Luca Borlenghi
At the end of the main boulevard of Saint-Etienne there is La Place Bellevue, since the 19th-century hosting an important market.
The square, once filled with trees and stating the transition between the city and countryside, today is dealing with traffic, unclear urban planning, and lack of identity. The project for a cultural center aims to preserve the existing void and to increase the quality of it, while at the same time give an answer to the very important urban position.
The public program is composed of a library, an experimental theatre, exhibition spaces, offices, and a restaurant; entities that are clustered together in order to create an urban organism, potentially open for many different uses.
The final form is the result of the needs: a central communal square is surrounded by a portico, a tower stands at the end of the boulevard, a corridor typology deals with the street with change in topography, while three almost square volumes create concavities where a garden is taking place.
Author: Luca Borlenghi.
Location: Saint-Ètienne, France.
University: Accademia di architettura di Mendrisio.
Year: 2021