EVOL'U4 is an innovative and original vision of recapturing industrial wildernesses by combining vocations (economic development, scientific project, habitat, culture, heritage, tourism, and gardens), and re-using constraints (pollution, congestion of basements …) as concepts for the development making it possible to achieve an economical plan and wise use of the equipment, while meeting specific needs.
The whole project must be part of a transformation process (transformation of the material by the blast furnace, buildings for new uses, soil through gardens, a wilderness into a new place of life ... ) and synergy between each vocation. EVOL'U4 is here for the long term. The planning and development will adapt to the identified needs, the place will therefore be in constant evolution, like a site in motion.
A PROJECT DIVIDED INTO 4 POLES
The economic polecenters around the installation of ARCELORMITTAL in the Large Offices of the former steel plant to install a Digital Lab allowing the development of cutting-edge technological innovation, the training of professionals and students, the networking of partners and hosting start-ups within a coworking space. The creative economy pole will also build architectural spaces that can accommodate small activities requiring atypical spaces (artists, craftsmen, liberal professions, communication, publishing, etc.). Finally, the touristic economy will be developed directly for the heritage of the U4 blast furnace that can be visited.
Thehabitat, mainly located in the immediate vicinity of the park, will help recreate urbanity at the entrance to the town and re-establish links between the different districts and the site. To do so, the crossing path connecting the Station to the Moselle will be open to soften the traffic in 2021.
The Heritage, Sciences & Gardens pole will showcase the architectural and human heritage, the industrial process and the environmental science. Laid out around the U4 blast furnace, a park will offer the public gardens featuring protocols for recycling polluted soils, wildernesses plots with spontaneous vegetation and gardens welcoming landscape and artistic interventions. The mid-term objective is to make the blast furnace an experimentation site, for the observation of environments and the treatment of polluted soils through a scenography focused on science popularization.
The cultural poleis closely linked to the seasonal programming of the U4 blast furnace park, and it is developed around street arts, circus and current music (actions and cultural mediation, residencies, support and co-production) . The Place des Possibles is an open-air space located behind the wilderness, surrounded by annex buildings, there we can accommodate large mobile structures.
Picture : ©HL Architectes
