. This makes clear strategies and strong concepts all the more important. The unifying quality of the winning projects lies in their strong images that draw on the gifts of what is already there to create a new and better whole. Distances between the buildings and the scale and design of the outdoor space play a central role in their expansion. Future calls for tenders should place even greater emphasis on the collaboration between the various professional fields. Although participation and communication with local interest groups can be difficult to reflect in the Europan procedures, a communicative strategy and the awareness of the importance of dialogue strengthen the concepts.

Andreas Hofer, Chairman

URBAN/ARCHITECTURAL ORDER

Andreas Hofer (CH) • Director of the International Building Exhibition 2027 Stadt Region Stuttgart, Stuttgart/Zurich (DE/CH) www.iba27.de

Urs Kumberger (DE) • Teleinternetcafe Architecture and Urbansim, Europan Germany Scientific Committee, Berlin (DE) www.teleinternetcafe.de

Michael Rudolph (DE) • Europan Germany Board member, Leipzig (DE)

URBAN/ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN

Ralf Fleckenstein (DE) • ff-architekten, Berlin (DE) www.ff-architekten.de

Dr. Miriam García (ES) • LandLab, Europan Europe Scientific Committee, Barcelona (ES) • www.landlab.es

Prof. Melanie Humann (DE) • Professorship for Urbanism & Design, TU Dresden, Urban Catalysts GmbH, Europan Germany Scientific Committee, Berlin/ Dresden (DE) www.urbancatalyst.de, www.tu-dresden.de

Marika Schmidt (DE) • mrschmidt Architects, Europan Germany Scientific Committee, Berlin (DE) www.marikaschmidt.de

Sarah Wigglesworth (GB) • Sarah Wigglesworth Architects, London (GB) • www.swarch.co.uk

PUBLIC FIGURE

Prof. Jörg Stollmann (CH) • Chair for Urban Design and Urbanization, TU Berlin, Berlin/Zurich (DE/CH) www.cud.tu-berlin.de

SUBSTITUTES

Karin Sandeck (DE) • Architect, Europan Germany Board member, Munich (DE)

Josef Weber (DE) • Architect, Europan Germany Board member, Erlangen (DE)

How did the jury work?

The different backgrounds and expertises were ʻappliedʼ in various ways. One important asset was the intense exchange with the city representatives about the context, goals and ambitions of each task before starting the projects evaluation. It allowed a critical review of the task itself, establishing a sensitivity based on a careful reading of the sites’ contextual potentials. Considering the sites’ different scales and Spain’s wide range of geographical conditions and local specificities this ʻkick-off-workʼ helped to understand the values of the competition projects.

It was especially useful that the jury members had a considerable amount of time to study the projects individually before discussing them together. The jury’s different backgrounds released intense and ʻproductively controversialʼ dialogues, especially in the second round. Although not all decisions were voted unanimously, they were based on an explorative search to detect the best ʻEuropan-project-processʼ for each site.

What are the main themes covered by the prize-winning teams?

Considering the difference of scales and tasks we could observe a high concern for ecological questions in all winning projects. This concern operated differently according to the different site scales: The winning projects on sites with smaller scales, such as Eibar, Madrid, and Eivissa worked intensively on the typological performance of buildings and their spatial and programmatic relation to the ʻgrammarʼ of its surrounding environment. They put the scale of the object in a fruitful dialogue with the urban and even territorial scale, also absorbing climatic conditions, especially in Eivissa. Projects that worked on large-scale sites, such as Nalón, Chiva, and El Prat demonstrated an extraordinary sensitivity for the dialogue between natural forces, landscape ecologies, and everyday life, backed up with substantial expertise. Even in Barcelona, the challenge of rehabilitating a derelict neighbourhood in Besos was mainly ʻacted outʼ by a differentiated open space strategy in dialogue with typological alterations.

