LORENA MARTÍNEZ CONDE_ technical architecture

JAIME SIERRA MUÑOZ_ engineering

ESMERALDA VÁZQUEZ PRIETO_ architectureGROUP 17

THE GRAND LARGE DISTRICTDunkerque, France

INDEX:

INFORMATION OF THE PROJECT

__General information

__Project information

PROJECT MEMORY

BEGINNING OF INTERVETION PLAN

THE AREA BEFORE THE PLAN AND IT'S LEGACY ELEMENTS

__Industrial elements

_Green zones

GENERAL PHYSICAL CONFIGURATION

__Geographic limits

__Zoning and layers

__Grid

__Connections, paths and public spaces

SINGLE PARTS DESCRIPTIONS

__Waterfront

__Park Area

__Boulevard Area

ANALYSIS AND CONCLUTIONS

REFERENCES

IMAGE REFERENCES

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France

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GENERAL INORMATION

__CITY: Dunkerque, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France

(N51 02 39, E2 22 27)

__DISTRICT: Grand Large-Neptuno

__PROJECT DATA: Contest 2005

__REALIZATION DATA: 2010-present

__ARCHITECTS: Agence Nicolas Michelin & Associés

– ANMA Nicolas Michelin, Michel Delplace, Cyril Trétout

__COSTS: 1059 €/m²

PROJECT INORMATION

__SURFACE: 20,5 Ha

__HOUSES: 216

__HOUSING DENSITY: 54houses/Ha

__HABITANT DENSITY: 117habitant/Ha

__PARKING SPACES: Not considered on the plan

__FUNCTIONS

MEMORY PROJECT

__The Grand Large District is a particular neighbourhood that conjugates different types of buildings and proposes

public spaces on a diversity of scales, designed along the principle of sustainable development. This project that

was developed in the year 2010 by ANMA (Agence Nicolas Michelin & Associés) architects and it takes 21.000 sqm

is located in Dunkirk, north of France, 300 km away from Paris and very near to Belgium's border. Dunkirk it’s a

coastal city with a population which almost reaches 100.000 inhabitants.

Nord Pas de Calais

This project lies in a special urban context: between the city and the sea, between seaside resort aesthetic and

port aesthetic, and between residential and communal. It prolongs the overall strategy of the Neptune project

(considered as a prototype for public-private cooperation within the field of urban development), launched in

1991, which aims to orient the city back towards the docks. This transformation of the urban centre has already

been broadly achieved. The Grand Large district marks the start of the second phase of Operation Neptune, which

now focuses on sustainable development.

Dunkerque

img.1

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BEGINNING OF INTERVENTION PLAN

__The roots of our project are back on the 1980s, a moment where sustainability policies were springing. In that

context, also influenced by a process of decentralization of political power on urban planning area, The

Neptune Development appears. That project was meant to create a place to live by the conquest of 180ha of

former industrial activities immersed on an area strongly dominated by water: more than 120has of basins which

defines small islands and peninsulas of ancient docks.

The formula that was chosen to achieve that goals was an international ideas competition set by the local

government of Dunkerque, in collaboration with a private development company (Projénor) and the

semi-public company SEM. It’s curious to point out that the system of the competition was unique on that

moment: It didn’t ask to create full-detailed drawings or plans, instead, the participants had to visit the site with

the local administration politics and technicians and then asked to submit a financially viable master plan for

the development of the area.

The 216 dwellings of the first phase bear witness to the ecological dimension that has been adopted for a district

that will ultimately house 8000 to 1000 dwellings. The district’s strategic urban plan is based on the principles inspired

by Agenda 21, notably in terms of its social (diverse social mix), environmental (rainwater management, renewable

energies) and economic aspects (flexible products and operational phasing).

The Grand Large district is particular in the sense that it conjugates different types of building and proposes public

spaces on diverse scales: the semicircular park with its individual houses, the quay with gabled buildings, the

buildings with planted terraces, the U-shaped gardens at the heart of individual lots. This diversity in the

constructions and the social mix generates a lively neighbourhood in which the landmarks benefit from original

perspectives: the view of the Grand Large Hotel from Rue Degans, the green opening towards the planted

ramparts, and the views of the singular buildings from the quaysides.

The Grand Large district is designed along the principles of sustainable development and features wind protections

and rainwater management via roof valleys and the park. The buildings are designed to be energy-efficient.

Priority is given to pedestrians, with motor traffic limited to the access roads to the buildings. Only Avenue des

Bordes is treated as an urban boulevard, with side lanes reserved for residents.

