Business park and shopping and leisure district · La Queue-en-Brie, Val-de-Marne
A new district that lets the forest in.
A masterplan for a 21.5 ha business park and shopping and leisure centre south of the historic centre of La Queue-en-Brie. Wedges of planting lead from the Notre-Dame forest into the district, along streets that widen as they near the trees.
Key facts
Client
SADEV 94
Team
Signes Paysages (lead), Artelia (engineering and roads), Signes Archi (partner of Signes Paysages)
Site
South of the historic centre of La Queue-en-Brie, between the RN4, the Marmousets departmental park and the Notre-Dame forest
Area
21.5 ha
Programme
About 90,000 m² of floor area, of which 65,000 to 70,000 m² of business premises and 20,000 to 25,000 m² of shops and leisure
Budget
(To confirm, see below)
Timeline
2011 to 2017
Status
Studies completed, project stopped
The site
The ZAC lies south of the historic centre, between the RN4, the Marmousets departmental park and the Notre-Dame forest. The forest belongs to the green belt of the Paris region and to the Arc Boisé, and it is the strongest asset of the place. Long straight forest paths and historic axes still structure the territory, even though the newer urban fabric around them is fragmented. The ZAC itself is mostly wasteland, crossed by paths that lead to the forest and lined with bocage hedges.
The design takes three things from this: the forest as the main presence, the cross-paths as the structure of the plan, and the hedgerows as a layer to keep.
The challenge
Build a business and commercial district that opens onto the forest instead of turning its back on it, and that keeps the paths and hedgerows of the site.
The programme
The client’s brief:
- A business park and a shopping and leisure centre, in line with the commune’s aim to strengthen the commercial role of the area
- A masterplan with a front of quality buildings along the main road
- A redesign of the existing roads and their junctions
- An ecological corridor between the forest and the chemin des Quatre Chênes, with compensation of natural areas
Mission of the team
The masterplan and its engineering, from the first scheme to the preliminary design (avant-projet):
- The masterplan of the ZAC, in the idea of “letting the forest in”: planted wedges toward the forest, streets with a variable profile, and two long linear gardens opening from the shopping centre
- The redesign and widening of the existing roads and their junctions with the RN4
- Added at the 2014 amendment: roundabouts on the chemin des Marmousets and a new RN4 junction after the traffic study, a south service road with cycle path, bus stops and a turning head, the ecological corridor with fauna crossings, and the compensation of natural areas and wetlands
- Study at programme stage of a link to the Quatre Chênes shopping centre across the corridor
- Footpaths and cycle routes to the forest and the Château des Marmousets, and views kept from the RN4 to the forest
Mission of Signes Archi
- Architecture: a compact, permeable shopping front along the RN4, business buildings in narrow strips set into the landscape, and a “gate of the park and of the town” with exhibition space and an auditorium (to confirm)
- Landscape: the planted wedges and the street profiles, in the character of the forest (to confirm)
Timeline
July 2011 mission begins · 2012 first study completed · 2014 amendment (road, corridor and compensation extras) · 2017 end of the extended mission · project stopped
Scope and themes: Strategy, studies and planning · Design · Technical documents and tenders · Nature-based solutions · Ecology and biodiversity