Inessa Hansch worked on the project redevelopment of the public spaces and urban furniture of the point of the presqu’île de Caen (peninsula of Caen), where the Alexis-de-Tocqueville library, designed by OMA, has just been inaugurated. In conjunction with this project she also delivered a new space dedicated to boating activities.
Encircled by the Saint-Pierre basin, the maritime canal and the Victor-Hugo channel, the future Palais de Justice and the Alexis-de-Tocqueville library stand on the 11 hectares of a former wasteland at the far end of the Caen Peninsula.
Bibliothèque Alexis de Tocqueville is a public library for the metropolitan region Caen la Mer in Normandy, France. The 12,000 m2 multimedia library is located at the tip of the peninsula that extends out from the city of Caen to the English Channel. Its key position – between the city’s historic core and an area of Caen that is being developed – supports the city’s ambition for the library to become a new civic center. The library’s glass facade visually connects the adjacent park, pedestrian pathway and waterfront plaza to the interior and together with two large ground floor entrances at both sides of the building, enables a fluid interaction of the library with its surroundings. On the upper floors, the urban belvedere provides unobstructed views in all four directions.
La Grande Mosaïque, MVRDV’s project in Caen, France, has been in development for two years and has already seen a series of projects under construction within the masterplan, with many more breaking ground in the coming years. The 600 hectare masterplan tackles the problems caused by the area’s heavy industry and rapid de-industrialisation, integrating the historic aspects of the site with the natural environment. The development includes a mix of housing, offices, mixed-use buildings, public spaces and infrastructure; all stitched together and laid out using a spatial planning tool, ‘the offset’, created by MVRDV. In a move to engage locals, an exhibition of MVRDV’s works and Le Grand Mosaïque is open to public viewing in ‘Le Pavillon’, an exhibition space in the old city port, until the 13th March 2016.
MVRDV Design Team: Winy Maas, Jacob van Rijs, Nathalie de Vries, with Frans de Witte, Bertrand Schippan (PM), Maxime Enrico, Marie Saladin, Pauline Degrand Guillaud, Linda Andersson and Johan Schweig
Co-Architect: Diagram Architecture, Paris, FR
Landscape Architect: Territoires, Paris, FR
Urbanists: Pro Developpment, Paris, FR
Infrastructure: Egis, Paris, FR
Sociologist: Philippe Cabane, Paris, FR
Model: Made by Mistake, Rotterdam, The Netherlands (more…)
The Bibliothèque Multimédia à Vocation Régionale (BMVR) is located at the tip of the peninsula, a focal point of the new development in Caen. The library is designed with two intersecting pedagogic axes which encourage maximum interface between disciplines : human sciences, science and technology, literature, and the arts. With its four protruding planes, the building points to four landmark points in Caen (the Abbaye-aux-Dames in the north, the central train station to the south, the Abbaye-aux-Hommes in the east and the area of new construction in the west), and becomes a symbolic centre for the city. The library consists of two intersecting reading rooms, which encourage maximum interface between the programmed disciplines: human sciences, science and technology, literature, and the arts. In the exterior spaces created by these intersecting reading rooms, the library interacts with its surroundings, opening up to a park, pedestrian pathway and waterfront plaza.
Bibliothèque Multimédia à Vocation Régionale - (c) OMA
Site: At the tip of the peninsula in Caen, Quai Caffarelli, Rue Dumont d’Urville, Rue Suède et Norvège
Program: Library 12,700m2 (SHON)
Engineering: Iosis
Sustainability: Elioth
Scenography : Ducks
Acoustic: DHV
Renderings / moving images: ArtefactoryLab
Partner: Rem Koolhaas
Associate in charge: Clément Blanchet
Project manager: Dirk Peters
Team: Marc Dahmen, Noémie Laviolle, Clément Périssé, Simon de Jong, Jos Reinders, Joshua Boyd, Cristina Ampatzidou, Nils Christa, Alice Grégoire, Anthony Joyeux, Guillaume Durand
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