Start of the RHODANIE URBAINE design studio in Sion
Sion © N. Sedlatchek / LAST / EPFL
By an approach at different levels of intervention - from urban design to constructive detail - Prof. Emmanuel Rey's studio aims at analyzing, exploring and experimenting the specific issues related to the contribution of the architectural project to the evolution of built environment towards sustainability, in particular in the perspective of an urban densification near public transport and an experimentation of new constructive approaches. Entitled RHODANIE URBAINE, the 2018-2019 studio will focus its projectual research on the theme of the reconciliation of the city with the river, focusing on a strategic sector for the future of the city of Sion.
Faced with the many consequences caused by urban sprawl, the architectural project is expected to play a central role in the search for alternatives to reorient the development inward, to densify the built fabric near public transport and to generate sustainable construction methods. From a perspective taking into consideration optimized environmental, socio-cultural and economical aspects, the development of sustainable neighborhoods, which are all at once dense, mixed, and attractive, represents an architectural challenge in terms of urban morphology, contextual integration, functional programming and building typology. Through an approach at different scales of intervention - from the urban project to constructive detail – the studio will aim to analyze, explore and experiment the issues specific to this search for the contribution of architecture to the sustainability of changing urban territories.
For this 2018-2019 edition, the different phases of the project's development will be part of an exploratory approach to the reconquest of the banks of the Rhône, called RHODANIE URBAINE. At a time of unprecedented convergence between the objectives of densification within the built environment and risk management for flood prone areas opens an era of reconciliation between the river and the urban areas it passes through. In this context, undervalued sites to date have proved particularly suitable for urban regeneration and the creation of new sustainable neighborhoods. Beyond the issues specific to the technical measures of flood protection, multiple urban and architectural challenges question the proper project approach to adopt for the development of this new fluvial neighborhood.
Former industrial area in the process of change in the coming decades, the site chosen for the 2018-2019 studio is located south of the city of Sion. Bounded in the north by the new Energypolis campus (EPFL, HES) and in the south by the highway, it is crossed in its heart by the Rhone and is in this sense a particularly strategic space to forge new links between the city and its river. In this respect, the studio will explore through the architectural project the multiple issues and potentialities of such an evolution. A strong attention will be paid to the issue of urban housing and relevant reflections on public spaces in light of the specific characteristics of the site will also be part of the process.