Scientific peninsula, Bonne, Lustucru, and Blanche Monier urban development zones, expansion of the Paul Mistral park, or the Bouchayer-Viallet industrial wasteland. Grenoble has carried out or planned many large-scale urban projects. The result is many interesting additions to the city's architectural landscape, often built with sustainable development and the High Environmental Quality label in mind.

Architectural House of Isere

Architectural House of Isere

Created in 1984 by a group of motivated professionals so that they could get together, discuss, and debate, the Architectural House of Isere has become a resource in broadcasting architectural information and culture.

At the Grenoble Tourism Office's request, the Architectural House of Isere has selected a few outstanding recent architectural projects. However, this list is in no way exhaustive.

The house has a second aim: to make architecture more accessible to the mass public and allow architects to exchange ideas about different schools of thought in modern architecture.

Architectural House of Isere

The Architectural House of Isere organizes events throughout the year that are open to the public, such as exhibits, debates, and visits based on architectural themes or news.

 

 

Bonne-downtown Grenoble urban development zone

Bonne-downtown Grenoble urban development zone

On the site of the vast Bonne barracks (builti in 1883), where the 3 main buildings surrounding the courtyard have been conserved, the city of Grenoble has built a new residential and commercial area, on the cutting edge of eco-technology, a project which began in 2003.

 

Bonne-downtown Grenoble urban development zone

On Nov. 4, 2009, the Bonne urban development zone was awarded the Grand Prize for French Ecological neighborhoods, bestowed upon the city by Jean-Louis Borloo, minister of Ecology, Energy, and Sustainable Developement.

For the moment, this neighborhood is unique in France, even more so in that it is not located on the outskirts of town, but in the city center.  

Bonne-downtown Grenoble urban development zone

The city of Grenoble has entrusted the SAGES Authority to monitor construction, with AKTIS Architecture as the head architectural designers.

The architects : Charon Rampillon, Atelier A, P.Colombier / S.Charnallet, Tomasini, Felix-Faure / Macary / Page, Edouard François, Brenas-Doucerain, Chapuis Royer, Arcane, Aktis Architecture, Mader Architecte, GKP-Agence Granveaud, Ateliers sur les Quais, Groupe 6, Beranger Gerbier Architectes.

With the Bonne project, the city of Grenoble is laying the foundations for 21^st century urban housing: compactness in the shapes, mixed functions and populations, energy control, environmental respect, quality landscapes and public areas.

The key figures for this project : 8,5 hectares ; 850 apartments, of which 35% are low income housing ; 15 000 m² of commercial areas (around 25 shops) ; 6 000 m² of office space ; a 3* hotel with 112 rooms; 2 student residencies; a school with 15 classes; 5 hectares of urban parks and gardens at the center of the neighborhood.

 

Lucie Aubrac school, Bonne urban development zone

Lucie Aubrac school, Bonne urban development zone

Inaugurated on Sept. 6, 2008 in the presence of Lucie Aubrac's husband, Raymond Aubrac (94 years old). Lucie Aubrac was a famous WWII resistant who passed away in 2007. The school was designed by the architect Bruno Mader and complies with all the standards of the High Environmental Quality label.

The architectural lines play with pure and simple volumes and a strong material present.

 

Lucie Aubrac school, Bonne urban development zone

The main façade expresses three fundamental keys of the project:

- A strongly unified ensemble, on the scale of the park
- The separation into two areas : one wing for young children and another for older children.
- The wide use of wood for the construction of upper classrooms, clearly demonstrating the project's respect for the environment. This policy also includes energy savings and rain water management, either filtered and reused or absorbed by the organic roofs.

The school of 15 classes has a view of the park and the surrounding mountains. 

 

“The Bicycle Building”, Vigny-Musset urban development zone, ave Marie Reynoard

“The Bicycle Building”, Vigny-Musset urban development zone

Designed by the architectural firm Herault Arnaud and completed in July 2008, the « bicycle building » borrowed the idea of lots of storage space from individual houses, which became the image of the building itself.

It includes 56 apartments designed so that inhabitants can go directly to their apartment by bicycle, skates, or scooter. This is made possible by a large elevator and passageways wide enough for bicycles, but that also serve as panoramic promenades with a view of the Belledonne mountains.  

“The Bicycle Building”, Vigny-Musset urban development zone

Each apartment also has a 6m2 storage room that serves as a bicycle garage, and storage for ski gear, strollers, or the children's skates.

On the inside, the frame construction allows for much flexibility in the layout and the construction of walls regardless of the load-bearing structure.