Ber nd Vlay, Jury member

URBAN/ARCHITECTURAL ORDER

Iñaqui Carnicero (ES) • Architect, Europan Spain President, General Secretary of Urban Agenda and Housing of the Ministry of Transports, Mobility and Urban Agenda (MITMA)

Lola Domènech (ES) • Architect, landscape architect, Lola Domènech, Arquitectura y Paisaje, Professor Elisava and ETSAB, Escuela de Diseño e Ingeniería, Barcelona (ES) www.loladomenech.com

Carolina González Vives (ES) • Architect, Director of master programmes at IE School of Architecture and Design, managing partner of Hidra Design, Madrid (ES) www.hidra.design/sostenibilidad

URBAN/ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN

Zuhal Kol (TR) • Architect, Openact studio, Professor of Architectur al Design Studio, Istanbul Technical University, ITU, (TR) / (ES) • www.openact.eu

Marina Otero Verzier (ES) • Architect, Rotterdam (NL), Head MA Social Design, Design Academy Eindhoven (NL) www.designacademy.nl

Alexandre Thériot (FR) • Architect practiser Bruther Architectes, Paris (FR), Professor at ETH Zurich and visiting professor at GSD Harvard • www.bruther.biz

Ana Viader Soler (ES) • Architect, landscape architect, Anna Viader Urbanism, Architecture Landscape, Berlin (DE), Member of the Akademie der Künste Berlin, Professor for Landscape Architecture Dresden (DE) www.annaviader.com

Lys Villalba (ES) • Architect, professor ETSA Madrid and Alicante Escuela de Arquitectura, Former awarded team in several Europan competitions, Madrid (ES) • www.lysvillalba.net

Bernd Vlay (AT) • Architect StudioVlayStreeruwitz, Member of Europan Scientific Committee (AT) • www.vlst.at

PUBLIC FIGURE

Iñaki Alday (ES) • Architect, landscape architect, Aldayjover Arquitectur a y Paisaje, Dean and Koch Chair in Architecture, Tulane University School of Architecture (US) www.aldayjover.com

How did the jury work?

The jury first examines the projects that were pre-selected by the sites’ experts; the jury also listens to the various opinions and comments of the cities and then engages in a discussion with each site representatives about their expectations and concerns.

The jury then discusses in private of the strengths and weaknesses of each project in greater depth, with a view to agreeing on a final selection. The collegial decision is based on the search for a common position, or at least matching points of view, forged from the expertise and sensitivity of each jury member.

The jury assesses the projects in terms of their relevance to the session theme, as well as more specific criteria such as the originality of the proposals, their relevance to local issues, their place in the site or area concerned, and the methodology and methods used. To do this, the skills and specific experience of each jury member are brought to bear. The final decision is based on a fruitful dialogue, reflecting a subtle balance between arbitration and conviction.

What are the main themes covered by the prize-winning teams?

More than any particular theme, what characterised most of the proposals was above all a form of proximity in the way the different projects were approached.

This type of approach, more or less common to the various projects, can be described as a ʻproject processʼ and reflects the fact that the projects are part of an ongoing process, going beyond the ideas of beginning and end.

The projects are thus very much marked by the method, but also by what is already there. They are often structured around pre-existing elements, whether physical, geological, architectural or social.

Of course, as the very topic of this Europan session might suggest, the projects were very much concerned with the living world in its broadest sense; they thus showed a great deal of environmental sensitivity with regard to territories and eco-systems in general, but also to uses in particular.

As a result, they often dealt with highly topical issues such as preserving resources, sobriety at every stage, adapting to current and future climate change, and repairing damaged or degr aded environments.

