Concours d'idées La légende du Général Papillon

2009

lieu : Buc (78)

thème : reconversion du fort militaire de Buc

 

Achevé en 1880 pour défendre Paris et sa région, le vieux fort militaire de Buc est aujourd’hui à l’abandon envahi d’une nature qui reprend généreusement ses droits. Il est implanté sur un terrain boisé d’environ 13 hectares.

 

Le fort du Haut Buc, s’il n’a pas l’égal de certaines fortifications classées, constitue de par le jeu intime de la nature qui s’est immiscée en lui un lieu exceptionnel à l’atmosphère unique.

 

Cette dimension sensible et émotionnelle du lieu trouve une résonance incroyable dans la riche histoire et le dynamisme du territoire dans lequel il s’inscrit. La ville de Buc a très bien cerné les enjeux et les potentialités du site et fait preuve d’une grande clairvoyance en portant le débat d’idées au-delà d’une réalité et d’une réflexion locale pouvant s’avérer étriquée face au caractère exceptionnel du lieu.

 

Le fort et son bois constituent une entité vaste et fragile. Aucun projet, planifié et réalisé en dehors d’un schéma de cohésion globale à l’échelle des lieux, ne pourra pérenniser l’établissement d’un nouveau quartier ni convaincre des investisseurs de la viabilité d’une reconversion du fort et de ses abords. En effet, toute opération de reconversion des lieux nécessite des travaux de réhabilitation et de mise en sécurité qui doivent être rentabilisés par les plus-values d’un projet cohérent dans son ensemble et que certaines initiatives peuvent altérer comme la construction d’un lotissement sur les anciens terrains occupés par l’entreprise Thomson.

Pour mieux comprendre les grandes lignes du projet de reconversion, il faut faire état du contexte territorial et des enjeux futurs de la région, ainsi que de tous les potentiels du site lui-même.

 

English text

The town of Buc has organized a competition to get ideas for the conversion of its old and disused military fort.
Built in 1880 to defend Paris and its area, the fort is today totally abandonned and overgrown with vegetation : a 13 hectare wooded land.

The fort of Buc (even if it is not as spectacular as other french listed well known fortifications) is remarkable for its unique atmosphere where nature interferes with the old construction.

 

The stakes of regional development

The town of Buc is located in the middle of a nationwide programm for a scientific and technologic cluster.

The project of conversion of the old fort must answer the requirements of the town concerning the planning of a new residential neighbourhood. But it should also find other meanings regarding the business park around and bring mixity in the new neighbourhood.
Therefore our project consist in :
- planning a museum gallery in the old fort, with conference rooms and exhibition spaces dedicated to the many scientific activities of the area ;
- building apartment blocks and houses, according to a new network of pedestrian walks in the wooded area of the fort.

The mysterious but magical surroundings, in winter like in summer, require a sound project that will reveal the site as it is and offers a recreation area  (that cannot be ignored) for the town of Buc and its neighbourhood.

 

The project

The fort today
The existing fort is composed of four parallel buildings of shapes and sizes different. Those constructions are partially buried and covered over with soil where the forest has grown on. Between each buildings, the courtyards are constituted of planted ditches. Footpathes run through the hills and ditches. On top of the last building, on the south side, thirteen pillboxes are layed in a circular arc. All around the fort, a large ditch, like moats, recognizable by its butterfly shape, used to protect the edifice from assailants. The outer retaining wall of the moats is constituted with a series of stone arches.

 

Three different access to the neighbourhood are created :
- north of the site, a pedestrian access offers a public square facing the entrance of the fort and the high walk. It is the main access to enter the Museum Gallery and leads to the tramway station.
- on the north eastern side of the site, it is the vehicle access and the bus station. A landscape parking lot is designed on the edge of the wood. For the inhabitants and the people allowed to park on the site, two ramps enable to drive down and park under ther arches of the moats.
- the last access is the tramway station on the south end of the wooded site, designed as a belvedere with a panoramic view on the fields and the aerodrome and connected to the neighbourhood by the high walk.

 

The Museum Gallery, designed as a ribbon that gathers all the buildings of the fort, offers a succession of exhibition and reception spaces. It also distributes crosswise more premises, like the former gunpowder magazines transformed into conference rooms.

 

At the end of the Gallery, there is the city museum dedicated to Louis Blériot (a famous french aviator who lived in Buc) and the history of the beginings of aviation that started on the lands around the project site.

 

From the north access, whereas the roof of the Gallery constitutes the high walk that leads to the tramway station, a lower access leads to the Gallery entrance and to the renovated premises : community premises, exhibition rooms, city museum, conference rooms, function rooms.

 

A second access to the Gallery is possible from the high walk through a large slop and impressive staircase on the site of the central pillbox.

The Gallery ribbon cuts straight through the successions of hills and ditches. The side façades of the Gallery are made up of a large wooden structural net. The reflections in the façades offer a spectacular view of the mysterious and melancholy atmosphere of the old fort invaded with nature.

 

 

The high walk designates the pier that runs on the roof of the Gallery ; the outlying lower walk is located on top of the retaining wall next to the moats. Regular access by stairs, slops and elevators connect the walk with the moats where the cars are parked.

On the wooded hills, on the west side and the east side of the site, open-air theatres and bandstands are created and can be used for many outdoor activities : music festivals, summer cinematographic projections, children story telling…

 

Housings of the new neighbourhood :
- appartment blocks, assigned priority to students and young researchers working in the future cluster, are grouped three by three around pedestrian bridges. The buildings are perched up on piles in the middle of the branches. Each bridge are accessible by a pillbox transformed into a secured entrance hall with entry phone and mailboxes.

 

- semi grouped individual houses are built in battalion along the moats of the fort. Under the houses, the stone arches of the moats are used to park vehicles ans create entrance porches.

 

The fort of Buc and its wood constitute an unique and atypical place in which the qualities could really benefit the new neighbourhood that the town wishes to develop.