The winner of the competition was the British Richard Rogers Patnership thanks to reputational reasons and for

an innovative design, which with its urban and recreational flair signaled change and continuity while

simultaneously emphasizing the city industrial pass. Called “Operation Grand Large”, are defined different

ambitions that must be achieved by the project: An urban ambition (development of a dense neighborhood,

find a solution for the land once used by industrial docks), a social ambition (create a new offer of living places

for different economic levels, avoiding any kind of socio-space segregation) but, also, as it’s been said, an

environmental ambition (management of rain waters, energy efficiency…).

img.2 img.3

Dunkerque industrial 20th century and Dunkerque before the project

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After that, the first phase of the Neptune project starts: it involved bridges across the harbor, landscaped public

spaces, a marina, new roads, what it is to say the definition of the basic urban tools for the development of the

area. Our project, The Grand Large District, is part of the second phase of that Neptune project, with takes

together on the same goal public societies (local, regional and metropolitan entities of urbanism, developers of

social housing) and private developers.

After that, another process of selection was set up in order to choose the architectural project for the housing.

That was also an unconventional process: the entries were judged in the course of an afternoon, according to

the presentations of the participants. After that, was elected the project we are studying due to the balance of

the project between architectural creativity and social innovation. The construction process began in 2007 and

it’s expected to be finished completely in 2020, but our area of interest was finished in 2010, hosting people

since then.

THE AREA BEFORE THE PLAN AND IT'S LEGACY ELEMENTS

_Industrial elements

The city of Dunkirk was devastated by the two World Wars,

particularly at the second one, and as a consequence it

suffered economically from the loss of one of its main

industries: the shipyard industry.

Grand Large District took an important role on that industry

along 20th Centrury, so it can be said that the district is

located in a place where huge changes and transitions has

been suffered. Now, it is no longer a thriving harbor and

industrial city, but it has gone through a period of industrial

decline, which has left parts of the city as barren ‘wastelands’.Industrial past of Grand Large District

img.5

img.4

Limits of the intervention

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Even though, there are some industrial evidences

mostly in the north of the neighbourhood. By this

project and with its urban and recreational flair,

there is signaled a change and continuity while

simultaneously emphasizing the city's industrial

past.

For example in the north it can be find an

international art collection ( 1 in the map) that is a

mirror image of the adjoining former shipbuilding

workshop. Going to the centre a Sport Centre has

been built around the facade of the old fitting

workshops (2) which has been preserved.

__·Green zones

Although there was industrial areas before, there

was also green zones before the development of

the studied project. Mainly, we talk about the

“Jardin des scultures”, which host the “Lieu d’Art et

Action Contemporaine”. All the set was built on the

early 80s, in the heart of an industrial place. That

garden was designed as a place where

contemporary art can make a dialogue with the

nature, in a place where smooth hills and small

lakes were introduced, close to the east channel

which define our peninsula. Furthermore, it is also

remarkable that some banks of these channels are

defined as green corridors.

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ELEMENTS BEFORE THE PLAN - LEGEND

Limits of our project

Industrial art collection

Sport center with industrial facade

Jardin des Scultures

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img.6

img.7

"Jardin des scultures"

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GEOGRAPHIC LIMITS

Our project is situated in a key zone on every

single city of that kind: the sea is usually a way to

find opportunities, to develop the city, as it’s

been told on the previous paragraph. In general,

the west side of Dunquerque is dominated by

several entrances of the sea, due to channels

and darsenas which are apparently made to

make possible the development of the harbour

and industrial areas. Specifically, two waterfronts

define the peninsula where Grand Large Project

is placed: one of them, eastbound, it’s the union

of two channels, called “Canal de Bergues” and

GENERAL PHYSICAL CONFIGURATION

“Canal des Möeres”, while on the west side, the border is a dock, nowadays occupied by moorages of small

recreation boats and transit areas for these watercrafts. To the north, the zone is close to a single piece of land, which

is the northern side of the peninsula, and to the south, the zone is close to the city centre. All these facts show us that

the project has an intrinsic challenge, which is the connection with the rest of the city above these water areas. On

the other side, the land where the project is placed is a flat one, so there’s no great difficulties on that side.

Furthermore, the area is conveniently defended from the menaces of the sea (floods or elevation of the sea level,

mainly) thanks to several dikes that protect the channels and the docks which define the peninsula of our project.

