The competition for the Ponsonne Plaine is part of the broader national tender “QUARTIERS DE DEMAIN” that seeks to rethink and redefine archetypical sites across the France territory.
The design studies conducted between February and October 2025 on this site provided us with the opportunity for fundamental reflection on the flawed urban landscapes resulting from a juxtaposition planning. Our aim was to contribute not only to the specific project development but also broader national and international debates on territorial regeneration. While the objective of the landscape, urban and architectural study was to deliver concrete local, spatial, programmatic, and strategic responses, our proposal above all represents an opportunity to articulate transferable methodologies for the future of these fragile yet potentially resilient urban territories over the coming decades.
“Situational optimization” is developed as a methodology/strategy for enhancing inherited landscapes through precise contextually-aware interventions, creating balance and offering a renewed functional hierarchy. Through three complementary modes —articulation, hybridization, and potentiation— this approach works with the “already there,” recalibrating abundant yet fragmented leftover architectural and open spaces characteristic of modernist planning as neighbourhoods that excel in urban design, architecture, and landscape. These strategies foster identity and encourage social encounter through new programmatic mixes, enhance ecological and climate resilience by reducing built footprints, all while maintaining economic prudency as optimization in term of maintenance is less expensive than rebuilding.
The first optimization step focuses on rethinking mobility, creating loops, clarifying and improving accessibility, and addressing topographical, geographical, and social constraints. Once opened up along a north-south axis, the site becomes a meeting place, where facilities, pathways and green spaces help to create social, cultural and intergenerational ties.
The reuse of two buildings embody our new interpretation of hybrid, multi-purpose public spaces. The redesign of the „Central Social Club“ creates a new anchor, an iconic destination–a catalyst based on re-use between the Upper Plaza and the Sports Esplanade below –accommodating sports, recreational, and cultural activities. The extension of the football field tribunes transforms the existing structure into a vibrant new hub, linking club life and neighbourhood life.
Finally, the renaturation of the stream into a continuous riparian corridor establishes a new green backbone – at once a place for relaxation, a cool island and a defining landscape structure for the entire valley.