B.A.S.E.

2015

Team point of view
Once a secret area kept away from the city, Metz Frescaty BA128 opens up to the Metz population. Through the long fences, we used to see the embankment and the runway. Now that it is open, the extraordinary territory might paradoxically intimidate. Beyond the fences the visitors might feel overwhelmed in this 400ha land, shaped by a history of conflicts. The BA128 indeed needs to be domesticated. Its location between urban and rural encouraged us to design it as a hyphen bringing city and countryside together.
The B.A.S.E. (Balance / Agility / Serendipity / Experimentation) approach cares about both these major issues. Sociability and appropriation shape the project and provide a fertile ground, where creativity and local initiatives can flourish.
Propositions from the B.A.S.E. approach are set in this framework. The main part of the project –named Base Agricole 128ha– embodies all the principles of our perspective. It involves the re-use of 128 hectares of land for local farming. All the citizens will be invited to take part to the project conception and build the foundations for a local, social and solidarity-based economy.

Jury point of view
The project is a response to an unfavourable economic climate. Local consumption is indeed one of the keys to revitalize the territories.
Instead of “Let’s buy more”, the project claims: “Let’s build better”. In response to urban sprawl, suburbanization and land take, the team suggest “equilibrium”, “short distribution channels”, and “re-use”.

2016-2024
The starting-point of the process was a workshop with the 3 rewarded teams. A 2-day presentation of the workshop results was given to the elected representatives of Metz Métropole to communicate on the post-Europan processes, initiatives and public orders.
After the workshop, the 3 teams participated to a public market in the form of a multi-stakeholder master agreement on the “implementation of the follow-up of the Europan competition, preliminary studies and project management for the conversion of the Frescaty plateau”. The Contracting Authority is composed of Metz Métropole and the Etablissement Public Foncier Lorrain.
Several subsequent markets were given to the teams, which work now independently:
1- Project management mission on the ZAC (i.e. joint development zone) on the site and mission of coordinator architect-urban planner (BA 128 Résonances Économes)
2- Studies for the creation and creation of a ZAC on the Southern part of the plateau and mission of coordinator architect-urban planner (Cycle-Sol-Air)
3- Design studies for the rearrangement of the entrances to the plateau (B.A.S.E.)
4- Prior programmatic and urban studies on the redevelopment of the plateau (Cycle-Sol-Air)
5- Studies for the design of works of public spaces and project management for the ZAC South of the plateau (Cycle-Sol-Air)
6- Project management mission for the rehabilitation of the villas of the Service des Essences des Armées - SEA (BA 128 Résonances Économes)
7- Project management mission for the rehabilitation of the gatekeeper’s lodge on the plateau (BA 128 Résonances Économes) - Building permit filed in 2021
8- Feasibility and program study for the rehabilitation of the former control tower of the plateau (BA 128 Résonances Économes) - End 2020, submissions of the phase 2 for the feasibility and programming of the Control Tower
9- Creation of a car park at the entrance to Orly, a park of approximately 1 ha and on the landscaping of the roads in the Base Vie sector of the Plateau de Frescaty (BA 128 Résonances Économes) - End of 2020, presentation of the preliminary project