 

 

“The Bicycle Building”, Vigny-Musset urban development zone

The apartments span the width of the building, are simply shaped, easy to separate into the standard day area/night area division or to lay out more freely, creating vast, unified spaces.

The kitchens, which open onto a terrace large enough to eat on, are positioned on the outside façade, facing the garden.

Also, the outer protection is made of aluminium, a durable inert material.

 

 

“The Bicycle Building”, Vigny-Musset urban development zone

Energy savings are also a part of this building, notably in the "reversible" floor heating and cooling system. In the summer, the floor is cooled by a system that pumps underground water through pipes beneath the flooring. In winter, heat is pumped through the system.

This project is part of the sustainable development initiatives taken by the city of Grenoble regarding the Vingy-Musset urban development zone.

The goal is not simply to comply with any specific certification standards, but to rethink our approach to housing in regards to energy savings and the environment.

 

Mixed building, Corner of rue Jean Veyrat et rue Irvoy – Lustucru urban development zone

Lustucru urban development zone

This building, designed by the architectural firm Herault Arnod Architectes and completed in 2005, was built in the strictes economic conditions.

It united two contracting authorities, as well as four independent and functional entities: commercial premises, a raised public parking garage, low income housing, and an owner's union.

The architectural aspect of this project expresses the necessary social and functional mixed nature of the city by uniting many differences and building its identity on this characteristic.

 

Lustucru urban development zone

The building's architecture expresses intersection, meeting, energy tensions and fluxes. It also pays homage to Grenoble's modern architecture, heavily influenced by the 1968 winter Olympics: sawtooth façades, functional layering, and expressive volumetrics which are recurrent elements in the architecture from this time period.

The load-bearing structure, made entirely of concrete, is irregular and complex due to the range and the combination of the building's functions, each program requiring its own constructive framework.

 

Philippeville Crèche, Jardin de Ville

Philippeville Crèche, Jardin de Ville

Opened in Sept. 2009, the Philippeville crèche was designed by the cabinet R2K Architectes architectural firm and can welcome 40 children.

The project is part of a solution to a triple problem, making it indeed a rare and precious construction.

Located at the heart of the city park, a popular setting for relaxed strolls, children's games, and festive events, the crèche is set in a historic area highly frequented by the inhabitants of Grenoble and should allow us to reconstruct the mall, remnants of an ancient dyke that protected the Duke of Lesdiguières gardens and townhouse.

Philippeville Crèche, Jardin de Ville

The crèche had to be built on a foundation that is at the same time the roof of a three level parking garage built of reinforced concrete.

The additional weight is directly transferred to the load-bearing structures of the parking garage.

 

Philippeville Crèche, Jardin de Ville

The wooden structure is supported by sealed concrete contact blocks to the right of the pre-existing posts.

The structural link between the wood and concrete contact blocks is made through neoprene sliding supports.
This counters the effects of lateral load acting on the structure, especially in case of an earthquake.
The extra weight added by the crèche is relatively little when compared to that of the three levels of the concrete parking garage.

 

Upper station of the Grenoble-Bastille cable car

Upper station of the Grenoble-Bastille cable car

As part of the project to make the Bastille more accessible, the upper cable car station was redone in 2005, by the architects Antoine Felix-Faure, Philippe Macary, and Dominique Page.

This project brought the Bastille back to its original look, making the access, paths, and services more user-friendly.

The construction is purposely minimalist, so as to avoid creating confusion with the pre-existing construction: the architectural elements are made of metal (Corten steel) and glass.

 

The project links different levels that are all just waiting to be discovered: the lower square, the arrival station, the Geologists' terrace, the restaurant, the Haxo square, access to the museum, and further up, the look out point.

Upper station of the Grenoble-Bastille cable car

A metallic façade on the cable car station houses a stairwell and an elevator (giving access to the lower square and the Museum of the Mountain Troops).

This structure is also the junction between two passageways which lead to the Geologists' terrace to the west and the restaurant on the east.

The former passageway has been replaced with a metallic passageway without any intermediary support, revealing the entire lower square.

 

Expansion of the Paul Mistral park

Expansion of the Paul Mistral park

In 2007/2008, as part of the construction of the Stade des Alpes stadium, Alexandre Chemetoff, architect, urban and landscape planner, along with his associates, took care of expanding the Paul Mistral park.

The expansion of the park changed the city's landscape, prolonging and consolidating the existing structures.

It also was a step towards more natural areas in the city.

Expansion of the Paul Mistral park

The idea to include an automobile ramp in the park and to transform it into a pedestrian walkway is part of a minimal economy, which optimizes the effects of the changes regarding the park's image.

Through the park's expansion, the city has become more attractive through the will to increase the number of green spaces available to the public.

 

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