La Grande Mosaique, MVRDV wins transformation 600ha in Caen

SPLA, the public development agency in charge of the transformation of Presqu’ile de Caen, has chosen MVRDV out of 3 competitors to transform the 600ha area consisting of former industry and ports. The MVRDV plan envisions the future of Caen Presqu’ile as a collection of gardens surrounded by intensified urban area. It envisions Caen as an attractive city with a connection to the sea whilst interventions improve landscape, environment, mobility and connections. The project is planned to last ten years or longer.

MVRDV extended the scope by widening the transformation area beyond the geographic boundaries of the peninsula and sketching a vision also for the adjacent areas. The resulting plan titled ‘La Grande Mosaique’ is strongly based on respect for the existing structures and foresees realistic, careful and friendly urbanism. A large number of small yet well coordinated interventions results in a gigantic mosaic which introduces new qualities on a large urban scale.

Projects proposed are: Transformation of former factories into a collection of gardens, a highly connected mobility plan based largely on ‘soft’ traffic, a number of new pedestrian bridges, a re-reconstruction of the city centre which was rebuilt after the Second World War in a rush and an improved connection to the sea. This ambition, titled ‘Caen la Mer’ is symbolic for the plan which is defined by the small scale interventions that result in a large scale structure vision for Greater Caen.

Factories become gardens.

Caen Presqu’ile starts near the historic centre of Caen and follows the valley of the River Orne which connects the city to the sea, not far from the D-day beaches. The MVRDV plan for the 600ha brown fields is a structure vision extending over the city of Caen and the towns of Mondeville and Hérouville Saint Clair. The transformation carries the ambition to fundamentally enhance attractiveness of Greater Caen. The project will take over a decade yet a number of projects for the Presqu’ile has already been started, such as the new multimedia Library (by OMA) and a regional High Court (by BE Hauvette and Pierre Champenois).

“We have unanimously chosen the most impressive plan” said Philippe Duron, Mayor of Caen, who said that the jury liked the “fresh view” on urbanism. After having worked on a first study which started in March 2011, the MVRDV team won this competition from François Leclerq with JDS and Djamel Klouche with AUC/SLETH.

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MVRDV

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Co-architect Diagram, Pro Developpement urban programmers, landscape architect Territoires, sustainability and engineering consultant IOSIS and urban strategist Philippe Cabane.

Winy Maas, Jacob van Rijs, Nathalie de Vries. MVRDV

MVRDV was founded in 1993 by Winy Maas, Jacob van Rijs and Nathalie de Vries in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. The practice engages globally in providing solutions to contemporary architectural and urban issues. A highly collaborative, research-based design method involves clients, stakeholders and experts from a wide range of fields from early on in the creative process. The results are exemplary, outspoken projects, which enable our cities and landscapes to develop towards a better future.

The products of MVRDV’s unique approach to design vary, ranging from buildings of all types and sizes, to urban plans and visions, numerous publications, installations and exhibitions. Built projects include the Netherlands Pavilion for the World EXPO 2000 in Hannover; the Market Hall, a combination of housing and retail in Rotterdam; the Pushed Slab, a sustainable office building in Paris’ first eco-district; Flight Forum, an innovative business park in Eindhoven; the Silodam Housing complex in Amsterdam; the Matsudai Cultural Centre in Japan; the Unterföhring office campus near Munich; the Lloyd Hotel in Amsterdam; the Ypenburg housing and urban plan in The Hague; the Didden Village rooftop housing extension in Rotterdam; the music centre De Effenaar in Eindhoven; the Gyre boutique shopping center in Tokyo; a public library in Spijkenisse; an international bank headquarters in Oslo, Norway; and the iconic Mirador and Celosia housing in Madrid.

Current projects include a variety of housing projects in the Netherlands, France, China, India, and other countries; a community centre in Copenhagen and a cultural complex in Roskilde, Denmark, a public art depot in Rotterdam, the transformation of a mixed use building in central Paris, an office complex in Shanghai, and a commercial centre in Beijing, and the renovation of an office building in Hong Kong. MVRDV is also working on large scale urban masterplans in Bordeaux and Caen, France and the masterplan for an eco-city in Logroño, Spain. Larger scale visions for the future of greater Paris, greater Oslo, and the doubling in size of the Dutch new town Almere are also in development.

MVRDV first published a manifesto of its work and ideas in FARMAX (1998), followed by MetaCity/Datatown (1999), Costa Iberica (2000), Regionmaker (2002), 5 Minutes City (2003), KM3 (2005), Spacefighter (2007) and Skycar City (2007), and more recently The Vertical Village (with The Why Factory, 2012) and the firm’s first monograph of built works MVRDV Buildings (2013). MVRDV deals with issues ranging from global sustainability in large scale studies such as Pig City, to small, pragmatic architectural solutions for devastated areas such as New Orleans.

The work of MVRDV is exhibited and published worldwide and has received numerous international awards. One hundred architects, designers and urbanists develop projects in a multi-disciplinary, collaborative design process which involves rigorous technical and creative investigation. MVRDV works with BIM and has official in-house BREEAM and LEED assessors.

Together with Delft University of Technology, MVRDV runs The Why Factory, an independent think tank and research institute providing an agenda for architecture and urbanism by envisioning the city of the future.