Category urban planning – architecture

Location Bordeaux - Quartier de la Bastide

Population City 239,399 inhab. – Conurbation 724,224 inhab.

Strategic site 5 ha - Project site 1.3 ha

Site proposed by EPA Euratlantique, Metropolitan Bordeaux, the City of Bordeaux

Owner(s) of the site EPA Euratlantique

Commision after competition Detailed study of the conversion of the Benauge Fire Station. Follow-up operations can be initiated with partners

Team representative architect – urban planner – landscape architect

How can the site contribute to the adaptable city?

The Benauge Fire Station stands on the right bank of the Garonne facing the 18th century river front of the left bank. the historic center of Bordeaux listed as world heritage by UNESCO. The fire station is a provocative, emblematic landmark in the urban landscape.
With the planned departure of the fire brigade, concerns for the future of an architectural complex of 1.3 hectares in the heart of the city arise. A subject of passionate debated, the fire station is a place for a project process along the theme of the adaptable city. The issues of opening up a heterotopic complex to the rest of the city, redevelopment strategies for 20th century architectural heritage, transformation programmes, approaches to co-construction and participatory processes become topics to be re-invented.

City strategy

The future of the fire station, preeminent element of the new urban project for the Quartier Garonne Eiffel, is part of the transformation of the whole sector : development along the banks of the Garonne and renovation of the Bastide quarter. The city of Bordeaux, the Bordeaux Metropolitan Area and the public development agency Bordeaux-Euratlantique are calling for innovative proposals for the site : issues include the programme, participatory methods and global financing of the project in a new public/private relationship. There is a desire to open the site up to the rest of the city and to maintain a degree of public space. The buildings making up the fire station complex were listed as architectural heritage in 2014.

Site definition

The site is beautifully oriented on the banks of the Garonne with an excellent view of the historic city. It is close to highway infrastructure and public transport. The height of the fire station and its proximity to the Pont de Pierre make it an urban landmark.
The site is bordered by the Quai Deschamps, the Rue de la Benauge and the new urban quarter of Garonne Eiffel.
Covering 1.3 hectares, the complex of corbusian inspiration, forms a small city within a city with its courtyards, fire station, housing, common spaces and practice tower.
The Benauge Fire Station, constructed in Bordeaux by Claude Ferret, Yves Salier and Adrien Courtois between 1950 and 1954, is an icon of 20th century modern architecture.

Future of the site in relation to the site family and Adaptability

The teams are expected to propose a project process that deals with an emblematic heritage object. The programme for the spaces and their relationship to the heritage architecture are the subjects of the project. An approach that is respectful of historical architecture but bold in function and management is expected. What to do with an old concrete fire station and a block of housing on pilotis in the heart of the city? A diversity of functions, uses and temporalities need to be coordinated. The site has the potential to become a laboratory for a another way to construct the city with new actors. New inter-neighbourhood lines need to be drawn across the fire station site. The goal is to innovatively transform facilities endowed with specific functions through the re-appropriation of those spaces.
The evolution of the both space and use has to be organised. This site requires a position to be taken on a methodology for redeveloping modern architectural heritage. The candidates are asked to propose a collaborative process in order to come up with scenarios that open up the site to the rest of the city, create multiple public and private programmes and find a way to re-utilise housing and other facilities that offer one of the most beautiful views of the Garonne and historic Bordeaux. The results of the competition will be the starting point in a co-constructive process that needs be able to evolve and adapt while still promoting the project’s architectural heritage. The imagination of the site allows us also to imagine a bold re-appropriation of those architectural elements specific to the role of firemen.