Nicolas Joly-Fichtner & David Jadot

During the sixties, the outburst of transportation capabilities led the man to build an array of infrastructures designed to make circulation easier. Urban highways devastated the urban landscape, slicing it in a urban puzzle. The ‘Fontainebleau crossroad’ in Liège exemplifier this. Located in the heart of the St Marguerite district, alongside the footsteps of Xhovemont hill, this location enjoys however a good town planning development potential.
The project main idea is to rebuild a consistent urban environment by the integration of a whole series of human infrastructures: shopping market, sport en art centres, business offices, residential areas and even an extension to the present St Joseph hospital.
The underlying goal of this project is to restore the socio-economical environment destroyed by the urban highway and to re-create connections between the district and the hill housing.
Various urban techniques are proposed to reach those purposes:
the tower is like a gate of the town, the streets are designed to give a community feeling, the architectural language is addressing the space hierarchy, the filter is like a transition between hill and city, the use of public ground where people can meet.
The present highway network is changed into an urban boulevard, parallel to a corporate area, which is dominated by the tower, emblem of the economic growth.
The original axes of the St Marguerite street, are re-qualified, supporting the phenomenon of the entry in the town by its suburbs.
The buildings are designed in order to allow a reading of ‘the behind’, a transition between street and esplanade.
The foot of the hill is connected and merges with the open space bordered by the urban market, served by bus lanes.
Where the city starts, the community is revealed, the life appears and architecture becomes a tool for a new urban life style.

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