The aim of this development is to make the Esplanade Général de Gaulle a major and active city-centre square. This new square is the biggest in Rennes (162m x 0180m) and forms an important link with the town centre. It is woven into the urban network, helps north-south circulation (town centre – train station) and gives access to major cultural facilities (Champs Libres–NEC, a multiplex cinema, the Liberté theatre, the Maison du Champ de Mars). Its vocation to accommodate temporary events (e.g., circuses, fairs, trade fairs) meant that it had to be left as an entirely open space and precluded planting trees or installing fixed street furniture.
The square is therefore structured around five poles, materialised by circular zones on the ground and specific lighting. These poles favour public gatherings around special events (e.g., street theatre) and offer waiting and meeting areas close to the different facilities, for which they form a kind of piazza. The main pedestrian paths cross over them, naturally integrating them into the general circulation. The spaces on the outskirts of square are redeveloped and closely linked to its geometry by structured passageways. The 12-theatre cinema complex at the edge of the square reinforces the Esplanade’s vocation as a cultural site.
Traffic around the square is simplified and constrained by pedestrian areas. Construction of a 800-vehicle car park helps to ease access to the neighbourhood and its facilities. Wooden kiosks and bus shelters frame and punctuate the tree-lined walk.
The layout of this vast available space generates meetings and exchanges and gives substance to daily life in the city by paying attention to the different uses it features. Moreover, the artwork by Oulipo—enigmatic words written randomly on giant stainless steel studs fixed into the ground—enables pedestrians to create their very own stories as they make their way across the square.