Christina Cibeira Lachmann

The complex Avanchet-Parc has been developed and built in the context of a housing crisis in the 1970s by the Göhner system that proposed a mass and heavy production of prefabricated concrete. Built with repetition, thus fast and economical the project targets a low-income population class. Nothing seems to be missing there: one sleeps, eats, lives, consumes, prays, consults the doctor, drives, goes to school and so on. Like a butterfly in nature (building ensemble’s form), the original intention was to build a whole life around the qualities that a park offers.

In the 70s, the car is a symbol of freedom; was at and becomes the centre of the sub-urban planning of Les Avanchets. A main traffic line crosses the ensemble transversally and its lateral extensions distribute the different dwelling blocks. A line of speed and nuisances: exhaust gas, noises, fast movement that limits slower ways of moving around and the expansion of the park. A mega- structure on columns that follows the line divides the flows: the car below and the pedestrian above.

Today, the idea of putting the car at the center of mobiliy has become obsolete. Some little interventions happened lately to give more space to the pedestrian and creates connections with the neighborhood, but still insufficient. By introverting it with dense vegetation to protect the inhabitants from heavy traffic lines, the complex became disconnected from its environment. But, can we see the whole as a continuous park where a co existence is possible between car and pedestrian?

The project tries to negotiate a coexistence between the car space and that given to the park. It proposes to develop of a continuous park within the ensemble, and to provide more accessibility to pedestrians. Accessiblity from the outside for pedestrians is provided by removing bushes on the periphery, by expending the stairs and ramps entrances and by adding a bridge. A series of interventions attempt to provide connections : the column-stair for vertical connections that integrate themself in the existing colonnade, asphalt removal for more green surfaces, enlarging the passages in the ground floor for more visibility; and comfort.

The passages of the buildings dwelling blocks are enlarged. It allows a more generous connection between the previous « back » parking side and « front » park side to becomes a single parc. This affects the upper floors; by adding doors and walls new flats are created. The kitchens are reused and the missing rooms are added on the roof - where laundry rooms are migrating. The modular and economical Göhner system is used as heritage for the roof addition.

Although different changes happened: new solar pannels on the terrasse, more performant sun shadding and windows, it expression has not changed in 50 years. Within the nowaday energy renovation rush context the ensemble is at risk of being frozen, by being listed. But, can’t we continue trusting the residents, visitors, caretakers, gardeners, owners and architects to preserve it in good condition and adapt it for the future? Do we want to put it at risk of becoming an expensive monument to the “20th century architectural heritage”?

The neighbourhood is slowly becoming dense and denser, with more and more of concrete and asphalt. And if the project’s ambition to reduce spaces dedicated to the car is deployed in its surroundings, could we imagine, like Gilles Clément, that the «Earth» could be a «single garden»?