The Amphitheatre district has a pivotal location in the street network of Metz. Two obligatory passageways under the railway tracks towards the city centre boulevards pass through it and it is the only southern access to the train station, which is a major access in terms of parking and people flow due to the high-speed TGV link. This strategic location has given the development project its orientation, the priority being to solve the problems of traffic and station-access circulations by using this future district.
The project is designed around a north-south crescent that prolongs the Passage de l’Amphitéâtre. This street fills out the existing block in order to recreate a coherent street façade. It features six pedestrian squares, including the piazza in front of the Centre Pompidou-Metz.
The project adopts an east-west permeability around this crescent, with repeated openings between the Sablons district and the Seille district that ensure water drainage down the natural slope. The buildings can therefore be organised in a layout that is perpendicular to the embankment and the crescent, creating regular crosswise openings in the street. Three green corridors that run across the new district create a continuity between the Seille park and the Sablons dwellings. A gently sloping piazza establishes a direct link between the Centre Pompidou (architect: Shigeru Ban) and the pedestrian passageways towards the station. It passes over the Rue aux Arènes, which will eventually become a very important multi-modal hub. To the north of the piazza, an urban garden provides the crescent with greenery and will accompany the Centre Pompidou.
Each public space holds major facilities: the piazza has the Centre Pompidou (to the east) and the Palais des Congrès (to the west), Place 3C has the multiplex, Place 2B and Place 5D have local facilities. Shops and businesses are installed on the ground floor of the buildings along the crescent to supply the new district.
The constructions are organised longwise or crosswise, depending on the plot. This system offers a variety of street-facing spaces that either look down onto the hearts of the blocks, all of which are open or planted, or are front-facing, notably those overlooking the squares.
A 20-meter-wide energy band has been created along the railway tracks to absorb pollution. It is a functional element that structures the site, reinforces the greenness of the area through a planted embankment, participates in rainwater management and houses energy production and distribution facilities, such as co-generation installations.
Rather than a strong, brutal project imposed on the territory, the attitude has been to make the site a positive space in the landscape, enabling a safe, coherent project to be phased in to the existing elements.