François Leclercq, Chairman

URBAN/ARCHITECTURAL ORDER

Jean-Baptiste Butlen (FR) • Deputy Director of Sustainable Development, Ministry: MTECT (FR) • www.ecologie.gouv.fr

Jean-François Hébert (FR) • Director General of Heritage & Architecture Ministr y of Culture (FR) • www.culture.gouv.fr

Agnès Bochet (FR) • Deputy Mayor of the town of Pont-Aven (E16) (FR) • www.europanfrance.org

URBAN/ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN

Matthias Heinz (AT) • Architect, Zurich (CH) www.poolarch.ch

Benoît Moritz (BE) • Architect, teacher, Europan Belgique member, Brussels (BE) • www.architecture.urban.brussels

Anna Chavepayre (FR) • Architect collective Encore (FR) www.collectifencore.com

Marion Talagrand (FR) • Landscape designer, urbanist, Teacher at ENSP Versailles, Bordeaux (FR) • www.a-mt.fr

Emeline Bailly (FR) • Urbanist and researcher, Paris (FR) www.cstb.fr

PUBLIC FIGURE

François Leclercq (FR) • Architect and urban planner, President of the jury, Paris (FR) • www.leclercqassocies.fr

SUBSTITUTES

Meriem Chabani (FR) • Architect, E14 winner in Guebwiller (FR), E13 co-designer in Vernon (FR), New South, Paris (FR) mc@newsouth.fr

Beatriz Saladich (ES) • Architect and landscape designer, E16 runner-up in Aulnat (FR), Barcelona (ES)

How did the jury work?

Participating in the work of the Europan jury is a great experience. A discussion with carefully selected architects, thinkers and exper ts facilitates both personal and joint decision-making, and at the same time enables the personal growth of everyone who participates in it.

The jury’s work took place in two rounds, on two different locations. In the first round the jury met in Zagreb, all the entries were discussed in regard to the main topic of the session – Living Cities – and in regard to the site’s specific characteristics, needs and challenges. The result of the first round was the pre-selection of six entries that, according to the jury’s assessment, reconsidered the new public spaces of Makarska in the most innovative and sustainable way. The second round took place in Makarska and enabled a detailed analysis of the sites, which brought additional quality to the judging process. The first-prized project shows that good urban interventions do not need to be complex and large urban gestures, and surprised the jury with an intelligent solution that no one else could see.

At the end of the jury process, the jury eagerly expected the feedback from the city and the local community. We were relieved when both the city administration and the citizens of Makarska expressed their satisfaction with the prize-winning project.

What are the main themes covered by the prize-winning teams?

The prize-winning teams have successfully responded to the ʻspirit of the placeʼ establishing a relationship with the natural phenomena (sea, mountain, earth, sun, wind), with the scale and character of the urban matrix and with the Mediterranean way of life. All of them proposed significant contributions to climate change adaptation and to preservation of biodiversity in the urban environment, while simultaneously creating new spaces of interaction that enable a rich and varied social life.

Irena Matković, Chairwoman

URBAN/ARCHITECTURAL ORDER

Dražen Pejković (HR) • Architect, Senior adviser to the Mayor on spatial planning and environmental protection, Split (HR) www.split.hr

Irena Matković (HR) • Architect, Head of Sector for Strategic and Spatial Planning, Zagreb (HR) • www.zagreb.hr

URBAN/ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN

Rujana Bergam Marković (HR) • Architect, Arhitektri architecture office (HR) • www.arhitektri.hr

Rok Žnidaršič (SI) • Architect, Vice Mayor of Ljubljana, Slovenia (SI) • www.medprostor.si

Rosa Rogina (GB) • Architect, researcher and curator, Director at London Festival of Architecture (GB) • www.nla.london

Ana Šverko (HR) • PhD, M. Arch., architect and architecture historian, Senior Research Associate at the Institute of Art History – Cvito Fisković Centre, Split (HR) • www.ipu.hr

PUBLIC FIGURE

Saša Špiranec (HR) • Wine expert, Managing Partner at Vinart d.o.o. (HR) • www.vinart.hr

SUBSTITUTES

Mirko Buvinić (HR) • Architect, x-3m architecture (HR) www.x-3m.hr

Petra Radić (HR) • Architect, Mayor of Podgora (HR) www.podgora.hr

How did the jury work?

The Jury worked very well. An interesting debate was created on the issues faced by the city of Cantù, which are very common to the current situation of medium-sized cities.

