Dutch architect KCAP and France’s V2S Architectes have won an international design competition for a mixed-use complex in the new ZAC Aerospace neighbourhood on the edge of Toulouse.
A 25m-wide bridge will link the high-rise residential tower to a shorter office building next door.
The bridge crosses over the end of a famous former runway – the “Piste des Géants” – that was used in the 1920s by pioneering aviators like Antoine de Saint-Exupéry in the heyday of aviation in Toulouse.
The runway is being turned into a 2km-long linear urban forest.
The 18,000-sq-m complex’s facade will be constructed in lightweight wood.
Xavier Blaringhem, KCAP partner, said: “Our office has a strong drive to create liveable cities. Seeing how the brief called for a monumental gesture, this presented us with another challenge.
“Our solution was to look for the human scale: in the dimensions of the arch, and also in the design of the ground floors – especially those of the lower volume.”
The 2km Altiplano neighbourhood will be located on the former Montaudran industrial area, southeast of Toulouse’s centre.
