SPORTS STADIUM TO GREEN SPACE
07 Sep 2016
Ray Stadium in Nice, France, will undergo a dramatic transformation to turn the site into a public domain replete with landscaped gardens that will join the urban environment to the natural.
Maison Edouard François, in partnership with ABC Architectes, has won the competition for the requalification of the former Ray Stadium into housing, landscaped gardens, shops, sports facilities, and parking. The new development will accommodate around three hundred buildings and 6000m2 of commercial surface area.
Located in Nice, France, the project aims to provide its swiftly growing neighbourhood with a “new green lung” by mimicking the form of a vegetated hill and incorporating elements of classic Niçois architecture like white stone and wood. The reinvented stadium becomes a bridge between the urban and natural landscapes, linking new constructions of the Boulevard Gorbella with the new Ray Park.
This new park will additionally be integrated into the city block on one level, stretching over all the buildings and covering the façades and roofs. Furthermore, the façades will host climbing, flowering plants and the rooftops will be entirely planted.
“A construction in the interior of the city block will be raised and placed on pilotis [piers], in order to broaden and extend the presence of nature. Underneath this garden object, the spaces that have thus been freed up will be accessible and open to the public, for new domestic and leisure activities,” explain the architects in a press release.
