The realm of the suburban : the experimental territory of the XX th century Sénart s case «Time - Space - Existence» Urban study & experimentation by PARC ARCHITECTES Exhibition at Palazzo Mora by Global Art Affairs Foundation Date June 7 th - November 23 rd 2014 Address Palazzo Mora, Strada Nova 3659, Venezia Website www.palazzomora.org
The city that could have been The city that could have been (Image : PARC Architectes Textures from : Jacques-Louis David, Caspar David Friedrich, Théodore Rousseau)
SÉNART : SATELLITE CITY Set in a rural area, this city would have been an alternative to Paris. It would have combined metropolitan advantages with pastoral landscapes. This independent city could have been structured by the void. Common areas would have been programmatic parks. A large circular lake recalling Annecy or Hangzhou would have made Sénart a worldwide known city. The city that could have been Paris Utopias at wide scale & Romantic landscape During the 1960 s, France experienced a tremendous boom. Paris was growing very rapidly. The French government decided to create new towns on the periphery in order to contain this growth. Urban growth strategy was situated at the territorial scale. All architectural and urban theories of the time were tested. The planned communities were growing at high speed. According to the doxa of late modernism, urban had to be absorbed by architecture and infrastructure would become aboveground slab. An ideal utopia imposed on farmland separated nature from culture. These planning experiments failed to create the new urban life awaited. Sénart
The city that could have been Model Natural light coming in through patios and PROJECT Island of Utopia perforated walls EXPERIMENTATION Create a world with its own rules from scratch STATUS Tried many times Always a failure at the end DESIGNED BY Thomas Moore, 1516 PROJECT Connected axis EXPERIMENTATION Focus on education, gardens and industry : the three columns of suburban quest STATUS Unrealized DESIGNED BY Alain Sarfati & Witold Zandfos for Melun-Sénart International Competition, 1987 Paris Sénart PROJECT 5 New towns around Paris EXPERIMENTATION Contain the Paris population growth at the State scale through the development of new peripheral communities STATUS Not completed Disappointing DESIGNED BY The French State, 1960 s PROJECT Round table EXPERIMENTATION Suggest a geometry that invites to conciliation and discussion among city s actors STATUS Unrealized DESIGNED BY Jean-Paul Viguier & Jean-François Jodry for Melun-Sénart International Competition, 1987 PROJECT Urban graft EXPERIMENTATION Adapt the biological model of growth to the organization of urban infrastructure STATUS Unrealized DESIGNED BY Witold Zandfos & MIASTO,1969 PROJECT Strategy of the void EXPERIMENTATION Save the void since suburbanization is unpredictable STATUS Unrealized DESIGNED BY Rem Koolhaas & OMA for Melun-Sénart International Competition, 1987
The city that happened The city that happened (Image : PARC Architectes Textures from : David Hockney, Henri Matisse, Andy Warhol)
SÉNART : PARKS NETWORKED The city has not developed according to the strategies thought at the urban scale. It grew from successive addition of solitary buildings surrounded by green spaces. Each of those parks is a basic component of the suburban city. Urban sprawl follows the infrastructures. Suburbanization is defined as parks networked. Asphalt roads lead to the plots. The main user of this city is the car. Everything is designed for its greatest happiness. The city that happened Land opportunism & Pop gardens Latest of those planned communities, Sénart was seeking a theoretical line. But land opportunism killed this great ambition. The new city grew through small concerted development zones financed by private money. The State financed infrastructures. Commercial models imported from the United States flourished : suburban houses, malls and industrial areas. This mass installation in the fields spread a collection of standardized buildings linked by road networks. The artificial environment turns the countryside into a pleasure garden. Culture takes precedence over nature. The suburban town exclusively relies on its stewardship networks : water, energy, telecommunications and transport. It creates a sprawling environment of parks network where everything seems both similar and unique, both fully functional and totally fictional.
The city that happened Model Natural light coming in through patios and perforated walls PROJECT Road infrastructure EXPERIMENTATION Build a car-oriented city to sustain economic growth STATUS Being extended COMMISSIONED BY The State PROJECT Collective housing EXPERIMENTATION Offer the poorest the possibilities to enjoy the suburban dream using modern architecture : stack private properties to create density and preserve green spaces STATUS Stopped COMMISSIONED BY Public development PROJECT Industrial zones EXPERIMENTATION Gather activities and nuisances STATUS Being outsourced COMMISSIONED BY Public and private development PROJECT Individual housing EXPERIMENTATION Give everybody a palace with its own garden and generate debt and consumption STATUS Being extended COMMISSIONED BY Private development PROJECT Sénart mall (Carré Sénart) EXPERIMENTATION Absorb everyday consumer life in an air-conditioned sphere STATUS Done Conclusive (10 million visitors) COMMISSIONED BY Private development, 2000 PROJECT Green Park estate EXPERIMENTATION Create a mixed-use development (housing, golf course, hotel, offices) in order to increase the value of the area STATUS Not finished Inconclusive COMMISSIONED BY Private development, 1988
The city that can be The city that can be (Image : PARC Architectes Textures from : Andreas Gefeller, Alex Maclean, Olafur Eliasson)
SÉNART : NETWORK OF PARKS The city that can be The development strategy is situated in between existing entities. Linear cities connect the urban areas. A park system balances urbanization. Both types of networks (infrastructural and natural) are not juxtaposed but woven. Nature is integrated into the city as a component of its ecosystem. City and nature are connected, creating a network of parks. Experimental links & Ecosystemic realism The suburban town of Sénart superimposes three layers of urban paradigms : the historic village, the optimized modern city and the suburban individualism. To deal with its past, a layer of new experimentations needs to be added to the city. It is neither about projecting at a wide territory scale, nor about adding new architectural icons. It is about paying a particular attention to link the existing separated components in order to reunite individual housing, commercial and industrial areas. It is about redefining our exchange relationship with nature. Relations are reversed : autonomous fictional parks become a common network of heterogeneous united parks.
The city that can be Model Natural light coming in through patios and perforated walls PROJECT Linear City EXPERIMENTATION Turn roads into streets STATUS Partially built DESIGNED BY Arturo Soria y Mata, 1902 ; Ivan Leonidov, 1930 PROJECT Hadrian s Villa EXPERIMENTATION Combine indoor and outdoor spaces such as a succession of habitable climates STATUS Done Successful DESIGNED BY Roman Emperor Hadrian, 2nd century AD PROJECT Emerald Necklace, Boston park system EXPERIMENTATION Turn a park network into an urban infrastructure STATUS Done Successful DESIGNED BY Frederick Law Olmsted, 1878-1896 PROJECT Broadacre City EXPERIMENTATION Use nature as an individual resource for local agriculture STATUS Unrealized DESIGNED BY Frank Lloyd Wright, 1934 PROJECT Clapham common EXPERIMENTATION Pool a large central garden at a neighborhood scale STATUS Done Successful DESIGNED BY Unknown, late XVIII th century PROJECT Smart grid EXPERIMENTATION Replace the pyramidal energy production scheme by a horizontal intelligent network STATUS Ongoing struggle DESIGNED BY Jeremy Rifkin, late XX th century
Address 17 rue ramponeau, 75020 Paris - France Mail agence@parc-architectes.eu Website www.parc-architectes.eu Blog www.crapzine.com Brice Chapon Architect - Urban planner Environmental design certification Mail brice.chapon@parc-architectes.eu Emeric Lambert Architect - Urban planner - Engineer PhD in Urban sciences Teacher at Versailles School of Architecture Mail emeric.lambert@parc-architectes.eu