Launch of the RELIEFS URBAINS design studio in Neuchâtel
Neuchâtel © LAST / EPFL / N. Sedlatchek
Through an approach at different levels of intervention – from urban design to constructive detail – Prof. Emmanuel Rey's studio aims at analyzing and exploring with the specific issues related to the contribution of the architectural project to the transition of urban areas. Entitled RELIEFS URBAINS, the 2024-2025 studio will investigate the theme of sloping sites, exploring the multiple mutation opportunities of such places, focusing on an area located on the hillside of the city of Neuchâtel.
At a time of climate emergency and contraction of available resources, the architectural project has a central role in the search for alternatives to urban sprawl. It allows for the regeneration and densification of buildings near public transport and, more broadly, the inclusion of good construction practices within the transition dynamics towards a low-carbon society. In the Swiss context, a large part of the urbanized areas is on slopes, which generates multiple challenges in terms of building and mobility. The implantation of buildings and the creation of public spaces are confronted with unavoidable questions regarding the relationship to the ground level and the minimization of soil excavation. In terms of mobility, it is a matter of rediscovering and revaluing electric transport techniques, specifically adapted to the slope, developed before the hegemony of the car.
Located in the Monruz sector to the east of the city of Neuchâtel, the site selected for the 2024-2025 edition could undergo major changes in terms of decarbonized mobility. The potential emergence of a mobility hub, including a new railway stop and an additional station for the La Coudre – Chaumont funicular, extended downstream, would greatly enhance public transport services. Currently occupied by a scattered residential fabric and by an imposing group of buildings with no interaction with the public space, the site is characterized, at the same time, by contrasting scales and the quality of its visual openings, which encourages architectural reflection on its possible future.
Somewhere between utopia and realism, this resolutely forward-looking approach envisages a complete urban regeneration of an already artificialized site. The RELIEFS URBAINS Studio will aim to explore – through the architectural project – the multiple issues and opportunities of such a site. Increased attention will be paid to the question of intermediate housing, as much as to the landscaping and networking of public spaces according to the site’s unique characteristics.