Vichy Val d'Allier

How can the site contribute to the adaptable city?

The site combines the problems of recovering an industrial site, of adapting this site to new economic activities and of transforming an area that has long been closed to local people. The dimensions of the project site (more than 100 ha) require the development of a transformation strategy that is flexible in its process, modular in its use of space and adaptable over time, able to adjust to different implementation timeframes. These dimensions call for urban and landscape choices that can maintain a certain autonomy between different parts of the site in terms of access and programming. The adaptation and reuse of a notable industrial workshop will be an opportunity to test the architectural possibilities offered by this building and the types of activities and uses it can accommodate in the short or long term.

Vichy val d’allier strategy 

The Vichy Val d’Allier conurbation combines economic activities linked to well-being, relaxation and leisure, with dynamic industrial activities : cosmetics, agri-food, biomedical, electronics and engineering. The Montpertuis Palazol site was occupied from 1937 by the firm Manurhin Défense, a subsidiary of GIAT industries, specialising in the manufacture of arms and munitions. Closed in 2006, the site is currently undergoing explosives safety work which will be completed in 2015. Recovering the site is a major priority for the town’s economic development at the heart of the Clermont-Ferrand Riom Vichy metropolitan region. VVA wishes to reopen an attractive zone on the town’s left bank to the population and to introduce new uses, in an area where road access is set to improve. 

Site definition

Five minutes from Vichy town centre and near an open-air sports complex, the project site (128 ha) is part of a SEVESO II classified protected zone (400 ha - strategic site). Because of the dangerous nature of the former industry, the prohibition on building in this area has restricted urbanisation to the left bank of the Allier. The explosives safety measures currently underway include excavation work to neutralise the traces of explosives present in numerous places. The site contains 160 buildings constructed at different times. Most of them are set for demolition, since they have little potential for conversion and will be expensive to refurbish. This slightly undulating plateau stands within an entirely wooded environment, overlooking the Allier Valley. It occupies a place in the communal memory of the residents and the people who worked there over the years.

Adaptability : main elements to take into account

Adaptability of the existing fabric: consider the building and landscape legacy of an industrial site that has been closed to the population and protected for security reasons for more than 70 years. 
Adaptability of an unusual landscape: devise a transformation that reconciles reoccupation with an attention to nature, the river and vegetation.
Economic adaptability: find a flexible method of development that can adapt to the needs of different economic actors.  
Programmatic adaptability: define a strategy of conversion and an evolving process that can adapt to several types of use in space and over time.
Adaptability to new uses: consider how the area will be opened up to the population and accommodate new uses, compatible with the site’s economic and industrial character.
Vichy Val d’Allier’s objective is to maintain the site’s productive and economic role, by adapting it to new activities.  The remit is to devise a new-generation industrial campus that mixes different types of economic entities (from 200 to 10,000 m²) and several types of programme, including specific housing and services generated by the activities themselves. At present, these activities cannot be fully identified, hence the need to design a gradual and adaptable process of conversion. Finally, the opening up of the site to the population and to the town is an opportunity to think about the future of the left bank in relation to local and metropolitan dynamics, in relation to its urban and landscape components, in particular by protecting areas that are currently not urbanised.