reactivate
a hotel wasteland

The site of the former Mercure hotel is a largely sealed wasteland that forms part of Strasbourg’s green belt. A plot of land that will undergo a profound transformation, comprising an out-of-use building and a surface parking lot, two blocks from the new Parc des Expos, opposite Place de Bordeaux and Maison de la Radio.

ANMA and its team are designing a lively project to transform this hotel wasteland into a new mixed-use and attractive district.

His vocation? To complete the Wacken district’s much-needed housing offer – affordable housing, student residences (some of which are social housing) and a hotel – while at the same time integrating urban attractors, such as shops, activities and parking facilities, into a new, green public space accessible to all.

design
a neighborhood that’s already there

The complex is the catalyst for a number of development projects that will benefit the district: a public garden at the heart of the block, pedestrian facilities linking the existing main thoroughfares – Place de Bordeaux, Square Tivoli, Palais des Congrès, Parc des Expositions – and the connection of the plot to the Eco²Wacken biomass heating plant, which will produce heating from 80% renewable energy sources.

The plot’s open-ground surfaces are maximized and ensure the conservation of major existing trees. The buildings are positioned around the perimeter of the plot to create a large, planted central area: a new public space with the feel of a neighborhood square, punctuated by 5 buildings of varying styles, but whose overall coherence has been designed to give the impression that this new neighborhood has always been part of the landscape.

Well-designed accommodation
lively city

This new belt of buildings is designed from the point of view of the comfort of future residents: east/west orientation for climatic comfort, significant setbacks between buildings to limit overlooking, maximize the effects of the cool island and allow everyone to enjoy the new central garden.

The substantial heights of the project’s northern urban front form an elegant silhouette of varied high points, then, as a courtesy to walkers, gradually slope down towards the major, open public space facing Place de Bordeaux to the south.

The project is cut out, graded, alive. It features a diversity of materials, light colors and finishes that give each building its own identity and liven things up, such as the active, largely glazed first floors occupied by shops, activities and bicycle racks, or the vertical façades that break up the stifling “plinth” effect of the city on a pedestrian scale.

LIVABLE ARCHITECTURE
comfortable landscape

Landscaping is also at the heart of the project. It features a dense garden that will be visible even from the axis of Place de Bordeaux: large planted spaces whose freshness will contribute to the comfort of the neighborhood’s climate. This visual and functional plant link enhances the attractiveness of the new programs, which themselves feature landscaped terraces that invite you to slow down, take a break and feel good…

The layout of the built-up areas creates a multitude of public and private meeting spaces: a central garden, but also terraces attached to the shops, and rest areas with furniture directly linked to the garden. Rainwater, which is infiltrated directly into the plot, is used to irrigate the sunken gardens at the heart of the block: it meanders along landscaped paths marked by stopping points and varied pathways.

PROJECT TEAM

PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Architect, landscape designer: ANMA
BET Tout Corps d’Etat: Ecade
Ecological diagnosis: Biotope
Risques naturels, évaluation environnementale: Ginger
Bureau de contrôle: Apave

ARCHITECTURAL STUDIES
Hugues Desmoineaux
Fernanda Bernava
Coline Eysseric
Marie Mérindol

LANDSCAPE STUDIES
Emeline Brossard

TECHNICAL SHEET

STATUS On-going research

PROJECT MANAGEMENT Foncière Grand Est

AMO Financière des 4 Rives

SCHEDULE 2022-2028

SURFACE 28,400 m² SDP

RE2020 ENVIRONMENTAL TARGET

OUTLOOK Goat Studio

SEE +
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