Archives: Projets urbains

“Dreams are what fuel the greatest human adventures. They need to have a place in this world, regardless of how outlandish they may seem.”
François Delaroziere, Preface in Carnet de croquis et de réalisation

Third stage of the great project of urban renewal of the Island of Nantes, the Herons Tree is a work of art, a moving architecture, located in the heart of a unique site, the former quarry Misery in the district of Chantenay. Located in front of the Loire in the future urban garden called «The Extraordinary Garden», the Herons Tree is a colossal 35 meters high (110 feet) and 1700 tons steel sculpture. The plant take root in this metal structure, taking the form of hanging gardens. It is crowned by 2 giant herons; each can carry up to twelve passengers for a circular flight. The tree’s 22 branches stretcha combined length of 1.4 kilometres (0,7miles). Plants take root in the steel and the public can visit incredible gardens going form branch to branch, like a series of interconnected hanging terraces. Accesses to the herons and to the hanging gardens are separate.

More information in this file (in french) +

Le Dragon de Calais is a perennial creation which accompanies the rehabilitation of the seafront of the city of Calais. This saurian is thought to be a structuring element of the city. Through its movements, it meshes the city and interacts with the inhabitants and visitors. The aim is to create a collective and unifying imaginary heritage around this machine. It is the first stage of a three-phase project which will accompany the urban transformation of Calais for eight years and which will give birth to a family of saurians.

A monumental construction in steel and sculpted wood, the Dragon de Calais has a mobility inspired by the motor skills of reptiles. It is very expressive, spitting fire, smoke and water in different forms. Mist escapes from its body through about thirty vents. Its eyes, eyelids, ears, mouth, tongue and fins are mobile.  He can lie down, get up, run up to 4 km/h and flap his wings in thick canvas. Outside the shows, 50 passengers will access its back on a covered terrace thanks to a staircase integrated into its tail.

From 17 December 2019, the Compagnie du Dragon will ensure the tourist, commercial and technical exploitation of the Dragon de Calais and its companions when they arrive on the territory. Each day, the Dragon de Calais will walk along the seafront carrying 50 people on its back for a journey of about 30 minutes. Technical visits, a restaurant or a shop will enrich this cultural and tourist offer.

Information and booking :  www.compagniedudragon.com

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Dragon’s identity card

Height : 8 m
Width: 7 to 22 m
Length: 25 m
Weight: approx. 72 tons
Speed: 0 to 4 km/h
Fluids: water, air, electricity, hydraulics
Materials: wood, metal, leather, canvas, copper
Effects: breathing, smoke, flame, water jet, sound
Handling: 4 to 17 people (show)
Capacity: 50 people transported
Hybrid propulsion

La Halle de La Machine opened its doors to the public in November 2018 in the Montaudran district of Toulouse. It brings to life the stable of street performance machines, designed and manufactured by the teams of the Compagnie La Machine.

This place was imagined as a stable for the company’s creations. These machines, from the smallest one held in the hand to the largest one weighing several tons, have taken up residence in the Halle de La Machine while waiting to be used in shows all over the world. On the spot, in front of the public, a team of trainers/manipulators: “the real machinists” bring them to life, bringing back the tales and legends of these extraordinary mechanical mounts, in constantly renewed scenographies.

The Halle de La Machine is a space for life and encounters, designed as an invitation to travel to meet these unusual and poetic objects, straight out of the Nantes construction workshop. It houses a new, singular and monumental creature: the Minotaur, whose first appearance during the show Le Gardien du Temple from 1st to 4th November brought together more than 800,000 spectators. At the end of the show, its wings and temple recovered, the Minotaur settled in the Hall of the Machine, accompanied by Ariadne, the spider. The Minotaur can embark fifty people for an extraordinary journey on the former runway of the Aéropostale and in the district of Montaudran.

The Halle de La Machine is also intended to be a creative space in which new artistic forms will be born, through the meeting of artists. It is also an opportunity for the company La Machine to experiment with new staging for future shows in front of the public.