Even though the work was carried out online, we tried to make this tool profitable, building an effective method that would allow us to study the proposals in depth and carry out an analysis based on the main criteria and its variables: Environmental sustainability related to the specific context; Responsiveness to the program; Social sustainability (project/process activation); Impact; The form of urban design.

The preliminary analysis of the projects carried out by the team of experts coordinated by the Europan Italia secretariat helped to frame the thematic families of the projects. We built an evaluation scale based on the criteria and at the same time the discussion on the projects was fueled. The results on project preferences were incredibly almost unanimous.

What are the main themes covered by the prize-winning teams?

The projects start from careful readings of the territories and the residential, economic and social fabric of the city, and worked on the physical/spatial and virtual levels. Among the most interesting themes proposed by the winning project is the need to develop a connection system between the anthropized environment and the natural environment, while respecting their diversity. A new mobility system that connects the city to the rural and environmental heritage, encouraging slow mobility, new forms of tourism and open-air sporting activities. A second theme is the use of digital technologies to improve the quality of life of citizens by helping them in the management of urban space. An appreciated theme is the re-design of the public space which is connected to the tradition of Cantù lace such as that proposed by the runner-up project and finally the special mention proposal with a matrix of critical issues and solutions also with acupunctural interventions.

Maria Alessandra Segantini, Chairwoman

URBAN/ARCHITECTURAL ORDER

Tommaso Dal Bosco (IT) • President of AUDIS – Association of Dismissed Urban Areas and general Director of National Federation of Mountain Catchment Basin Consortia (IT) www.audis.it

Paolo Testa (IT) • Head of the Urban Planning and Urban Regeneration Sector of the national Confcommercio (IT) www.confcommercio.it/urbanpromo-2022

URBAN/ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN

Oriol Capdevila (ES) • Architect, urban planner and public space designer, MBM architects studio founded by Oriol Bohigas (ES) • www.mbmarquitectes.cat

Krunoslav Ivanisin (HR) • Architect, Ivanisin – Kabashi Architects studio (HR) • www.facebook.com/people/ ivanisin-kabashi-arhitekti

Onorato Di Manno (IT) • Architect, SET architects, first prize ʻYoung italian Architects 2020ʼ, Rome (IT) www.set-architects.com

Maria Alessandra Segantini (IT) • Architect, C+S Architects –ʻItalian Architect 2022ʼ award (IT) • web.cipiuesse.it

PUBLIC FIGURE

Monica Angela Grazia Scanu (IT) • Architect, Phd, former Director of IED Cagliari, New Business Developer IED Rome, President of FAI-Sardinia, Vice President of APS Tevereterno onlus (IT) • www.linkedin.com/in/monica-scanu

SUBSTITUTES

Margherita Erbani (IT) • Architect, Phd at the Architecture Department of Roma Tre, Winner E15 Laterza (IT) www.archibloom.com

Francesca Melissano (IT) • Architect, specialized in Regeneration Architecture, winner E15 Laterza (IT) www.archibloom.com

How did the jury work?

During the first jury session, we gained a deep understanding of the technical aspects and recommendations put forth by the technical committee and we explored the nuances of each of the 6 sites. During two days, we engaged in plenary discussions on each location. The site representatives succinctly presented their recommendations, sparking lively debates and critical inquiries from the jury members. We pondered over the distinctive characteristics and challenges faced by each area, aligning them with the objectives of Europan 17. Our preselection, comprising 21 proposals, was meticulously crafted based on the overarching qualities highlighted by the design proposals. During the second jury session, we reaffirmed our selections through reflective rounds of discussion, culminating in unanimous decisions for all award-winning projects. This phase epitomised our unwavering dedication to excellence and innovation in urban design, underscoring the collaborative spirit and collective expertise of the jury.

What are the main themes covered by the prize-winning teams?

