THE GRAND LARGE DISTRICT

Dunkerque, France

GROUP 17

LORENA MARTNEZ CONDE_

JAIME SIERRA MUOZ_
ESMERALDA VZQUEZ PRIETO_

technical architecture

engineering
architecture

INDEX:

INFORMATION OF THE PROJECT

__General information

__Project information

PROJECT MEMORY

BEGINNING OF INTERVETION PLAN

THE AREA BEFORE THE PLAN AND IT'S LEGACY ELEMENTS

__Industrial elements

_Green zones

GENERAL PHYSICAL CONFIGURATION

__Geographic limits

__Zoning and layers

__Grid

__Connections, paths and public spaces

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12

SINGLE PARTS DESCRIPTIONS

__Waterfront

12

__Park Area

13

__Boulevard Area

15

ANALYSIS AND CONCLUTIONS

16

REFERENCES

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IMAGE REFERENCES

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GENERAL INORMATION

PROJECT INORMATION

__CITY: Dunkerque, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France

__SURFACE: 20,5 Ha

__HOUSES: 216

(N51 02 39, E2 22 27)

__DISTRICT: Grand Large-Neptuno

__HOUSING DENSITY: 54houses/Ha

__PROJECT DATA: Contest 2005

__HABITANT DENSITY: 117habitant/Ha

__REALIZATION DATA: 2010-present

__PARKING SPACES: Not considered on the plan

__ARCHITECTS: Agence Nicolas Michelin & Associs

__FUNCTIONS

ANMA Nicolas Michelin, Michel Delplace, Cyril Trtout

__COSTS: 1059 /m

Nord Pas de Calais

France

Dunkerque

MEMORY PROJECT
__The Grand Large District is a particular neighbourhood that conjugates different types of buildings and proposes
public spaces on a diversity of scales, designed along the principle of sustainable development. This project that
was developed in the year 2010 by ANMA (Agence Nicolas Michelin & Associs) architects and it takes 21.000 sqm
is located in Dunkirk, north of France, 300 km away from Paris and very near to Belgium's border. Dunkirk its a
coastal city with a population which almost reaches 100.000 inhabitants.

img.1

This project lies in a special urban context: between the city and the sea, between seaside resort aesthetic and
port aesthetic, and between residential and communal. It prolongs the overall strategy of the Neptune project
(considered as a prototype for public-private cooperation within the field of urban development), launched in
1991, which aims to orient the city back towards the docks. This transformation of the urban centre has already
been broadly achieved. The Grand Large district marks the start of the second phase of Operation Neptune, which
now focuses on sustainable development.
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The 216 dwellings of the first phase bear witness to the ecological dimension that has been adopted for a district
that will ultimately house 8000 to 1000 dwellings. The districts strategic urban plan is based on the principles inspired
by Agenda 21, notably in terms of its social (diverse social mix), environmental (rainwater management, renewable
energies) and economic aspects (flexible products and operational phasing).
The Grand Large district is particular in the sense that it conjugates different types of building and proposes public
spaces on diverse scales: the semicircular park with its individual houses, the quay with gabled buildings, the
buildings with planted terraces, the U-shaped gardens at the heart of individual lots. This diversity in the
constructions and the social mix generates a lively neighbourhood in which the landmarks benefit from original
perspectives: the view of the Grand Large Hotel from Rue Degans, the green opening towards the planted
ramparts, and the views of the singular buildings from the quaysides.
The Grand Large district is designed along the principles of sustainable development and features wind protections
and rainwater management via roof valleys and the park. The buildings are designed to be energy-efficient.
Priority is given to pedestrians, with motor traffic limited to the access roads to the buildings. Only Avenue des
Bordes is treated as an urban boulevard, with side lanes reserved for residents.

BEGINNING OF INTERVENTION PLAN

__The roots of our project are back on the 1980s, a moment where sustainability policies were springing. In that
context, also influenced by a process of decentralization of political power on urban planning area, The
Neptune Development appears. That project was meant to create a place to live by the conquest of 180ha of
former industrial activities immersed on an area strongly dominated by water: more than 120has of basins which
defines small islands and peninsulas of ancient docks.

