The new 12ème Escadre d’Aviation district is located on a railway wasteland that spans approximately 19 ha. With the exception of the Sernam freight depot on the north side, the land features no buildings. The city’s Urban Development Plan proposes to prolong the Boulevard des Belges across the railway tracks to form a ring road.
The project proposes to develop a park that lines the railway tracks. This green promenade enables pedestrian and cycle access to the city centre. The park opens onto Rue de la 12ème Escadre d’Aviation at the junction of the future railway crossing. This crossroads will act as new hub, providing access to the park. Local businesses will also be set up here, across from the existing schools in the neighbourhood.
The grid of the new district naturally prolongs the existing street network, creating blocks measuring 100m to 150m long. The buildings are built perpendicular to Rue de la 12ème Escadre d’Aviation in order to favour a north-south orientation for the housing.
Each block corresponds to a unit of approximately one hundred dwellings and each unit features a communal planted courtyard, beneath which there is space for all the residents’ cars to be parked.
It is possible to envisage a collective energy source for the entire district. This could be located in the freight depot, which is partly conserved, integrated into the park and turned into a sports and cultural facility.
Three types of housing are provided: public housing along Rue de la 12ème Escadre d’Aviation, which forms a continual façade; a mix of private and social housing on either side of the planted courtyards; and individual housing in a strip running alongside the park.
All the housing will be ecologically designed with south-facing living rooms, inter-climatic conservatories for the houses, outside insulation, solar captors on the roofs and rainwater collection, the aim being to have it classified as “low-energy” housing.
6 passive buildings are located at regular intervals along Rue de la 12ème Escadre d’Aviation, articulated around the entry points to the new district.