Located in La Vache Noire, a district built up around a main roadway axis with few green spaces, the programme provides an opportunity to create an architecture as landscape in the heart of an old urban wasteland.
Symbol of a new generation of shopping centers, the project places considerable emphasis on its mixed use and highlights its environnemental concerns by transforming the roof over the retail areas into a garden, creating a new 1.3 hectare public space.
The roof folds in on itself, and slopes down to provide access from the adjacent streets. To the north, 78 housing units overlook the centre.
With its 44 000 m2 of retail surfaces and 1 750 parking spaces, the building take the dynamic form of a topographic movement, providing a grassy platform in the central area, a flower meadow, a slope planted with fruit trees and a wood clad belvedere to the south. The building's main entrance is clearly indicated from the metropolitan intersection by its soaring, pointed roof. Acting as an urban beacon, the projecting structure provides an invitation to enter the centre where a "soft-white" glow reflects off the spaces and finish materials, increasing ans magnifying the ambient light.