The formula that was chosen to achieve that goals was an international ideas competition set by the local
government of Dunkerque, in collaboration with a private development company (Projnor) and the
semi-public company SEM. Its curious to point out that the system of the competition was unique on that
moment: It didnt ask to create full-detailed drawings or plans, instead, the participants had to visit the site with
the local administration politics and technicians and then asked to submit a financially viable master plan for
the development of the area.

img.2

img.3

Dunkerque industrial 20th century and Dunkerque before the project

The winner of the competition was the British Richard Rogers Patnership thanks to reputational reasons and for
an innovative design, which with its urban and recreational flair signaled change and continuity while
simultaneously emphasizing the city industrial pass. Called Operation Grand Large, are defined different
ambitions that must be achieved by the project: An urban ambition (development of a dense neighborhood,
find a solution for the land once used by industrial docks), a social ambition (create a new offer of living places
for different economic levels, avoiding any kind of socio-space segregation) but, also, as its been said, an
environmental ambition (management of rain waters, energy efficiency).
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After that, the first phase of the Neptune project starts: it involved bridges across the harbor, landscaped public
spaces, a marina, new roads, what it is to say the definition of the basic urban tools for the development of the
area. Our project, The Grand Large District, is part of the second phase of that Neptune project, with takes
together on the same goal public societies (local, regional and metropolitan entities of urbanism, developers of
social housing) and private developers.

After that, another process of selection was set up in order to choose the architectural project for the housing.
That was also an unconventional process: the entries were judged in the course of an afternoon, according to
the presentations of the participants. After that, was elected the project we are studying due to the balance of
the project between architectural creativity and social innovation. The construction process began in 2007 and
its expected to be finished completely in 2020, but our area of interest was finished in 2010, hosting people
since then.

img.4

Limits of the intervention

THE AREA BEFORE THE PLAN AND IT'S LEGACY ELEMENTS

_Industrial elements
The city of Dunkirk was devastated by the two World Wars,
particularly at the second one, and as a consequence it
suffered economically from the loss of one of its main
industries: the shipyard industry.
Grand Large District took an important role on that industry
along 20th Centrury, so it can be said that the district is
located in a place where huge changes and transitions has
been suffered. Now, it is no longer a thriving harbor and
industrial city, but it has gone through a period of industrial
decline, which has left parts of the city as barren wastelands.

img.5
Industrial past of Grand Large District

Even though, there are some industrial evidences

mostly in the north of the neighbourhood. By this
project and with its urban and recreational flair,
there is signaled a change and continuity while
simultaneously emphasizing the city's industrial
past.
For example in the north it can be find an
international art collection ( 1 in the map) that is a
mirror image of the adjoining former shipbuilding
workshop. Going to the centre a Sport Centre has
been built around the facade of the old fitting
workshops (2) which has been preserved.

img.6

__Green zones

Although there was industrial areas before, there

was also green zones before the development of
the studied project. Mainly, we talk about the
Jardin des scultures, which host the Lieu dArt et
Action Contemporaine. All the set was built on the
early 80s, in the heart of an industrial place. That
garden was designed as a place where
contemporary art can make a dialogue with the
nature, in a place where smooth hills and small
lakes were introduced, close to the east channel
which define our peninsula. Furthermore, it is also
remarkable that some banks of these channels are
defined as green corridors.

img.7

ELEMENTS BEFORE THE PLAN - LEGEND

Limits of our project
Industrial art collection
Sport center with industrial facade
Jardin des Scultures

img.8
"Jardin des scultures"

2
3

2
3

img.9

GENERAL PHYSICAL CONFIGURATION

Project area

img.10

Official plan - Plan and limits of the intervention

GEOGRAPHIC LIMITS

Our project is situated in a key zone on every

single city of that kind: the sea is usually a way to
find opportunities, to develop the city, as its
been told on the previous paragraph. In general,
the west side of Dunquerque is dominated by
several entrances of the sea, due to channels
and darsenas which are apparently made to
make possible the development of the harbour
and industrial areas. Specifically, two waterfronts
define the peninsula where Grand Large Project
is placed: one of them, eastbound, its the union
Sea water
Rivers and channels
Project Area
of two channels, called Canal de Bergues and
Canal des Meres, while on the west side, the border is a dock, nowadays occupied by moorages of small
recreation boats and transit areas for these watercrafts. To the north, the zone is close to a single piece of land, which
is the northern side of the peninsula, and to the south, the zone is close to the city centre. All these facts show us that
the project has an intrinsic challenge, which is the connection with the rest of the city above these water areas. On
the other side, the land where the project is placed is a flat one, so theres no great difficulties on that side.
Furthermore, the area is conveniently defended from the menaces of the sea (floods or elevation of the sea level,
mainly) thanks to several dikes that protect the channels and the docks which define the peninsula of our project.

