Belvedere

Future Bellefontaine

Le Belvédère, a little gabled house on pilotis is situated in the Mirail, the new town of Toulouse, France. The new town was designed in the 1960’s by the architects Candilis-Josic-Woods. Since the early 2000’s, after big social conflicts and riots in the area, an extensive urban-renewal project is commissioned by the municipality. The urban design project is accompanied by a participatory process of mediation and participation between the design-teams, the municipality and the inhabitants of Bellefontaine, a district of Mirail. The Belvédère is composed by the shelter on pilotis and a huge stairway with an incorporated storage container, linking the lower future public square level to the former dalle level, a relict from the architectural planning where cars and pedestrians have been strictly separated. It is conceived to be the place for meeting, discussion and proposition, offering a large appropriation by the neighbors around the future central place in Bellefontaine.