The project of the G1 block is confronted with this historical industrial past of the district. The presence of the G2 building, the Wallace crane and the grain silos, among others, located just across the street, mean that the future building will have to fit in with this shared desire to insert the new constructions into this heritage. The project of reappropriation of the banks and the docks by its inhabitants highlights the construction of a collective memory and its relationship to architecture.

One of the starting points, and at the same time a fundamental element characteristic of this industrial past, is the question of scale. The future building must respond as much to the scale of the building, of the block, by confronting the neighboring building as to the scale of the pedestrian. The latter, more reduced, is the one that must rebuild urbanity. The verticalization and the subdivision of the facades, resulting from the folding of the roofs, the openwork bricks allowing life to pass through their mesh, the openings in the facades and the commercial gallery on the first floor are all elements participating in recreating an urbanity in this district, initially devoted to the transport of goods.

In this context of revaluation of the old architecture, which is manifested by the requalification of the sheds of the quays of Bordeaux and a reappropriation of these abandoned spaces by the construction of new buildings evoking this memory, the future G2 building will have to make the river's hold on the city coherent and generate the creation of social links in spaces that can be practiced by the greatest number.

Thus, the vehicle parking building is developed on 4 distinct levels. Located on the future university square, the office building is above all part of the vocabulary of the whole building, and thus completes the unity of the block. Borrowing the language of the port on Lucien Faure Boulevard and the alley between G1 and G2, the facades follow the logic of those of the parking lot, while adapting to its tertiary use. All the shops are located on the first floor of the silo parking lot.

The project is characterized by a form of transparent materiality. By its mineral character this space expresses its monumentality, thanks to the effect of transparency and light, its conviviality. While the openwork brick protects part of the offices and parking lots from the sun, at night the situation is reversed and the building is pierced by artificial light, the whole becomes magical.

Client: FAYAT Immobilier / Cost: € 15.5M excl. VAT / Surface: 21552 m² / Calendrier: 2016 / Team: Vivalto (Structure and Fluid), Franck Boutté (HEQ), Sareco (Parkings), IDB (Acoustic)