Mixed development in Toulouse

The Avenue de Lyon block marks the entrance and first phase of the Grand Matabiau metropolitan project, on Rue du Faubourg-Bonnefoy. The site, steeped in the history of market gardening, calls for a design capable of weaving a strong link between the town center, the canal and the faubourg, while respecting its identity. The facades and volumes of the new block borrow from the heritage elements that surround it: Toulouse architecture, the spirit of the faubourg, the banks of the Canal du Midi. On the Avenue de Lyon, the regular frontage of the buildings follows the pattern of the faubourgs, forming a base topped by two emergences whose facets address the various infrastructures in the area. The urban connection is also expressed through the installation of an archipelago of thematic programs focusing on solidarity and diversity between local players, residents, precarious populations and occasional guests.
Co-design by thematic workshops (four architectural firms and two landscape architects coordinated by Hardel Le Bihan) is reflected in the richness and coherence of the island's writing and materials. The team's constant research enabled them to offset the new construction with a low-carbon project using bricks, reused bricks, structural wood and low-carbon concrete.