LABO RABO

2021
Team point of view
Grenoble is a region fully affected by climate change, with increasingly frequent heat waves and a growing scarcity of water resources. The Rabot, a key figure in the construction of the city since its inception, has an important role to play in facing the climate challenge collectively. Driven by a scientific and practical approach, the transformation of the city-mountain into a laboratory influences the everyday landscape of the city-plain with concrete solutions for the quality of urban life. The laboratory takes care of both the existing and traces of the past. Thus, vacant buildings, hardened soils, inert waste or wooded wastelands become inexhaustible resources to change our ways of conceiving the city.

Jury Point of View
The jury praised the programmatic strength of the project, which quite clearly reflects the priorities of the site and of the city. The idea of a laboratory as a tool for the observation of the living world and climate change, of collaboration and space management, echoes Grenoble’s scientific culture. The project was judged to be well-rounded, although modest in architectural terms. The team cleverly demonstrates the tension between the mountains and the city centre. The staging of the topology and the views accords well with the tradition of Alpine geography.