Sea water Rivers and channels Project Area

Project area img.10

Official plan - Plan and limits of the intervention

ZONING AND LAYERS

The study area of 2.1 Ha is structured in different layers that combine housing and large green and pedestrian spaces ,

where road traffic is relegated to a mere use of loading and unloading.

Water

Buildings

Vegetation

Routes and rooms

Non residential activities

One of the main factor of the project, it

surrounds the whole area. It aims to recover the city to

the strip of coast previously occupied by former port

land. The two main access routes are through the

water.

The main objective of the intervention is to

recover the area turning it into residential area. It is

projected with low building density of 54 houses /ha.

There are 3 types of building: Single housing in a row,

blocks of collective housing of 3 floors and roof garden

and blocks up to 6 floors and sloping roof.

It is one of the most important layers in the

intervention. In the middle of the project there is a 1

hectare park around which the rest of the project is

structured. That is assumed like the public center.

Besides, between the houses in the apples, are

located semiprivate gardens.

The plan aims to give all the attention to

pedestrian and vehicular access is relegated only to

load and unload in a few roads. Also, except the big

avenues of access, the boundaries between

pedestrian and vehicles are diffuse in order to achieve

that pedestrians get that role. Rooms are created

adjacent to green areas and in the pier strip.

As facilities in the area only a high school for

vocational training is preserved, and an old workshop

turning it into sports center is rebuilt.

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GRID

__City scale grid

The harbour on the west zone of the city makes difficult to implant a coherent grid on the city: the uses of the

industrial portuary side are large and are, as general, close to the public. Even, the headlands defined by the

harbour makes difficult the purpose of a continuous network of street on avenues on that zone, specially on the

coast zone. Even more: the industrial use needs strong railway communication, which commonly creates gaps

between different zones of the city, hindering the permeability between nearby areas.

However, on the east side of the city, industrial free zone, it’s possible to observe a more regular and orthotropic

grid, also favored by the existence of a lineal and low coast, which allows the setting of a promenade and avenues

parallel to the waterfront, in a typical typology of coastal city. Commonly, we can find here closed blocks composed

of different buildings, different parcels, generally two or three floors tall, growing when we get closer to the beach

and spreading in a lower, more dispersed density as we go away from the city center. That’s a common

denominator on Dunkirk, also in the difficult part of the west.

Main roads and streets (in order of importance)

Sea water

River and channels

Project area

Docks area

__Project area grid

The grid in our zone is defined by a single fact: the south limit is part of the consolidated city and the

north part, the last part of the peninsula, has no intensive uses, as we have green open zones and

cultural spaces in a small area, which allows to avoid the settlement of a south-north axis. However,

our project is used to prolongate, in some way, the east-west connections, defined on the east side of

the city as a parallel to the coast, as it’s been pointed out before. The realization of that purpose is

done thanks to several bridges (one over our east border channel and another two over the west

border dock -presumably one bridge for each direction of traffic). These projected bridges (not built

yet) define an east-west axis, which is the main avenue of our project, in fact its north border. On the

other hand, the existent grid of the surroundings on the south it’s not prolongated to our area,

minimizing the points of connection between them. Inside the project area, the main element is the

central garden, wich define the form of the surrounding blocks and, in its extension, it limitates the

north-south connections to the non-motorized movements. The interaction between that garden, the

blocks parallels to the north avenue and the blocks of the dock west side (established as a paralell to

the waterfront) define the grid of our project, which is not an orthotropic grid, it’s a partially irregular

scheme.

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Main roads and streets (in order of importance)

Sea water

River and channels

Project area

Main park of the area

Roads and bridges not built yet

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CONNECTIONS, PATHS AND PUBLIC SPACE

__Connections and paths

Our project has a main use: residential,

although we can observe other uses on

our study area and on the surroundings, as

sport or cultural. The main residential

purpose let open the possibility to set an

area where the importance of the streets

it’s not for motor vehicles, otherwise for the

pedestrian and bikes traffic. That can be

exemplified in the lack of big avenues

inside the area, the main role of the central

garden and the typology of the roads on

its surroundings: narrow and sidewalk free,

which force the pedestrian to conquer the

road and, as a consequence, cut down

the speed of the motorized traffic. All these

facts are an answer to the sustainability

decision taken on the design process. Also,

as the uncomfortable passage on

north-south direction along the area as the

chosen typology for the streets it’s,

intrinsically, a call to not to use the private

car on the area: that’s limited to residents

and, probably, when the area it’s

completed, eventual visitors will have

another chances to reach the

neighborhood, such as public transport or

car parks on the surroundings.