Overall, the winning projects demonstrated innovative approaches to urban development, addressing key themes such as sustainability, community integration and adaptive design. Each project demonstrated a commitment to enhancing the urban environment with thoughtful, forward-thinking solutions, earning praise from the jury for their comprehensive strategies and creativity. As for example, integrating work and living spaces while strategically using the vegetation; Combining selective demolition and aquapuncture-like interventions to create a vibrant space; Fostering community interaction and harmonious urban environment; Reinforcing existing str uctures and balanced density as a forward-thinking approach to urban renewal; Proposing tech-oriented solutions to enhance urban diversity; Promoting simplicity and connectivity through lightweight design and temporary structures, facilitating movement and community interaction…

Marieke Kums, Chairwoman

URBAN/ARCHITECTURAL ORDER

Bart van der Vossen (NL) • Director Ruimte at Gemeente Utrecht, Amsterdam North Holland (NL) www.bartvandervossen.nl

Don Murphy (NL) • Founder VMX Architects, Supervisor Schiphol Municipality of Amsterdam and Eindhoven (NL) www.vmxarchitects.nl

François Chas (FR) • NP2F Architects, Paris (FR) www.np2f.com

URBAN/ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN

Johan De Wachter (BE/NL) • Architect and founding partner Woonwerk Architecten, Associate professor KTU (LT) www.woonwerk.eu

Martin Sobota (DE/NL) • Architect, Founding Partner CITYFÖRSTER, Rotterdam (NL) • www.cityfoerster.net

Marieke Kums (NL) • Founder STUDIO MAKS, Rotterdam, Professor at Leibniz University Hannover (DE) www.studiomaks.nl

Pieter Veenstra (NL) • Founder, Landscape architect at Lola landscape architects, Netherlands (NL) • www.lola.land

Stephanie Bru (FR) • Principal at BRUTHER / Stéphanie Bru & AlexandreTher iot, Greater Paris Metropolitan Region (FR) www.bruther.biz

PUBLIC FIGURE

Huub Kloosterman (NL) • Founder Urban Xchange, co-founder The Dutch Mountains Eindhoven (NL) www.urbanxchange.nl

SUBSTITUTES

Oliver Thill (NL) • Owner of Atelier Kempe Thill architects and planners (NL) • www.atelierkempethill.com

Tania Concko (NL) • Founding Director at TCAU / Tania Concko Architects Urbanists (NL) • www.taniaconcko.com

How did the jury work?

Before commencing jury deliberations, a local technical committee assembled by the site partners assessed all submitted entries. The jury process consisted of two segments: an initial local meeting to identify a shortlist of projects, followed by a second meeting in Wien after the Forum of the Cities and the Juries, where the final selection was made.

The initial meeting, held on-site, commenced with introductions and a site tour led by the site representative. The representative presented each project and outlined the technical committee’s evaluation to the jury. This was followed by a presentation of the outcomes from local participatory processes. The final segment of the jury meeting consisted of successive rounds of voting and discussions aimed at selecting the final shortlist.

Following the first jury meeting, the site partners together with the jury conducted a more in-depth review of the shortlisted proposals. Additionally, the site partners gathered broader feedback through a public exhibition of the projects.

The Forum of the Cities and the Juries in Wien facilitated networking opportunities with other jury members and site partners, fostering inspiration and discussions on broader themes and dilemmas associated with the jurying process. A subsequent meeting between the Norwegian jury and site representatives allowed the site representatives to share new insights with the jury ahead of the final meeting.

The final jury meeting commenced with a five-minute appeal by the site representative, followed by discussions and voting by the jury.

What are the main themes covered by the prize-winning teams?

The prize-winning projects all managed to answer complex tasks by providing solutions and to suggest implementation processes that would work on many scales and adapt to the changing needs and conditions that are present in early-stage urban development projects. Overall, the projects responded strongly to the theme of ʻLiving Citiesʼ: demonstrate extraordinary balance between care for the environment and local inhabitants. Though responding to very different types of the tasks, the winning entries share the characteristic of being simultaneously visionary and flexible, providing strong fr ameworks for further process.