ZONING AND LAYERS

The study area of 2.1 Ha is structured in different layers that combine housing and large green and pedestrian spaces ,
where road traffic is relegated to a mere use of loading and unloading.

Water
One of the main factor of the project, it
surrounds the whole area. It aims to recover the city to
the strip of coast previously occupied by former port
land. The two main access routes are through the
water.

Buildings
The main objective of the intervention is to
recover the area turning it into residential area. It is
projected with low building density of 54 houses /ha.
There are 3 types of building: Single housing in a row,
blocks of collective housing of 3 floors and roof garden
and blocks up to 6 floors and sloping roof.

Vegetation
It is one of the most important layers in the
intervention. In the middle of the project there is a 1
hectare park around which the rest of the project is
structured. That is assumed like the public center.
Besides, between the houses in the apples, are
located semiprivate gardens.

Routes and rooms

The plan aims to give all the attention to

pedestrian and vehicular access is relegated only to
load and unload in a few roads. Also, except the big
avenues of access, the boundaries between
pedestrian and vehicles are diffuse in order to achieve
that pedestrians get that role. Rooms are created
adjacent to green areas and in the pier strip.
Non residential activities

As facilities in the area only a high school for

vocational training is preserved, and an old workshop
turning it into sports center is rebuilt.

GRID

__City scale grid

The harbour on the west zone of the city makes difficult to implant a coherent grid on the city: the uses of the
industrial portuary side are large and are, as general, close to the public. Even, the headlands defined by the
harbour makes difficult the purpose of a continuous network of street on avenues on that zone, specially on the
coast zone. Even more: the industrial use needs strong railway communication, which commonly creates gaps
between different zones of the city, hindering the permeability between nearby areas.

Main roads and streets (in order of importance)

Sea water
River and channels
Project area
Docks area

However, on the east side of the city, industrial free zone, its possible to observe a more regular and orthotropic
grid, also favored by the existence of a lineal and low coast, which allows the setting of a promenade and avenues
parallel to the waterfront, in a typical typology of coastal city. Commonly, we can find here closed blocks composed
of different buildings, different parcels, generally two or three floors tall, growing when we get closer to the beach
and spreading in a lower, more dispersed density as we go away from the city center. Thats a common
denominator on Dunkirk, also in the difficult part of the west.

__Project area grid

Main roads and streets (in order of importance)

Roads and bridges not built yet
Sea water
River and channels
Project area
Main park of the area

The grid in our zone is defined by a single fact: the south limit is part of the consolidated city and the
north part, the last part of the peninsula, has no intensive uses, as we have green open zones and
cultural spaces in a small area, which allows to avoid the settlement of a south-north axis. However,
our project is used to prolongate, in some way, the east-west connections, defined on the east side of
the city as a parallel to the coast, as its been pointed out before. The realization of that purpose is
done thanks to several bridges (one over our east border channel and another two over the west
border dock -presumably one bridge for each direction of traffic). These projected bridges (not built
yet) define an east-west axis, which is the main avenue of our project, in fact its north border. On the
other hand, the existent grid of the surroundings on the south its not prolongated to our area,
minimizing the points of connection between them. Inside the project area, the main element is the
central garden, wich define the form of the surrounding blocks and, in its extension, it limitates the
north-south connections to the non-motorized movements. The interaction between that garden, the
blocks parallels to the north avenue and the blocks of the dock west side (established as a paralell to
the waterfront) define the grid of our project, which is not an orthotropic grid, its a partially irregular
scheme.

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CONNECTIONS, PATHS AND PUBLIC SPACE

__Connections and paths

Our project has a main use: residential,
although we can observe other uses on
our study area and on the surroundings, as
sport or cultural. The main residential
purpose let open the possibility to set an
area where the importance of the streets
its not for motor vehicles, otherwise for the
pedestrian and bikes traffic. That can be
exemplified in the lack of big avenues
inside the area, the main role of the central
garden and the typology of the roads on
its surroundings: narrow and sidewalk free,
which force the pedestrian to conquer the
road and, as a consequence, cut down
the speed of the motorized traffic. All these
facts are an answer to the sustainability
decision taken on the design process. Also,
as the uncomfortable passage on
north-south direction along the area as the
chosen typology for the streets its,
intrinsically, a call to not to use the private
car on the area: thats limited to residents
and, probably, when the area its
completed, eventual visitors will have
another
chances
to
reach
the
neighborhood, such as public transport or
car parks on the surroundings.