On the other hand, it’s also important to point out that the direction of the streets has been taken in order to avoid the

influence of the predominant gusts of wind.

On the other side, connection with the surroundings of our area it’s not easy, due to geographic issues. That is solved with

bridges along the main axis of communication on the north side of our are, prolonging the coast axis of the eastern grid of

Dunkirk. On the southern part, the decision of not prolonging the grid, trying to diverse traffic to the other side of the west

border dock, it’s a key point to avoid traffic inside the area which doesn’t have as an origin or as a final point the area itself.

Main exits of the area

Lacking internal connections

Main axis east-west: main avenue

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SINGLE PARTS DESCRIPTION

Is considered that the intervention is divided into 3 episodes. The first one is located in the west, aligned with the waterfront. The

second one would be the centre, which has a large park as a focus and different buildings distributed around. Finally, the third

episode is the northern part in which the project main access roads are placed, linked by a avenue focus of this area.

__Waterfront

The episode is structured around the harbour,

which is a condition for the distribution and the

placement of buildings (in this case, all are

collective residential).

3 strips of buildings parallels to the maritime

border are plotted and between them different

sitting areas are articulated.

The first strip would be formed by the buildings

"The Gables". They are the 18 buildings which

represent the "picture of the project" due to their

characteristics sloping decks. These buildings are

enclosed with pumice stone walls, highly efficient

in heat and noise insulation, which makes

unnecessary the use of an additional layer of

heat insulation.

A

A'

Colective dwellings

Semi-private gardens

Green areas for users in the building surrounding

Open blockPier Road

2 lanes

+6.00m

+3.00m

±0.00m

+9.00m

+12.00m

+15.50m

+21.00m

Water

Sec AA'

img.11

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In the second strip, U-shaped buildings are located. This shape is able to

create in the interior of them a semiprivate green and room spaces. Besides

the deck is a roof garden, with that is achieved an area of enjoyment for

residents only.

The last strip corresponds to "45 collective

housing", these 45 collective housing were built

in the year 2012, and thhe height of this building

is 15 m and it is composed by 4 floors, ground

floor and parking spaces in the basement. This

strip is surrounded by lanes of traffic and serve as

a connection between this episode and the

central. img.15img.14

__Park Area

The main space of the neighborhood is filled by the

park, which assumes a centrality role indeed. The

disposition of all the terraced houses is designed in a

way where all of them are looking to the central green

area, creating the shape of the park.

This side of the area is based on different blocks

composed, mainly, of different parcels, each one with

a private owner. That means that the block is divided

in terraced houses, whose facades form the line to the

street, keeping behind them a private space as

gardens.

We can see different groups of dwellings on these areas. Mainly, are

composed by two floors and a height of nine meters more or less.

Also, all these terraced houses have as a common constant parking

spaces on the basement, avoiding to occupy more space on the

streets by the inhabitants cars, enhancing the idea of the street as a

space of living with a low rate of cars.

B B'

The shape of the roofing is useful to install an assisted natural cooling system which

consumes less energy than traditional mechanical cooling systems. The air is

extracted thanks to a propeller which draws it out from the dwellings. Before there is a

pedestrian walkway with hard pavement who gets the social connection to the sea.

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About the connections, it’s crucial to point out that the park is only crossed in north-south direction, in a pedestrian preference

street. Also, the streets which led to the park are narrow enough to be pedestrian and bike friendly, which is to say that the

roads of zone are not projected to host a big quantity of cars movements, limiting that movements to those which have the

area as an origin or a destination. The fact of that the streets put on the same level cars and pedestrians contributes to that

purpose.

On the zone there are, also, different elements which

contributes to create on this zone a central part of the

neigborhood, like the Sports Hall of the Grand Large

(which keeps an ancient facade of the old fitting

workshop of the docks) or the triangle-shaped building

which host School Guy Debeyre, although this one is

focused more on the external part of the

neighborhoods and the rest of the city.

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Terraced houses

StreetsShared space between pedestrians and vehicles, with priority

for the first group: low speed zone for cars.Public park

Position of centrality for the green public zone on the

neighborhood.

Area under the rule of each terraced house (usually, used as

a garden)

Private outdoor area

+6.15m

+3.00m

±0.00m

Sec BB'

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__Park Area

In this episode we can find an avenue known

with the name of Avenue des Bordées in French

that means an avenue bordered, in this case by

buildings in both sides.

