Miquel Lacasta, a lecturer in Projects at the ESARQ School of Architecture, together with the rest of the Archikubik team and the French company SADEV94, won first prize at the 2014 Futurs Possibles competition for his project, ZAC Rouget de Lisle. The prizes were handed out on Thursday, 20 November 2014, at the Pavillon de l’Arsenal, an information, documentation and exhibition centre on urban planning and architecture in Paris.
Lacasta’s project, ZAC Rouget de Lisle, is located in the area of Vitry-sur-Seine in the Paris suburbs. In the words of the prestigious panel of French judges, who included influential figures from the fields of urban planning, architecture and the technical press, his project was awarded first prize for the quality and value of its innovative underpinnings and its contribution to the positive overall management of future urban developments in the area.
The project sought to plan, organize and develop an area of the city by making use of its supposedly negative aspects (e.g. the fact that a motorway runs across it) and working within the limits of its topography to produce a model of a sensory city that would provide liveable spaces. In total, 10% of the spaces created would be for public use.
The theme of the 2014 Futurs Possibles competition was “Choosing the Best Urban Future”, while the aim of the event was to give recognition to genuinely excellent urban planning projects and hold them up as models for the cities and lifestyles of the future. Specifically, this year’s edition sought to highlight models of future neighbourhoods that aim to create a better city for the generations of tomorrow while taking into account the impact that cities have on social, economic, environmental and mobility-related considerations.
Futurs Possibles is organized by Bouygues Immobilier, one of France’s largest property developers; VECTUEL, a leading French company in the field of 3D modelling; the Federation of Local Public Enterprises; the Pavillon de l’Arsenal; the Association of French Mayors; and ECOSYS, a leading developer of software solutions for the management of architecture projects.
More than 53 entries were submitted for this year’s edition of the contest. These were whittled down to 10 by the judges, who eventually gave the first prize to Lacasta and the Archikubik team.