Bjørnar

Skaar Haveland, General Secretary Europan Norway

URBAN/ARCHITECTURAL ORDER

Ida Winge Andersen (NO) • Architect, company director and partner at Built (NO) • www.built.no

Jacob Kamp (DK) • Partner and creative director at 1:1 Landskab (DK) • www.1.1landskab.dk

URBAN/ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN

Katariina Haigh (FI) • Architect, Project Development Director at Asuntosäätiö (FI) • www.asuntosaatio.fi

Eli Grønn (NO) • M. of Architecture and Urbanism MNAL, partner and leader for Urbanism and Planning with Dyrvik Architects (NO) • www.dyrvik.no

Luis Basabe Montalvo (ES) • Founding partner of Arenas Basabe Palacios Arquitectos (ES) • www.arenasbasabepalacios

Ilkka Törmä (FI) • Architect, urban designer and researcher, editor-in-chief at Outlines (FI) • www.tommilaarchitects.com

PUBLIC FIGURE

Eili Vigestad Berge (NO) • Director of sustainability and public relations at Mustad Eiendom (NO) • www.mustadeiendom.no

SUBSTITUTES

Mette Gunnes (NO) • M.Sc Landscape architect MNLA (NO) www.tagarkitekter.no

Cristian Ştef ănescu (RO) • Architect/Owner a-works Assistant Professor, Bergen School of Architecture (NO) • www.a-works.co

Osterreich / Slovenija

How did the jury work?

– Technical analysis at the site level.

– Local commission / jury with one or two members of the international jury and site representatives. All projects are viewed and evaluated. This local jury selects a group of projects to present to the international jury.

– International Jury: During this step, jury members may decide to select an unselected project. The projects are discussed and local experts are invited to provide additional information and answer questions, but they cannot vote. The jury members confront each other to find a consensus-based decision – if they cannot, they vote.

What are the main themes covered by the prize-winning teams?

– Working with ʻdéjà-làʼ – re-use of available resources – spaces – natural data.

– Methodological proposal for actor motivation – coordination –management in a process-oriented logic.

Answers from Europan Austria in dialogue with Alessandro delli Ponti, Jury member

URBAN/ARCHITECTURAL ORDER

Regula Lüscher (CH) • Urbanist, former Senate Building Director and State Secretary for Urban Development in Berlin (DE) • www.stadtmacherin.ch

Georg Pichler (AT) • Head of ARE Austrian Real Estate Development (AT) • www.are.at

URBAN/ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN

Anna Popelka (AT) • Architect, principal of PPAG, former Europan Winner (AT) • www.ppag.at

Johanna Gibbons (GB) • Landscape architect, principal of J & L Gibbons (GB) • jlg-london.com

Alessandro Delli Ponti (IT) • Architect and urbanist, principal of kh studio (IT) • www.khstudio.org

Cristina Gamboa, lacol (ES) • Architect, principal of Lacol (ES) www.lacol.coop

Gašper Medvešek (SI) • Architect, assistant professor Faculty of Architecture in Ljubljana (SI) • www.planb.si

PUBLIC FIGURE

Angelika Fitz (AT) • Curator and author, Director of the Architekturzentrum Wien (AT) • www.azw.at

SUBSTITUTES

Radostina Radulova-Stahmer (DE) • Architect, co-founder of Studio- D3R and former Europan winner (DE) www.studiod3r.com

Theresa Krenn (AT) • Architect, principal of studioederkrenn, former Europan winner (AT) • www.studioederkrenn.com

How did the jury work?

Although the Finnish Europan jury consisted almost entirely of professional members in the planning and design fields, its members nevertheless represented a wide variety of very different types of expertise. The jury worked in a highly interactive, pluralistic and democratic manner: the expertise of all members was used in the evaluation of the competition proposals and all views were taken into account equally when selecting the awarded proposals. Usually, at least in Finnish competitions, only the impartial professional experts appointed to the jury (and/or a working group of all the professional members) do study the competition proposals carefully in advance and present their notions to the other jury members to be discussed together at the jury meetings – so they have a very important role in the evaluation process. They also write an overall competition review as well as proposal-specific evaluations. Also, two of the members of the Europan Finnish jury took the extra task of compiling the written reviews based on the jury’s discussions, which formed the basis for the evaluation report of the competition.

