Project description by jury

The project proposes a large urban infrastructure intervention that aims to turn an environmental criticality into a resource for the city of Bordeaux. To overcome the problem of urban waste, a recycling park is created around the Vallée de Jalles, a vast natural area located northwest of the metropolis, on the left side of the Garonne River. Taking advantage of the natural resources of the area, the project moves beyond finding a technical answer to waste management – and proposes a landscape design that reconfigures the territory and integrates low-tech and high-tech facilities, thereby giving birth to a visionary, attractive city of the future.

As a Main category prize winner in the regional Holcim Awards 2020, Resource Circulation in France automatically qualified as a finalist in the Global Holcim Awards 2021.

View Global Holcim Awards Entry – Resource Circulation in France

The built environment has a significant role to play in addressing climate change and enabling the transition to a net-zero and more inclusive future. The Holcim Awards for Sustainable Construction global winners showcase the cutting edge of approaches to sustainable design, green architecture, and materials innovation. In the 6th cycle, a project from Switzerland won the Gold Award at both the regional and global levels. The global prizes were presented at a handover ceremony at the International Architecture Biennale in Venice, Italy. The regional Holcim Awards Main category winners for Europe were recognized at the same event.

Pooling and fostering solidarity everywhere

Global warming and the drop in the Garonne's flow make water all the more precious. At the opposite, through its natural resources, water is omnipresent in the humid area of la Jallère. By revealing the topography, and restoring marshlands, the imagery of the recycling park could be created. On a large scale and right at the core of working units, vapor sensor clouds and natural pools regulate microclimates through the “Geogrid” Each person can get involved. A set of measures such as geogrid and I Points develop a landscape of visible energy sources across the area. This is achieved by emphasizing the nature of the site as a positive feature, creating fertile soil and a shifting landscape. In that case, nature is neither tamed nor domesticated.

The zero-carbon objective could be envisaged in simultaneous micro-macro-scope. Building, parcel, specific use, district, territory – we push back classic boundaries to bring about the re-emergence of a more ancient hydraulic geography, one where water flows thought the JALLES (Gascon word for river).

Once they have been revealed, these resources are revered and protected. The water cycle, the presence of which is felt even more strongly, serves every field of activity, from the process of making use of waste the transportation of goods. In short, we are talking the advent of “L’eau-gistics” or maybe even “lowgistics”.