SS Regeneration
A series of urban interventions in the seafront of Le Havre
Master Thesis Project
University of Thessaly
Costis Paniyiris
Individual
Le Havre, France
June 2019
Type
Institution
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SS Regeneration is an urban design proposal consisting of a series of urban interventions in the seafront of Le Havre, France. Le Havre which is also the second largest port in France, is currently facing a lot of problems and challenges that raise the question of the city’s future as well as what direction will choose to confront them.
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In order to understand these problems at a deeper level, we research the history, the significance of the port, the city’s development plans and goals for the near future. In this brief research, we will discover the ambitious approach to the matters mentioned before that Le Havre follows. This is an ambition that can be studied in relevance with the ambition we meet in most medium sized french cities on the one hand, and the one we spot in most port-cities on the other hand.
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Our design proposal keeps up exactly with this multilevel ambition. Through a series of urban analysis, we define the goals, the exact location, the architectural program and finally the character of our proposal. The final project consists of a port museum, a sports center, three creative workshops, one floating square, a small market and an observatory and it stretches along the seafront of Le Havre. Even though each of these interventions functions as an independent urban entity, they all unify under a common design language ensuring the coherent character of the urban design proposal.
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Proposal's Masterplan
01. Sea Sports Center
02. Workshops
03. Le Havre Port Museum
04. Floating Plaza
05. Market and Observatory
The reconstructed historic center of the city in the unique modernist style of Auguste Perret and the special character of the city plays a significant role in the design process. In contradiction to the grandiose projects that usually ignore their urban context and character of the cities, being carried out within the speculative ambition mentioned before, SS Regeneration endeavors not only to respect the unique urban identity but incorporate it and eventually highlight it. Thus, SS Regeneration is not another mainstream extravagant urban proposal, but a ship. It is a ship sailing to its mother port, the port of Le Havre.
