Quartiers de Demain

At the initiative of the President of the French Republic, the international Quartiers de Demain consultation aims to transform ten neighborhoods and create a national dynamic in support of urban policies of the 21st century. The consultation will enable the realization of projects that will have an impact across the neighborhoods and beyond, addressing the needs of local inhabitants and making an exemplary contribution to the ecological transition.

51N4E participated in the Quartier de Saige site in Pessac, which consists of the refurbishment and adaptive reuse of Tower 8, with the potential for replication, as well as the development of a green corridor linking the neighborhood to the town center and university campus. Our project aims to bring new life to this neighborhood and to reconnect with its ambitions of fifty years ago, not through grand gestures, but through a renewal grounded in what already exists. Small but precise interventions can have a significant impact.

We support the ambition to diversify what the neighborhood offers, transforming this monofunctional area into a more layered and diversified place without disrupting its identity. Preservation and innovation can go hand in hand, provided that the capacity of what already exists is assessed and its potential strengthened.

For Tower 8, we intervene with restraint: increased comfort within the housing units, the creation of shared spaces, all adapted to the building’s structure. Listening to the building is essential for an intervention that is both realistic and ambitious.

This translates into targeted actions and the addition of a “capable volume” built onto the parking structure. At a lower cost, this makes it possible to introduce new uses and increase diversity. Public space gains clarity, alternating between lively and quiet areas, intensified, calmed, and greener.

The ground floor becomes the heart of the renewal: a porous, open place of exchange where residents, activities, and landscape meet. A center marked by its towers and low-rise volumes, organized around three resident-centered hubs that support thousands of everyday interactions. A field of activities and a mosaic of spaces, it becomes the beating heart of a remarkable neighborhood.

Thus, through these simple yet impactful interventions, buildings and public spaces evolve toward a renewed version of Saige, recognizable to its inhabitants while offering new opportunities.