A cultural programme, a bar-restaurant, a shop and meeting spaces are all possible entrances to come and discover the La Machine Hall and its occupants made of wood and steel.

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Adress 

Halle de La Machine
3, avenue de l’Aérodrome de Montaudran 31 400 Toulouse
www.halledelamachine.fr

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Parking : rue Jacqueline Auriol
Bus : Linéo 8 (arrêt Gonin ou Lavidalie) / Ligne 27 (arrêt Latécoère) /Ligne 80 (arrêt Gare SNCF de Montaudran/ Ligne 23 (arrêt Gare SCF Montaudran)
Train  : ligne 10, Toulouse Carcassonne Narbonne – arrêt Gare Montaudran

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Toutes les informations pratiques sur le site  : www.halledelamachine.fr

 

Les Machines de l’île created by François Delarozière and Pierre Orefice, are at a crossroads between culture and urban planning.
Their development is in three stages – Le Grand Éléphant in 2007, Le Carrousel des Mondes Marins in 2012 and next L’Arbre aux Hérons. These perennial touristic facilities are on show daily, thus contributing to reinforce the territory’s attractiveness.

Unlike all attraction parks where audiences are enclosed, these monumental machines are integrated and visible in the urban landscape, on Nantes Island, right in the middle of the city.

At the heart of this factory are the workshop and La Machine Company, the lungs of the facilities. From panoramic viewpoints, visitors can watch the construction of the machines which will, when completed, irrigate the public space.

These City Machines are life accelerators. They stage viewpoints from which the renewed city can be observed.

At the crossroads between street arts and urban planning, Les Animaux de la rue is a touristic and cultural permanent installation, specially designed for the city of La Roche sur Yon. Today, 13 wooden and steel animals stand in the middle of Napoléon Square and the story goes that they came from the secret collections of the famous Egyptian campaign. They can be operated from the banks by members of the public, free of charge.

A fairground and popular work of ar

The Manège Carré Sénart is a very particular object, which comes under the fairground arts by the originality of its elements but its square sides and its extraordinary dimensions also make it a real urban equipment. Inaugurated in 2008, at the gates of Paris, the Manège Carré Sénart is a landmark. 18 meters side (and not radius!), A highest point at 14 meters, the Manège accommodates forty-eight people (adults and children). Giant buffaloes towing movable fish heads cross a circle of insects on rails while other climbers evolve in this ornamental and magical architecture. The Carré Sénart merry-go-round raises the question of movement: verticality, horizontality, rotation, crossing. All these movements provoke a game of crossed looks between users and thus invite to share the emotion of an imaginary journey, in the heart of this improbable setting.

Le Manège Carré Sénart : un emblème pour Sénart et le Carré Sénart en France et en Europe

La forme et l’originalité du Manège rappellent ainsi les caractéristiques du projet de la ville nouvelle. La mise en place de ce manège a pour but de mettre en mouvement et de faire vivre, sa ville d’accueil, le Carré Sénart. Son bestiaire mécanique est directement inspiré du paysage sénartais, de sa terre sédimenteuse chargée de fossiles marins. Quelques millénaires plus tard, apparurent les plantes et les insectes. Puis vînt l’homme et ses machines. Ainsi, « c’est en travaillant les terres de Sénart pour accueillir la future cité que les buffles-machines déterrèrent les têtes de poissons fossiles et déclenchèrent la grande ronde des insectes ».

Entièrement démontable et transportable, le Manège Carré Sénart part une partie de l’année sur les routes européennes et devient ainsi l’ambassadeur de son territoire et du projet de la ville nouvelle auprès des villes qui ont la chance de l’accueillir.

Le Manège Carré Sénart a été commandé par la Scène nationale de Sénart (sous la direction de Jean-Michel Puiffe), financé par le Syndicat d’agglomération de Sénart et l’Établissement public d’aménagement du Territoire de Sénart et par le groupe Unibail-Rodamco, développeur et opérateur du centre de commerces et de loisirs Carré Sénart.

Retrouvez l’actualité du Manège Carré Sénart :
www.manegecarre-senart.com