Tour Euravenir, Lille- A game with building envelopes

摘要

Directly beside the Euralille district, which was planned by OMA in the 1990s, a high-rise building has been erected, which, de jure, is not a high-rise at all: by declaring seven and a half storeys instead of eight it was possible to remain below the height that here defines a high-rise - while nevertheless creating an elegant tower with subtle facades. Defensive position At times the art of building is not unlike the art of war. And, often enough, carrying out a building project at its location has a certain similarity to erecting a defensive complex. Architect and artillery officer follow the same goal: the aim of both is to "hold a position", for the former this is an urban position, for the latter a military one. The problem can be solved when the program (or the material) is substantial and is suitable for the urban (or military) situation. The matter becomes more difficult when the piece of land to be controlled is free and open and the possibilities of demarcating and defining it are limited. The architect here soon finds himself in much the same difficulty as the officer who has to defend a wide field with just one cannon. The same applies, mutatis mutandis, to the situation that confronted the young architectural team of Benoit Jallon and Umberto Napolitano (LAN) in Lille. The commission involved erecting a small office building at the edge of an open and strategically important site (a street junction with a sunken speedway): opposite the Euralille urban district, which was created from the 1990s onwards according to a master plan by OMA.