Main exits of the area

Lacking internal connections

Main axis east-west: main avenue

On the other hand, its also important to point out that the direction of the streets has been taken in order to avoid the
influence of the predominant gusts of wind.
On the other side, connection with the surroundings of our area its not easy, due to geographic issues. That is solved with
bridges along the main axis of communication on the north side of our are, prolonging the coast axis of the eastern grid of
Dunkirk. On the southern part, the decision of not prolonging the grid, trying to diverse traffic to the other side of the west
border dock, its a key point to avoid traffic inside the area which doesnt have as an origin or as a final point the area itself.
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SINGLE PARTS DESCRIPTION

Is considered that the intervention is divided into 3 episodes. The first one is located in the west, aligned with the waterfront. The
second one would be the centre, which has a large park as a focus and different buildings distributed around. Finally, the third
episode is the northern part in which the project main access roads are placed, linked by a avenue focus of this area.

__Waterfront

The episode is structured around the harbour,

which is a condition for the distribution and the
placement of buildings (in this case, all are
collective residential).

3 strips of buildings parallels to the maritime

border are plotted and between them different
sitting areas are articulated.

A'

Colective dwellings
Semi-private gardens
Green areas for users in the building surrounding

Water
+21.00m
+15.50m
+12.00m
+9.00m
+6.00m
+3.00m
0.00m

Open block

Pier

Road
2 lanes

Sec AA'

The first strip would be formed by the buildings

"The Gables". They are the 18 buildings which
represent the "picture of the project" due to their
characteristics sloping decks. These buildings are
enclosed with pumice stone walls, highly efficient
in heat and noise insulation, which makes
unnecessary the use of an additional layer of
heat insulation.
img.11

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The shape of the roofing is useful to install an assisted natural cooling system which
consumes less energy than traditional mechanical cooling systems. The air is
extracted thanks to a propeller which draws it out from the dwellings. Before there is a
pedestrian walkway with hard pavement who gets the social connection to the sea.

img.12

In the second strip, U-shaped buildings are located. This shape is able to
create in the interior of them a semiprivate green and room spaces. Besides
the deck is a roof garden, with that is achieved an area of enjoyment for
residents only.
img.13

The last strip corresponds to "45 collective

housing", these 45 collective housing were built
in the year 2012, and thhe height of this building
is 15 m and it is composed by 4 floors, ground
floor and parking spaces in the basement. This
strip is surrounded by lanes of traffic and serve as
a connection between this episode and the
central.

img.15

img.14

__Park Area

The main space of the neighborhood is filled by the

park, which assumes a centrality role indeed. The
disposition of all the terraced houses is designed in a
way where all of them are looking to the central green
area, creating the shape of the park.
This side of the area is based on different blocks
composed, mainly, of different parcels, each one with
a private owner. That means that the block is divided
in terraced houses, whose facades form the line to the
street, keeping behind them a private space as
gardens.

B'

We can see different groups of dwellings on these areas. Mainly, are

composed by two floors and a height of nine meters more or less.
Also, all these terraced houses have as a common constant parking
spaces on the basement, avoiding to occupy more space on the
streets by the inhabitants cars, enhancing the idea of the street as a
space of living with a low rate of cars.

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About the connections, its crucial to point out that the park is only crossed in north-south direction, in a pedestrian preference
street. Also, the streets which led to the park are narrow enough to be pedestrian and bike friendly, which is to say that the
roads of zone are not projected to host a big quantity of cars movements, limiting that movements to those which have the
area as an origin or a destination. The fact of that the streets put on the same level cars and pedestrians contributes to that
purpose.

img.16

img.17

Streets
Shared space between pedestrians and vehicles, with priority
for the first group: low speed zone for cars.

Public park
Position of centrality for the green public zone on the

Terraced houses

neighborhood.

+6.15m
+3.00m
0.00m
Area under the rule of each terraced house (usually, used as
a garden)

Private outdoor area

Sec BB'

On the zone there are, also, different elements which

contributes to create on this zone a central part of the
neigborhood, like the Sports Hall of the Grand Large
(which keeps an ancient facade of the old fitting
workshop of the docks) or the triangle-shaped building
which host School Guy Debeyre, although this one is
focused more on the external part of the
neighborhoods and the rest of the city.

img.18

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__Park Area

In this episode we can find an avenue known

with the name of Avenue des Bordes in French
that means an avenue bordered, in this case by
buildings in both sides.