Is one of the most important streets of this

urbanization as it is one of the three entrances.

This main street is crossed by other three smaller

streets, connecting the entrance with the centre

and the rest of the project.

As we have said in the beginning, the avenue is

bordered in both sides with linear houses. Behind

these houses we can find green zones and after

them another row of liner houses. This second

row of houses is not exactly parallel to the first

one, the block formed by the linear houses and

the green zones has trapeze shape.

The blocks in the north create the north

perimeter of the urbanization while the ones in

the south becomes a connection between the

evanue and the central park explained in the

episode before.

It's possible to affirm that this area is the less

advanced of the project in construction

development, as we can see on the picture on

the right, taken in September 2014.

Colective dwellings

Road

(2 lanes)

Green public space

Organic and sustainable

barrier between the road

and the buildings

Semi-private gardens

Green areas for users in the

building surrounding

C

C'

+7.00m

+4.00m

±0.00m

+10.00m

+13.15m

+18.15m

15

Sec CC'

img.19

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ANALYSIS AND CONCLUTIONS

After analyzing the project, as far as the project it’s not done at all, on Grand Large District we can observe strong

foundations to think on the success of the project, as far as we can consider on the positive way to sustainable neighborhoods

on small cities, like Dunkerque. As key points of our conclusion, we can mark out:

__An abandoned space previously dedicated to industry is refurbished and gets a new life.

__It’s a success to maintain certain edifications and the use of a certain architecture on some points which remember

the industrial past of the are.

__Allow to open the city to the sea, a difficult purpose to achieve on some parts of the city.

__Existence of diverse types and shapes of green zones, answering to an ecologic and sustainable idea: the center of

the area is a green area, thought as a dialogue point on the neighborhood.

__Lack of big avenues across the sector, creating a residential model with a, as a general principle, low building density

where pedestrians and bicycles are capital.

__Different types of edification on the same zone, trying also to mix diverse social context on the same space.

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REFERENCES

_ a+t Research Group (2011), DENSITY IS HOME. Vitoria-Gasteiz: a+t architecture publishers. [Language] English, Spanish

_Different authors (2005-2015), PSS-ARCHI.EU (Forum of discussion). http://bit.ly/GLD_A. [Language] French

_Jerome Boissonade (2011), LE DÈVELOPPMENT DURABLE FACE À SES ÉPREUVES (Published in “Espaces et sociétés”, nº147,

pp.57-75). Éditeur ERES. [Language] French

_ ANMA (2015), Logements Neptune (ANMA official page). http://bit.ly/GLD_B. [Language] French

_Dunkerque Grand Littoral (2015), Salle de Presse: Les archives 2000-2005. http://bit.ly/GLD_C. [Language] French

_Republique Française (2015), Géoportail. http://bit.ly/GLD_D

_Susse Georg, Gabriela Garza De Linde, Rebecca Pinheiro-Croisel, Franck Aggeri. (2011) ECO-

DISTRICTS AND SUSTAINABLE CITIES - INSTITUTIONALIZATION THROUGH EX-

PERIMENTATION (pp.1-38). Academy of Management Meeting. United States: Academy of Management Meeting

[Language] English

_M. Delplace (2011) Le quartier du Grand Large-Neptune à Dunkerque: Rénovation urbaine. (Published in “Territoire(s)

wallon(s) Avril 2011”, pp.203-213). Conférence Permanente du Développement. [Language] French

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IMAGE REFERENCES

img.1 Source: www.archdaily.com

img. 2 Source: http://a406.idata.over-blog.com

img. 3 Source: www.communaute-urbaine-dunkerque.fr

img. 4 Source: http://www.geoportail.gouv.fr/

img. 5 Source: www.jepi-dunkerque.fr

img. 6 Source: www.pss-archi.eu

img. 7 Source: www.styleofdesign.com

img. 8 Source: www.jepi-dunkerque.fr

img.9 Source: http://www.geoportail.gouv.fr/

Img.10 Source: www.communaute-urbaine-dunkerque.fr

img.11 Source: http://pss-archi.eu

img.12 Source: http://www.archdaily.com

img.13 Source: http://pss-archi.eu

img.14 Source: http://pss-archi.eu

img.15 Source: http://pss-archi.eu

img.16 Source: http://pss-archi.eu

img.17 Source: http://pss-archi.eu

img.18 Source: http://pss-archi.eu

img.19 Source: http://maps.google.com (screenshot)