Off the beaten tracks

TEAM DATA

Team Representative: Océane Follador (FR) – urbanist architect 
Associate: Maël Clavier (FR) – architect

1 rue de Martray, 44000 Nantes (FR) 
+33 626 5515804 – follador.oceane@gmail.com 

See the complete listing of portraits here 
See the site page here 

^{O. Follador & M. Clavier}

INTERVIEW
^{Click on the images to enlarge}

1. How did you form the team for the competition?

After several collaborations as part of their common architect studies at the school of ENSA Nantes, the 14th edition of Europan was for Océane Follador and Maël Clavier the opportunity of a new partnership.  

2. How do you define the main issue of your project, and how did you answer on this session main topic: the place of productive activities within the city?

Les chemins de traverse /// off the beaten tracks is a process project that uses public space as a support for the transformation of the project site. The layout of the 3 tracks and their themes are as many hooks points, skeleton fostering the creation of productive initiatives emerging from the territories. The project highlights potential productive projects such as: shared gardens, a recycling plant, a "last mile" platform...
 

3. How did this issue and the questions raised by the site mutation meet?

The main problematic of our project is a direct result of the questions set by the site, its morphology and its urban functioning, changing necessities. The layout of the 3 tracks is based on a fine analysis of the urban fabric and its potential for mutation.

4. Have you treated this issue previously? What were the reference projects that inspired yours?

At the evocation of public space as skeleton of territories's mutations, the Ile de Nantes urban project is THE reference project, whether it concerns the method used or the urban ambitions and conveyed policy. Agrocité and the R-urban project are also part of the inspiring projects concerning resident involvement and urban agro-ecology. Its dismantling, in favor of a parking project despite the innovative aspect of this project, reveals the difficulties that can be encountered by alternative projects. Finally, the problem of heritage reconstruction, defended by the IBA Emscher Park in the Ruhr Valley, was a source of inspiration, especially for the old pit.
 

5. Urban-architectural projects like the ones in Europan can only be implemented together with the actors through a negotiated process and in time. How did you consider this issue in your project?

This issue is specifically addressed in the first phase of the project. The sharing track, the initiatory layout of Les chemins de traverse /// off the beaten tracks is conceived as a tool of project ownership. More over, the layout of the 3 tacks is part of the plot framework. It order to open up and bring about the transfer of certain strategic sites, particularly the large rights-of-way (MIN, former quarry, shopping center) for which a voluntarist approach must necessarily be co-constructed and displayed.  

6. Is it the first time you have been awarded a prize at Europan? How could this help you in your professional career?

If this edition is the first for Maël Clavier, It is the second participation for Océane Follador as she was mentioned with the project «B.A.S.E.» in Metz (FR), during Europan 13. This second reward in E14 session, offers a certain professional recognition and increased visibility for the Atelier des Possibles, the urban planning workshop created to support the operational follow-up of the conversion of the old Metz Air Base 128 (E13).