Rive Gauche

The project redefines public space, enhances pedestrian flows and reconnects the upper and lower city by a new commercial route. The redesigned Place Verte opens onto the boulevard Tirou, from which it was until now separated by the ‘Colonnades building'. By setting a new building at the foot of the 26-storey office tower, its crushing effect is tempered. A new public square is created, convivial and more appropriate for civic events. Pedestrian flows were extended on a wider scale, including the riverside and adjacent streets. Rive Gauche is not just about a building, but about creating a part of the city with the rebirth of a public square.

Rive Gauche transforms the lower city into a dynamic and attractive district. With its mixed programme, it completes and fosters the mix of urban functions, breathes life into pre-existing activities and offers new employment opportunities. It re-brands the city and brings back economic activity with shopping, working, living, tourism.

Rive Gauche is conceived as a permeable commercial promenade, flooded by natural light and in direct dialogue with the urban public space. It is an audacious monolith, lightened by large windows and opened onto the city by multiple entrances and passages. By using the same bricks and granite pavement, a sense of continuity is created between street and covered promenade. The facade overlooking the Place Verte is elaborated as a spectacular window on the city. Day and night it fosters interaction between commercial and public spaces.

The architecture gives expression to the building’s public and commercial functions in the city. The architectural vocabulary plays with volumes, transparency and diversity, and intrigues by contrasting strong and light, monolithic and porous. Traditional and sustainable materials are reinterpreted in a contemporary way. The lightness and richness of the fold metallic material contrast with the massive grey bricks. The visual porosity of the open brickwork offers interesting scenographic effects.