The jury enjoyed the exchange of views a lot and found the jury work very rewarding.

What are the main themes covered by the prize-winning teams?

On the Helsinki site, the best proposals found a balance between how to build as little as possible, yet still sufficiently in the many ways valuable and sensitive archipelago. As requested in the competition brief, the themes of the role of nature, humans and non-humans as well as of biodiversity in the design solutions had been successfully studied.

On the Vaasa site, competitors were looking for a design solution that would heal the wound in the scenery, which had been left on the site after the demolition of a hotel complex. In the best proposals, the relationship between nature and new constructions was solved in an interesting and insightful way. In particular, the winning and special mention proposals successfully studied the typology of residential housing and the constructions were intertwined with nature in a new and fresh way.

Anssi Lassila, Chairman

URBAN/ARCHITECTURAL ORDER

Helena Wessberg (SE) • Urban Planning Strategist, Architect SAR/MSA, City of Stockholm (SE) • www.start.stockholm

Dan Mollgren (FI) • Architect (SAFA), Head of City Planning, City of Porvoo (FI) • www.porvoo.fi

URBAN/ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN

Anssi Lassila (FI) • Architect (SAFA), Seinäjoki, Professor of Contemporary Architecture, University of Oulu, OOPEAA Office for Peripheral Architecture (FI) • www.oopeaa.com

Pia Kuusiniemi (FI) • Landscape Architect (MARK), LOCI Landscape Architects Ltd, President of the Finnish Association of Lansdscape Architects (FI) • www.loci.fi

Elisa Lähde (FI) • Professor of Landscape Architecture, Aalto University, Landscape Architect (MARK) (FI) • www.aalto.fi

Jonas Nordgren (DK) • Architect (MAA, SAR), Schauman & Nordgren Architects, Copenhagen (DK) www.schauman-nordgren.com

PUBLIC FIGURE

Arto O. Salonen (FI) • Professor of Sustainable Well-being, Department of Social Sciences, University of Eastern Finland (FI) www.artosalonen.com, www.uefconnect.uef.fi, www.uef.fi

How did the jury work?

The jury functioned excellently in all essential aspects! The composition of a diverse group in terms of age, gender, architectural professions, and industry roles ensured a rewarding and enriching discussion. The conversation also included a highly productive dialogue with site representatives. Often, these discussions were pivotal to the outcome.

Reviewing and discussing 43 proposals within a limited time frame is demanding. As the jury chair, what I can wish for in jury work is that the interaction among jury members remains respectful, that all voices are heard without any single member dominating the conversation, and that the attitude remains engaged, focused, and solution-oriented. This jury exceeded my expectations!

The larger urban development projects sometimes posed specific questions that required the addition of ecological expertise within the jury group. This is something to consider as ʻgreenʼ issues are likely to become increasingly prominent in the future.

What are the main themes covered by the prize-winning teams?

The proposals were primarily dominated by climate, environmental, and recreational issues, as well as the significance of the local community. – Conservation and reuse. The proposals addressed both redu ced demand on virgin natural land with preserved nature, and the reuse of existing buildings. Several proposals aimed to create urban environments with significant elements of preserved untouched nat ure. – Local production and community. Many proposals went far in program writing and ideation concerning various types of activities, based on the conditions of the local community and the strength of the local civil society, such as local food production, local industry, and cultural work. – Sustainable transportation. All projects, but perhaps primarily the more peripheral ones, were affected by a large number of proposals aimed at reducing car dependency and providing access to high-quality public transportation. The close connection between the degree of walkability and the above point about the local community was highlighted in many proposals. – Larger interconnected recreational corridors. More extensive district- and area-wide recreational corridors emerged in several proposals as a method for connecting fr agmented areas and increasing active public health and proximity to and experience of nature.

