There were two dimensions to this project: a real necessity to improve the dysfunctional existing public space and a wish to renew it, to make it attractive with a clear identity in order to boost commercial and touristic development. To respond to this duality, we designed a simple and easily readable project seeking to reunite the varied and hotchpotch elements composing the urban tissue. By bringing simple, long-lasting and adapted solutions, the project seeks to create a harmonious whole. The road surface is treated as a warm mineral covering using two hues which underline and compose with the history of the town: a beige stone-colour hue and a grey hue. Intense areas such as crossways along the rue Jeanne d’Arc are treated with a graduation in the dimensions of the materials used. The nocturnal project aims to promote the urban, architectural and commercial assets of the town of Mehun sur Yèvre. It is designed to attract tourists and visitors but also to improve the quality of life of the local inhabitants by reinforcing the identity of the town. The site was also treated as a whole within its existing landscape. To the eastern and western extremities, generous groups of trees and bushes signal the entrance into the town-centre. In the heart of the town, the presence of vegetation is more discreet yet it helps define the more intimate and pedestrian areas.
Program
Revitalization of the town-centre
Location
Mehun-sur-Yèvre (18)
Team
h2o architectes (lead architect) with Soderef (Exterior infrastructure engineer), D&H paysage (landscape), ON (lighting designer)
Client
Mehun-sur-Yèvre City