Tolbiac Chevaleret
The 200.000 m2 project investigates capping the railway tracks of Austerlitz along the Avenue de France, to reach the height of the National Library’s ground.
Rather than accepting a lower area and a higher area, with immediate consequences for the type of housing involved, One’s project aimed at restoring the continuity of the city, so that a division between ‘uptown’ and ‘downtown’ was avoided, using the new programme to complete the city’s grid. The concept was simply to strengthen the connection between the 13th arrondissement and the River Seine with a sweeping green link of park and terraced housing. In addition, by extending the deck above the tracks all the way to the Halle Sernam, and by cutting up the Halle and taking out segments, north-south connections would be unblocked. The height differences would be negotiated inside the building, with consequently minimal impact. The project is, above all, a feat of total engineering. The railway tracks need to keep running for 21 hours a day, posing numerous challenges in integrating the deck, the parking and the surrounding architecture.