Fredrik Drotte, Chairman

URBAN/ARCHITECTURAL ORDER

Fredrik Drotte (SE) • Chairman of jury, Architect and Planner, Head of Urban Planning and Innovation at Vincero, Stockholm (SE) • www.vincero.se

Camilla van Deurs (DK) • Architect, Ph.D in Urban design, Chief City Architect of the City of Copenhagen (DK) www.international.kk.dk

URBAN/ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN

Cecilie Andersson (NO) • Architect, Ph.D in Architecture, Vice Rector and Associate Professor at Bergen School of Architecture , Bergen (NO) • www.bas.org

Björn Förstberg (SE) • Architect, Founding architect at Förstberg Ling, Malmö (SE), Winner E15 in Helsingborg www.forstbergling.com

Johan Paju (SE) • Landscape architect, Founder of Paju Arkitektur och Landskap, Stockholm (SE) • www.paju.se

Rebecca Rubin (SE) • Architect, Urban planner, Assistant Professor at KTH School of Architecture, Head of social sustainability at Sveafastigheter, Stockholm (SE), MDA, Mayors Design Advocat, GLA London (GB) www.sveafastigheterbostad.se

PUBLIC FIGURE

Meike Schalk (SE) • Architect, Ph.D in Theoretical and Applied Aesthetics of Landscape Architecture, Associate Professor in Urban Design and Urban Theory, Docent in Architecture at KTH School of Architecture, Stockholm (SE) • www.kth.se

SUBSTITUTES

Moa Andrén (SE) • Architect, Co-Founding architect at AndrénFogelström, Stockholm (SE), Winner Europan 15 in Täby (SE) • www.andrenfogelstrom.se

Klara Wahlstedt (SE) • Architect and urban planner, Urban planner at Uppsala municipality, Co-founding architect Studio Träda, Stockholm (SE), Runner-up Europan 16 in Västerås (SE) • www.europan-europe.eu

Europan 17 Secretariats

europan EUROPE

16 bis rue François Arago

93100 Montreuil — FR +33 962529598 contact@europan-europe.eu www.europan-europe.eu

PARTICIPATING COUNTRIES

europan BELGIQUE / BELGIË / BELGIEN

c/o Architects House

Rue Ernest Allard 21 1000 Bruxelles — BE secretariat@europan.be www.europan.be

europan DEUTSCHLAND

Friedrichstraße 23 A 10969 Berlin — DE +49 3039918549 mail@europan.de www.europan.de

europan ESPAÑA

Paseo de la Castellana 12 28046 Madrid — ES +34 914352200 (ext. *214) europan.esp@cscae.com www.europan-esp.es

europan FRANCE – GIP EPAU 16 bis rue François Arago 93100 Montreuil — FR +33 148577266 contact@europanfrance.org www.europanfrance.org

europan HRVATSKA

c/o Ministry of Construction Republike Austrije 20 10000 Zagreb — HR info@europan.hr www.europan.hr

europan ITALIA

c/o Consiglio Nazionale Architetti PPC

Via Santa Maria dell’Anima 10 00186 Roma — IT +39 0662289030 contact@europan-italia.eu www.europan-italia.org

europan NEDERLAND

c/o URBANOFFICE Architects Zeeburgerpad 16 1018 AJ Amsterdam — NL info@europan.nl www.europan.nl

europan NORGE Møllendalsveien 17 5009 Bergen — NO post@europan.no www.europan.no

europan ÖSTERREICH

c/o Haus der Architektur Palais Thinnfeld Mariahilferstrasse 2 8020 Graz — AT +43 1212768034 office@europan.at www.europan.at

europan SLOVENIJA Country associated with Europan Österreich Obrat d.o.o.

Janežičeva ulica 3 1000 Ljubljana — SI office@europan.at

europan SUOMI – FINLAND

Hämeentie 19 A 00500 Helsinki — FI info@europan.fi www.europan.fi

europan SVERIGE

c/o Asante Architecture & Design Brännkyrkagatan 98 11726 Stockholm — SE +46 706577192 / +46 707141987 info@europan.se www.europan.se