C'

Is one of the most important streets of this

urbanization as it is one of the three entrances.
This main street is crossed by other three smaller
streets, connecting the entrance with the centre
and the rest of the project.

As we have said in the beginning, the avenue is

bordered in both sides with linear houses. Behind
these houses we can find green zones and after
them another row of liner houses. This second
row of houses is not exactly parallel to the first
one, the block formed by the linear houses and
the green zones has trapeze shape.

The blocks in the north create the north

perimeter of the urbanization while the ones in
the south becomes a connection between the
evanue and the central park explained in the
episode before.

It's possible to affirm that this area is the less

advanced of the project in construction
development, as we can see on the picture on
the right, taken in September 2014.

img.19

Colective dwellings

Road
(2 lanes)

+18.15m
+13.15m
+10.00m
+7.00m
+4.00m
0.00m

Green public space

Sec CC'

Organic and sustainable

barrier between the road
and the buildings

Semi-private gardens
Green areas for users in the
building surrounding

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ANALYSIS AND CONCLUTIONS

After analyzing the project, as far as the project its not done at all, on Grand Large District we can observe strong
foundations to think on the success of the project, as far as we can consider on the positive way to sustainable neighborhoods
on small cities, like Dunkerque. As key points of our conclusion, we can mark out:
__An abandoned space previously dedicated to industry is refurbished and gets a new life.
__Its a success to maintain certain edifications and the use of a certain architecture on some points which remember
the industrial past of the are.
__Allow to open the city to the sea, a difficult purpose to achieve on some parts of the city.
__Existence of diverse types and shapes of green zones, answering to an ecologic and sustainable idea: the center of
the area is a green area, thought as a dialogue point on the neighborhood.
__Lack of big avenues across the sector, creating a residential model with a, as a general principle, low building density
where pedestrians and bicycles are capital.
__Different types of edification on the same zone, trying also to mix diverse social context on the same space.

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REFERENCES
_

a+t Research Group (2011), DENSITY IS HOME. Vitoria-Gasteiz: a+t architecture publishers. [Language] English, Spanish

_Different authors (2005-2015), PSS-ARCHI.EU (Forum of discussion). http://bit.ly/GLD_A. [Language] French

_Jerome Boissonade (2011), LE DVELOPPMENT DURABLE FACE SES PREUVES (Published in Espaces et socits, n147,
pp.57-75). diteur ERES. [Language] French

ANMA (2015), Logements Neptune (ANMA official page). http://bit.ly/GLD_B. [Language] French

_Dunkerque Grand Littoral (2015), Salle de Presse: Les archives 2000-2005. http://bit.ly/GLD_C. [Language] French

_Republique Franaise (2015), Goportail. http://bit.ly/GLD_D

_Susse Georg, Gabriela Garza De Linde, Rebecca Pinheiro-Croisel, Franck Aggeri. (2011) ECODISTRICTS AND SUSTAINABLE CITIES - INSTITUTIONALIZATION THROUGH EXPERIMENTATION (pp.1-38). Academy of Management Meeting. United States: Academy of Management Meeting
[Language] English

_M.
Delplace (2011) Le quartier du Grand Large-Neptune Dunkerque: Rnovation urbaine. (Published in Territoire(s)
wallon(s) Avril 2011, pp.203-213). Confrence Permanente du Dveloppement. [Language] French

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IMAGE REFERENCES
img.1 Source: www.archdaily.com
img. 2 Source: http://a406.idata.over-blog.com
img. 3 Source: www.communaute-urbaine-dunkerque.fr
img. 4 Source: http://www.geoportail.gouv.fr/
img. 5 Source: www.jepi-dunkerque.fr
img. 6 Source: www.pss-archi.eu
img. 7 Source: www.styleofdesign.com
img. 8 Source: www.jepi-dunkerque.fr
img.9 Source: http://www.geoportail.gouv.fr/
Img.10 Source: www.communaute-urbaine-dunkerque.fr
img.11 Source: http://pss-archi.eu
img.12 Source: http://www.archdaily.com
img.13 Source: http://pss-archi.eu
img.14 Source: http://pss-archi.eu
img.15 Source: http://pss-archi.eu
img.16 Source: http://pss-archi.eu
img.17 Source: http://pss-archi.eu
img.18 Source: http://pss-archi.eu
img.19 Source: http://maps.google.com (screenshot)

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