ÉVREUX

SCALES — L/S - Urban / architectural LOCATION — The Chartraine axis, from the train station to the university POPULATION — City 49,722 inhab. STRATEGIC SITE — 180 ha / PROJECT SITE — 32 ha SITE PROPOSED BY — CA Évreux Portes de Normandie, city of Évreux, with Normandie Region, Eure Départemental Council, SNCF Réseau (rail network) Chambre de Commerce et d’Industrie (CCI) Portes de Normandie, l’Etablissement Public Foncier (EPF) de Normandie, CAUE 27, and the University OWNER OF THE SITE — CA Évreux Portes de Normandie, city of Évreux, SNCF Réseau, Eure Départemental Council POST-COMPETITION PHASE — Studies of urban and architectural feasibility, guideline plan, and/or development project for public spaces

Europan France

1. WHAT ARE THE GOALS OF THE SITE MUTATION? Victim of deindustrialization and urban sprawl, the city is seeking to regenerate economic development by capitalizing in on its know-how and heritage assets: heritage in the service of a territory-wide economic base and the economy in service of the enhancement of heritage. The station area and its progressive multimodal status is a social, cultural, economic and real estate opportunity to revitalise the city and its territory. Between two urban entities, the station and city centre, the city has grasped the importance of defining a strong fundamental public space, with productive and therefore attractive streets.

2. HOW CAN THE SITE BE INTEGRATED IN THE ISSUES OF PRODUCTIVE CITIES? HOW DO YOU CONSIDER THE PRODUCTIVITY ISSUE? A genuine “frontier zone”, uncrossable and even inhospitable, the station area has become an important space that rhythms daily life in the city while at the same time a public space suffering from a lack of definition. It is question of proposing in this context the structure of an urban diversity that avoids mono-functional programmes that could block the sector again. How to introduce new activities, complementary and diverse, using both the influence of major transport infrastructures and their development potential, while relying on the fundamental urban, landscaped and cultural heritage of the city?

3. HAVE YOU ALREADY DEFINED A SPECIFIC PROCESS FOR THE URBAN AND/OR ARCHITECTURAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE SITE AFTER EUROPAN? The process will start with a presentation of the projects to the city and the agglomeration. Then, a period of consultation should follow because there are in the 3 prize-winning projects many proposals and ideas that must be debated and deepened.

Underlying Cultures

AUTHOR(S) — Clémence Aubrée (FR), Léna Hinault-Kaiser (FR), Architects

ÉVREUX (FR) — RUNNER-UP

CONTACT — Saint-Brieuc (FR) T. +33 688040072, atelier.calhk@gmail.com

TEAM POINT OF VIEW — The city of Évreux has developed along the valley of the River Iton, in a territory made of large agricultural plateaux. Today, roads as well as urban and commercial areas have developed and spread beyond the valley. The project Underlying cultures has 3 objectives, one suggestion being to heal the territory in order think about Évreux as a productive city. The urban process is both about densifying the valley sector with mixed planning of housing, facilities and commercial activities; and about protecting plateaux from urbanisation. The key issue is to address the porous nature of the city borders with new agricultural activities respectful of the environment. The result of which will reinforce and add value to the landscape formed by the hills with various agricultural activities.

JURY POINT OF VIEW — A project tied to the territory and testifying to an astute analysis of its potentials. The subject of agriculture and the reinvestment of neglected spaces is relevant and responds to the problems of the site, at the scale of both the larger territory and the train station.

The Spread-Out Train Station

AUTHOR(S) — François Massin Castan (FR), Julie Travers (FR), Architects CONTRIBUTOR(S) — Mélanie Richer (FR), Student in Architecture CONTACT — Nantes (FR) T. +33 787201580 framascas@gmail.com, www.framascas.com

TEAM POINT OF VIEW — Our initial posture is to consider the productive features of a city as its capacity to generate exchanges of any kind, favouring the meeting of users with varied chronotopes. For it is these exchanges —whether of goods, services, or knowledge— that make the city. Set by the valley, the urban fabric of Évreux highlights a sum of longitudinal flows that we wish to reconsider by putting in place three tools, allowing various chronotopes to meet: polycentric catalysts with mobility and activity issues, proactive interventions located in one North-South strategic axis, and hybrid dynamics based on shared knowledge between users for the renewal of the train station. These tools are urban articulations of collective interest aiming to reveal existing forces and enhance upcoming synergies.

ÉVREUX (FR) — SPECIAL MENTION

AUTHOR(S) — Adrien Ory (FR), Estelle Sauvaitre (FR), Noémie Corbel (FR), Architects CONTACT — Nantes (FR) T. +33 628910184 , socle.atelier@gmail.com

TEAM POINT OF VIEW — Confronted with the city centre’s falling commercial legacy, in favour of a more competitive and more sought after suburban lifestyle, which qualities bring to the train station area in order to reassert the city centre’s productivity in an average town as Évreux? The train station is a key point to dispatch flows. Spreading it out allows for the emergence of a shared space between travellers, inhabitants and workers. It is a tool to reconnect a territory from relying on what already exists here and there. The Spread-Out Train Station seeks to create a rhythm, a transplant on the existing historical and constructed landscape structures at its breaking points. It asserts its own particularities against generic metropolitan train station areas by a mantra: Being productive is being collective!