Etienne Menguy – 7th semester – 16 March 2018
8.2.2. Targets It was possible to achieve many things with such a surface in the heart of the city. The final plan was, as we have seen, focused on a vision of complete urban diversity. Not separating offices, residences, university spaces, cultural and commercial spaces, but establishing them judiciously. Connected by the Loire, Nantes and Saint-Nazaire aimed to be, together, a new big metropolis. In Saint-Nazaire there are the largest shipyards in France, this close relationship between those two large cities is vein which must had to be exploited. 8.2.2.1.
Workers
"The Ile de Nantes is an urban laboratory which prefigures the city of tomorrow, at once efficient, sustainable, attractive and innovative... an animated area for the people of Nantes, featuring richly diverse neighbourhoods." (Johanna Rolland, 2017) Several offices projects went out from the earth through years. At the difference of Ørestad, Nantes had a different vision of the working activities that want establish their offices on the Island of Nantes. Indeed, they wanted to mix the functions to contribute at a social cohesion. Creating 350 000 square meters of activities they wanted to attract 15 000 new employees. Many buildings were mixed between offices and housing, only a few of them are just dedicated to offices. The companies MAN (Trucks and Bus Company), INSEE (National Institute of statistics and economical study) or ALSTOM installed their offices in the island, the proximity to the train station and the airport is perfect for this kind of company. Not on this island but near to it connected by a bridge the future Euronantes is in development and have for purpose to “promote the hosting of a European-scale business centre, in a diverse neighbourhood of urban quality and landscaping, in the immediate vicinity of the TGV station.” (SAMOA, 2008)
Figure 15: We can see here, the Euronantes district connected by different bridges on both sides of the Island. Source: Nantes development
Euronantes is a project which is completely in part of the Island project even if he is not only built on it. They have thought the project in correlation with the creation of this European business district reckoning it to be on the island. So that, they created the district on both sides of the rivers. In total it’s 70 000 square meters th at will be constructing. 19
