This project was completed in the winter of 1999 on exchange in Clermont Ferrand, France.

Housing at Haute Picardie?

We don’t think so

The TGV Haute-Picardie station is situated in northern France between two large cities: Paris and Lille. It is an isolated, architecturally contemporary station made of mostly aluminum and glass. This autonomous style is contrary to the customary small vernacular stations normally built in such low-density areas. The station has no relation with its context; a mainly flat terrain of vast fields punctured by small sparse villages.

The station is one of passage only. Up until now, it has served only as a node between its two more important end points of Paris and Lille. In addition to its valued railway location, the Haute Picardie station can also be accessed by the A1, a main highway that runs parallel to the TGV tracks. This transportation network pierces the landscape creating not only a visual disruption but a social one as well. An inflow of a new genre of people will now be present in this rural area.

2: Existing forests and clusters of trees

3: Views that we wanted to preserve in order to maintain the relation between points of interest (villages, forests, etc.) and the diversity of the space

4: Zones of Absorption, to respect the relationships between the existing villages, we determined a minimal distance separating two or more villages. The area that was within this limit would remain untouched.

5: Transportation network, a zone dedicated to separating and thereby isolating the tracks and highway. We see the immediate areas beside this network as undesirable to live in due to the excessive noise, air pollution and visual pollution.

6: Zone of natural growth, assuming the future size and shape of the existing villages will change, we have created an envelope of non-buildable space that will surround each village and account for this growth

It is evident to us not to build on this site but to instead try to preserve its singular character. Our concept consists of developing the activity around the station and to define by this a program that responds to the needs of both the TGV clients and the inhabitants of the Picardie region. The intention is in fact the opposite of the assignments. Instead of creating housing for the working class of Paris and Lille, we intend to create a gathering space for the residents of these two cities and the local inhabitants, letting them live in the big cities but play in the country.

Our intervention is one of global rather than local scale. The Haute-Picardie station is located amidst a vast railway network linking such important cities as London, Brussels, Amsterdam, Luxembourg, Paris, etc. This system will eventually link the entire European community with the TGV system, a railway that cuts travel time almost in half, making transportation easy and fast.

Seeing, as it is only a half an hour from Haute Picardie north to Lille or south to Paris, we see yet another reason not to construct housing here. These two cities can satisfy any additional housing needs. Because of this short distance to Paris or Lille, we see the opportunity to install a program that could be accessed as easily as if it were part of the city itself.

Our analysis continued with a search for references. We selected four projects that we brought to the same scale as the site and super positioned them on the plan to see the effects. These projects were:

1: Emilio Ambazs’ project in Texas, USA

2: Euralille Station/ Complex at Lille

3: Park La Villette in Paris by Bernard Tschumi

4: Katsura Palace and Gardens, Kyoto, Japan

After placing these projects on our site it became evident that they all had a similar non-relationship with our site. It became apparent that a new programme at a new scale must be created in order to best satisfy our purpose.

Our propositions for a project are all particular an all aim to intrigue the people who come use it. They are:

1: A labyrinth to appeal to a sense of losing ones self

2: An opera, a program that has nothing to do with the site or context and would therefore shock the visors

3: An island in the middle of a lake, to evoke the notion of dream through the use of water appearing our of nowhere

4: A non-functional system of transportation-roller coaster type movement to appeal to the delirious nature