The lightweight mesh skin façade of the Île Seguin unfurls around the island as a memory of the former volumetry of the old Renault factory. It is both a hybrid work, produced by a sophisticated construction method, and an artistic installation designed by a team of both architects and artists.
The structure does not directly refer to the site’s industrial and social past and merely evokes the volume of the Renault workers’ former citadel. Its immateriality suggests the presence of these long-gone workers, whose memory lingers on and appears through discreet elements in the mesh (texts engraved on the structure, immersed images, a soundtrack).
The mesh is an immaterial skin composed of stainless steel bars and cables which are more or less thick, depending on their use, and serve as supports for lighting. It has a modular weft that varies in relation to the different areas it crosses: in front of the public areas the structure is light (tensegrity), in front of the built areas it adapts through a gradual transition. It takes planned constructions into account and gives coherency to this island in the making. This work-in-progress dimension is apparent in the mode of construction: the proposed structure is autonomous and can adapt to the development programmes that will gradually be implemented on the island.