We are pleased to announce that our finalist project for the redevelopment of the Lergue and Soulondres riverbanks in Lodève is currently on display at the Cité de l’Architecture et du Patrimoine, as part of the exhibition “Quartiers de Demain: l’avenir s’écrit aujourd’hui.”
Launched in 2023, Quartiers de Demain is an international consultation initiated by the French State to reinvent ten priority neighbourhoods across the country. Lodève is one of them.
For nearly a year, we worked with the City, the GIP EPAU and local residents to understand what this site reveals about the reality of many small French towns: essential rural centralities, yet fragile and often disconnected from their own resources.
In Lodève, the Lergue and the Soulondres structure the valley, the faubourgs, and a remarkable textile heritage. Long kept at a distance, they nonetheless carry the identity and the potential of the site. Our project proposes to turn the city back toward the water, integrating flood risk and climate-adaptation challenges as structuring parameters — designing with risk rather than against it.
Beyond the redevelopment of the riverbanks, we envisioned a large campus on the water: a continuous system of public spaces, facilities, learning and cultural venues, all connected by the rivers.
An ambitious way to reconnect neighbourhoods with one another and with the town centre, making water a foundation for life, knowledge, and creation.
A collective and exciting adventure, carried out with: Batlleiroig (lead team), Urbastudio, Nommos, and Ingerop.
