LAN

Urban Renovation . Genicart district . Lormont

LAN

The Génicart district is located near the centre of Lormont and is close to the town’s main urban and interurban roads. The buildings to be renovated are in the Génicart ‘South’ sector, composed of four residential groups: Saint-Hilaire (three buildings, 387 units), Leroy (two buildings, 114 units), La Boétie (two buildings, 105 units) and Villon (2 buildings, 104 units).

The Génicart district covers 10% of the commune of Lormont’s surface area and is the largest housing estate on the right bank of the Gironde. Consisting primarily of collective and social housing, it houses some 10,500 people and 50% of Lormont’s population. An ambitious urban and social renovation project is now underway. Our architectural intervention concerns access to the buildings, their entrance halls and the transformation of their facades, and involves a sustainable approach to energy economy and environmental quality. It combines two different but entirely complementary approaches. Rehabilitation and identification Each residential group is reconfigured into an identifiable entity. The areas at the foot of the buildings are reserved for residents (access gangways). Sloping communal areas in the middle of the plots, at present overgrown with vegetation, are protected, reorganised and improved. The reworking of the buildings’ exteriors (facades and base) will provide a new and distinct architecture for each housing group. More open and better equipped communal spaces creating a genuine urban park within the estate.
The parking areas are entirely redesigned, rationalised and concentrated around the estate’s edges. Vehicle access within the estate’s South sector is limited to deliveries and emergency services. The absence of vehicles will create a genuine urban park area at the foot of the buildings. Within this park, areas with a strong presence of wood and concrete will receive specific treatment: transit spaces, terraces, retaining walls, abrupt changes of level and play areas.
Each of these spaces will be individually redesigned to create a network of landmarks, pedestrian intersections and meeting places between housing groups. These more structured and identifiable elements will contrast with areas of luxuriant and diverse greenery, enhanced with new plantations. The wood and concrete structures will thus function as the classical elements of the romantic garden – follies, bandstands, pavilions, belvederes, terraces and fountains – and will complement the existing landscaping to create a genuine urban park. Within the estate, the limits between each residential unit and the roads crossing it will be marked by bands of greenery. All fencing on the site will be removed.

Rehabilitation of 709 housing units, relandscaping and creation of a new car park.
Location:
Genicart district - Lormont, France
Timetable:
2009
Client:
Domofrance
Cost:
€ 16,8 M excl. VAT
Surface:
70 700 m²
Phase:
Under Construction
Team:
LAN, Agence Franck Boutté (HEQ), BASE (landscape architect), Beterem ingénierie (BET and TCE)