Share to
L’Îlot: Terrasse insolite
By : Orkestra marketing
GRANDS PRIX DU DESIGN – 15th edition
Discipline : Landscape & Territories
Categories : Landscape Architecture / Street Terrace / Parkland : Platinum Winner, Gold Certification
Context and issues
The Îlot project was born out of an urgent need for downtown Hull to generate traffic during the summer of 2021. Like many others, businesses and restaurants had been abandoned after the exodus of workers due to the pandemic. Now, two factors made the task especially complex:
1. Downtown Hull is predominantly occupied by public service employees who, for many obvious reasons, were in no hurry to return to the office.
2. The area does not have a public outdoor space where it is possible to sit and eat outdoors.
So the goals were to create a space that was suitable for telecommuting, designed to allow visitors to order meals from nearby businesses, and sufficiently equipped to accommodate outdoor groups and activities while maintaining health regulations.
Hidden behind the problem was the opportunity: parking lots deserted by government employees could, for a summer, become the public space the area needs. So we set up our terrace on top of a 5-story parking deck.
Challenges
Telecommuting is synonym of screens. Outdoor lighting makes it hard to see our screens. The top of a parking deck sandwiched between several office towers and close to the river is at the mercy of a strong wind corridor. Any canvas or temporary shading system would have served as a large sail instead. At the same time, the low-ceilinged parking structure limited the height of vehicles that could access the site. We had to try to do as many manipulations as possible before we got to the top, where it became impossible to operate anything with heavy machinery.
Design
The wooden boxes served several purposes. First, they allowed us, with the right orientation, to generate shaded areas sheltered from the wind. We were also fortunate to be able to prepare them off-site, limiting the amount of equipment needed on site. Finally, they will allow us to bring back the concept for a second season this year, after being able to easily take out, store and preserve the boxes during the winter.
Responsibility
First of all, since no traces of our passage will be noticeable, the parking lot normal functions, after the 2022 happening, will be able to resume. As for the furniture and boxes, they have aroused a lot of interest among the surrounding businesses. A company will officially take over the installations to set up a new establishment in 2023, thus, giving the installations a prolonged second life. That being said, the main goal of the project was on supporting local merchants and that is one of the main outcomes of the activity.
The bottom line
One can quickly get lost in the details of such a project, but the most important thing is that the terrace Îlot was able to leave its mark on the imagination and give life to a place that greatly needed it. Locals will agree : the boxes invaded social networks for a summer. The unique little worlds charmed families who enjoyed debating over the most beautiful environment. For a summer, the downtown area came back to life.
Collaboration
