Ombrelles

Revitalising the commercial centre of Ginko, Bordeaux

Done as part of the fulfillment of my exchange programme in Strate École de Design where followed the Bachelors' programme Design d'Espace (Spatial Design), this project was completed in collaboration with Bouygues Immobilier who first constructed the town of Ginko Bouygues Immobilier provided their design team who helped advise the project. Vous pouvez consulter la présentation originale en Français ici, or you may view the English slides here

Details

Tools: Illustrator, Photoshop, Premiere Pro, Rhino 6, Twinmotion

Timeline: 12 weeks

Project type: Group project (in Strate École de Design)

Role: Conducted site study and analysis, giving input for experience design of the space. Additionally, I was in charge of the technical drawings

Skills: Space Design, Geospatial analysis, Experience Design, User research and site analysis, Model making

Project summary

Brief:

Ginko, a town in Bordeaux, is the first eco-quarter in Bordeaux designed with sustainable development in mind and was completed in 2022. Bouygues Immobilier handed us the task of increasing its livibility with two prompt:

1 . "comment intégrer dans les espaces publics des oasis de fraîcheur et de convivialité - se rafraîchir, flâner et se retrouver ? "

how might we integrate the oases of freshness and conviviality into public spaces to refresh ourselves, stroll and get together?

Envisioned model of Ginko

2. "Comment offrir une expérience de bien-être, de vivre ensemble et de nature en ville ? "

how might we offer an experience of well-being, living together and nature in the city?

What we did:

The town of Ginko was split into zones to be assigned to different groups. My group was assigned with revitalising the commercial center of Ginko.

* eco-quarter (or eco-quartier in french) refers to a distract with the aim of integrating objectives of sustainable development and social equity and reducing the ecological footprint of a neighbourhood, urban area, or region

Ombrelles: Text

Site analysis

The shopping centre in context to the Ginko district

We took the 600km trip from Paris to Bordeaux to better understand the ground situation and feel of the district.

In comparison with the shopping streets of central Bordeaux, the streets in the shopping centre of Ginko were wide with impersonal and unwelcoming storefronts.

We adopted the framework of "sociabilité, biodiversité, fraîcheur" (sociability, biodiversity, freshness) to guide and sharpen our analysis of the shopping center site and interviews with residents

SOCIABILITY

There is almost no social activities happening on the streets and its streets are left deserted for most of the time. The only significant social activity happens on Sunday when the weekly market takes place.

"There is nothing to encourage stopping in the shopping center; many people pass by, but very few actually stop. I would really like to have a bar."

"The only place to have a drink is at the wine shop Nicolas."

"Today, there are only franchises; it breaks the neighborhood dynamic."

BIODIVERSITY

Nature is restricted to squares and only planted in specific areas. Important areas such as the pavement remain as bare concrete without any vegetation.

"There are trees only in the central square; they are there to look pretty..."

"The vegetation is so unnatural that you can see bushes tagged with colored spray paint!"

"The terrace of McDonald's is very pleasant, but it's the only one."

FRESHNESS

"It gets very hot in the summer because there is no shade between noon and two o'clock."

There is no shade in the shopping center during summer, causing the area to be very hot. Even the water mirror becomes hot during summer due to lack of shade.

"At times, we feel a light breeze coming from the lake; it's pleasant."

"The water and splashes from the water mirror feel good when crossing this square."

"I would like to eat in the shade of a tree."

Shadow and sunlight study

Through analysing the shadows through a model, we found out that there is no shade at all from 12-2pm in the centre of the shopper center where the weekly market happens.

Circulation and flow study

Through overlaying the flow of the different user groups of the area, we found out that there is a empty and dense circulation zone.

Observations

No rhythm in the streets

NO RHYTHM AND LIFE IN THE CENTER OF GINKO

No activities in the streets

After identifying the lack of sociability as key issue in the shopping center in Ginko with regards to sustainability (social sustainability), our team developed our problem statement:

"How might we redesign the shopping center of Ginko to foster conviviality among the neighborhood residents?"

Strategy

Current state

Our goal

We visualised our insights by mapping our findings onto our framework. We plan to increase all the three factors of the shopping centre in Ginko and we plan to achieve our goal through a two pronged approach:

Recreate rhythm and new circulation flows in Ginko

Reimagine uses through new spaces

Ideation

Through ideating, we established two steps:

1. Slow down the flow to encourage more people to dwell longer around the shopping center

2. Provide shade and shelter for people to enjoy the area more

Solution

Ombrelles, meaning "parasol" or "umbrella" in French, is a collection of structures with three different heights, sizes, and appearance. Together, they provide shade and reorganises the circulation flow through climber plants and their placement

Ombrelle de séjour

With half its area being solid structure to provide large areas of shade, this structure is placed in strategic areas to encourage passersby to dwell in Ginko for longer

Ombrelle de tampon

Shaped as a semicircle, this structure is placed next to buildings to provide shade and act as a buffer space between the street and homes and businesses

Ombrelle de passage

This wide and tall structure is placed along the circulation flows to enhance the freshness of walking through the area.

Key areas

There are 3 key areas in our interventions: the water mirror, market, and the streets.

Water mirror

The water mirror that was once exposed to the scorching summer sun is now shaded by our ombrelles, allowing children to stay refreshed and play safely.

Market

The weekly markets are now housed under our Ombrelles, eliminating the hassle of setting up flimsy shades.

Streets - night and day

Day or night, the once bare pavement now remains cool thanks to our overlapping Ombrelles

Streets - summer and winter

Owing to the climber plants on our Ombrelles, residents are sheltered from the sun during summer and exposed to sunlight for warmth during winter.

Walkthrough

Visual walkthrough and experience of entering the shopping center

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This project was done on my exchange in Strate École de Design, together with classmates:

ELEONORE BLAZY and

CAPUCINE VANNIER