DÉFENDONS LES PALANTINS

Le Palais (FR) - Winner

TEAM DATA

Associates: Marine Gate (FR), Yann Houllard (FR) – architect urbanist
Contributor: Fanny Picourlat (FR) – hyrdrologist

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TEAM PORTRAIT

VIDEO (by the team)

INTERVIEW
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1. How do you define the main issue of your project in relation with the theme “Living Cities Imagining architecture taking care of the milieus”? And in which way do you think your project can contribute to an ecological and/or social evolution?
Le Palais is a small port town, "laboratory for global issues". The problem could be defined : How can the reintroduction of living things in an urban context contribute to the development of a resilient territory adapted to the challenges of the 21st century? Our project is contributing to the development of architecture, urban planning by trying not to do more, but rather to do things differently.

2. How did the issues of your design and the questions raised by the site mutation meet?
The site is a blend of issues: tourism pressure (second homes, difficulty for islanders to find housing, shops vacant out of season), and climate change (rising sea levels, submersion). The development of the project has made it possible to priorities the issues at stake in order to meet the needs of the islanders by reintroducing natural environments into a highly impermeable city.

PROJECT:

Le bois du Génie : Symbiosis between nature and culture

3. Have you treated these issues previously? What were the reference projects that inspired yours?
Never all together. That's why we asked ourselves so many questions about the right attitude to adopt. Supported by the book Territoires submergés, published by Terre Urbaine, we envisaged deconstructing the first line of built-up areas to make way for the forces of nature, the ecosystems, biodiversity, to regain control over urbanized areas, as has been done in the Netherlands in particular.

SITE:

The sea, the port, the breakwater : a port town vulnerable

Built heritage : preserving the identity of the Palais

Tourism pressure : housing is not a secondary issue

4. How can your project be implemented together with the actors through a negotiated process and in time. How did you consider this issue in your project?
The project is based on the wishes expressed by the site's stakeholders at the start of the Europan process: plenty of determination, but a lack of territorial coherence to orchestrate the needs. Our project consists first and foremost of proposing a harmonious approach and an overall vision for the Palais, so that all the town's projects can work together to prepare the town for the future.

REFERENCES:

Parque Natural del Delta del Llobregat ©ISTOCK National Geographic Espana

Fontevraud-l'Abbaye : nature in towns © Arnauld DELACROIX

5. How did you form the team for the competition and if so what are the skills you associated?
The competition team grew out of Marine and Yann's desire to practice their profession as urban architects, while having the opportunity to express their ideas. Their vision of practice led them to propose a project based on solid scientific foundations, and to call on the skills of a hydrologist, Fanny, who was able to ensure the fair value of the diagnoses and solutions proposed for Le Palais.

6. How could this prize help you in your professional career?
This is the first time we've entered the Europan competition, and we're delighted to have won on a site whose issues are particularly close to our hearts. We see this prize as an opportunity to apply our ideas and our sensibility, based on the urban and human experience, in a concrete context, capable of responding to the major challenges of the 21st century, whatever their scale.

TEAM IDENTITY
Legal status:
Team name:
Average age of the associates: 26,5 years old

Has your team, together or separately, already conceived or implemented some projects and/or won any competition? if so, which ones?
Yes, we both started to do contest separately when we were studying architecture : for Yann Une nuit avec Jean-Pierre, "Construire en Pierre Structurelle - The stone never alone" France - 2019 (1st Prize), for Marine MSICS " Archibois contest " France - 2020. Since this, Yann did another contest Meeting Existantialism, "A house for ..." Competition - 2020 (Special Mention). Apart from these competitions, they work on domestic projects, again separately, such as Refurbishment of a house in Sant Just Desvern, Spain - 2023 or Construction of unifamilial housing on the Azahar Coast, Torreblanca, Spain - 2023 (Yann Houllard in collaboration with Lluis Montoliu Muñoz) for Yann. Marine, for her part, has created an extension of a house, as well as furniture design. It was not until Europan that Marine and Yann started working together.

WORKS: