Europan 4: Jeumont Housing & High Speed Transport Interchange, Jeumont, France
OCEAN UK: Tom Verebes, Wade Stevens, Robert Elfer, Kevin Cespedes, Anne-Laure Gimenez, Tamzyn Berman, André Lerner, Paul Wiste
Role: Creative Director, Design Coordinator, Text
International Design Competition
Client: Municipalité Jeumont, France
# submissions: 127 entries
Winners: 1st Prize (Njiric & Njiric, Croatia)
Position: N/A;
Jury: N/A
Publications:
- Verebes, T. (1999). “OCEAN”, Hybrid Space: New Forms in Digital Architecture. (Zellner, P. ed.). London: Thames & Hudson. pp. 150-163.
- Europan 4: Constructing the Town upon the Town – European Results. Paris: Europan. (340 pages)
Situated on partly disused SNCF railway land, Jeumont is positioned to become a commercial, cultural and infrastructural hub of the region. A multi-modal transportation network allocates a new TGV link along with three mixed-use air-rights transfer buildings that mediate the motorway connection as a pliant mass that bridges the railway lines. A variety of 2 floor maisonettes, single level studios, one, two and three bed apartments are distributed, ranging between 30m2 and 100m2. A construction system of sectionally extruded 12m wide slabs has intermittent shear helical cores at each inflection in the geometry, organising vertical circulation, structure and mechanical services. The intersections of the variable edges of the floor slabs with two external skin systems produce a variety of vertical interior landscapes, mezzanines, double-height spaces and, exterior terraces. A three-dimensional twenty year phasing strategy aims for the initial scheme to adapt to future contingencies.
