le GRAND LARGE DISTRICT - DUNKIRK FRANCE

Stephane Chalmeau

In the ultimate feat of redundant naming, the City of Dunkirk branded the master plan of their abandoned waterfront to make certain it was clear to everyone the tremendous size of this development. But in this case, it's not size that matters. The name in French refers to the open sea that this master plan turns to address.

The City of Dunkirk, the Port Authority, Projénor (a developer) and the Town Planning Agency entrusted the master planning of their industrial waterfront to Richard Rogers. In 1991, the city council approved the plan and called it the Neptune project. The focus of the planning was to orient the city toward the water and to urbanize the brownfield remnants of Dunkirk's industrial past. The first phase was to renovate the city squares, construct the new University and promote new commercial development. The goal of the second phase was to build "quartier 21" to meet the sustainability goals of Agenda 21. The Grand Large District is the 42 hectare 2nd phase of the master planning effort. It is located northeast of the city center on the site of a shipyard left vacant when the shipping company closed its doors in 1988. Work began in 2005 when the selection committee awarded the project to the French architecture firm Nicolas Michelin (ANMA).

ANMA Master Plan Concept

The location on the waterfront and only a short walk from the city center made it ideal for residential development. This was an underlying point of the Neptune project; to stem the tide of deurbanization sweeping the city due to rising property costs and fewer inner city jobs.

To attain the sustainability goals, the buildings harness the power of the sun, rain and the trash. The attached single family homes have roof mounted photo-voltaic cells. Units are well insulated, use mechanically assisted natural ventilation and are kept warm with district heat recovered from a local waste incineration plant. Rainwater is harvested from the urban park and the gable roofs.

In addition to the environmental aspects, the development is promoted as a cultural, recreational and leisure hub for Dunkirk. It makes this point by drawing attention to several components of the plan; a community center/ gymnasium, an urban park area, access to the public beach and access to the contemporary art museum LAAC (Lieu d'Art et d'Action Contemporaine). The social emphasis on the development is supported by the fact that 40% of the units are set aside for social housing and 10% for first time buyers.

The shimmering metallic gable roofs of the waterfront buildings combined with the warm color of the wood cladding give the development great curb appeal. It was the cover image that first turned my head toward the activity in this port.

Observing the district first hand reinforced this first impression. The depth of forethought with which ANMA approached the planning has paid off. The contemporary park design, inclusion of the cultural and recreation programs, the pedestrian scale of the development and the playful use of form and material on the buildings all lend Grand Large a strong sense of livability.

The distinct lack of privacy screening on either the waterfront gable buildings or the inner attached single family homes, on the other hand, illustrate a priority on planning and design over residents needs. The maturing landscape (where planted) will help address this concern within a couple years. Residents of these first 216 units, of the planned 930, will have to wait for other elements to grow in as well. Things like public transportation and a grocery store. The Department of Geography at l'Ecole normale superieure has acknowledged the tangible disconnect between the city center and the Grand Large district and lack of a center of activity. Their remedy? Activate the old port area (Citadel) by building up a new center around the University buildings. This solution fails to take advantage of existing attributes of the city and is divergent from the original master plan. The addition of commercial and retail space to the development would provide the necessary day and nigh activity to the community. 

The current lack of commercial or retail space lends it an eerie-ghost-town sense after dark. The projects ultimate aim is a total of 1,500 units and 40,000 m2 of retail. This density will be the seed that private investment will fertilize to fill out this growing community. Only then will this community have earned its name.