In Bastia, Corsica’s second largest city on the northeast coast, Dietmar Feichtinger Architectes and Buzzo Spinelli Architecture have designed the promenade Aldilonda, which means “Above the Sea” in Corsican, together with In Situ and the engineers of Sbp France. The promenade now forms a link between the rock and the sea and invites to take a maritime walk or a bike ride directly on the sea and around the citadel.
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Anchored in the rock, Aldilonda follows the cliffy coastline five meters above sea level. The rock forms the massive natural foundation of the mighty enclosing wall of Bastia’s fortress, which gave the city its name. Until now, the coastline under the fortress wall was only partially accessible.
More than a path, a destination with new perspectives on the open sea, suspended between sea and sky, Aldilonda becomes a spectacular event. The softly curved path contrasts the massive fortress and the rock on which the bastion is founded. The path nestles against the rock, leans against it, and breaks through it. Sensitively, the construction blends into the rocks, the rich natural space of the coast is carefully traversed.
Durability of the materials
The path widens out and offers places to rest. The sea can be experienced through the area covered with a transparent grid. The balcony is exposed to the rough surf; when the waves are high, the water penetrates the stainless-steel grid on the rock, thus reducing the massive force of the water. Hydraulic tests in a basin in La-Seyne-sur-Mer were necessary to determine the force of the wave impact at 14 tons per square meter. Special care was also taken to ensure the durability of the materials. For example, the reinforcement density in the areas most exposed is around 400 kg/m3.
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The acrobatic use of workers, suspended from the platform of the fort on the trapeze, made it possible to anchor the construction in the rock. Drilling jigs had to be designed to anchor the 25-metre-long tension bars.
The southern point of the fortress remains untouched
To keep the toe of the fortification wall, which stretches furthest into the sea, clear, the path at the south end pierces the rock in the form of a gallery, a tunnel. It connects the walkway above the sea with the “Spacimare” promenade by a gently sloping path at the exit of the tunnel. A vertical light well provides natural light to the passage. A staircase leads up to the elevated plateau of the fortress.
The side walls and the ceiling are made of fair-faced concrete. The wood grain of the shuttering is reflected on the surface. The lighting is embedded in the ceiling.
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One access for all
To the north, the path connects to a staircase that provides direct access to the old harbor. At the same time, a gently sloping ramp accompanies the quay wall “Jetée du Dragon” and closes off the promenade accessible to all, elderly people, people in wheelchairs and parents with children in prams, as well as cyclists and rollerblades.
The red ribbon
The safety is formed by narrowing uprights with a spacing of 110mm. These are made of solid Corten steel. The iron-rich rock harmonizes strongly with the rust red of the railing. An L-shaped profile, also made of Corten, closes off the concrete on the outside of the path. The individual uprights are welded to the L-profile and follow the undulation of the path. Frontally they offer maximum transparency. From the side, they form a band that provides a sense of safety.
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Architect mandatory: Dietmar Feichtinger Architectes
Partner architects: Buzzo Spinelli Architecture
Landscape planning: IN SITU paysage et urbanisme
Engineers: SBP France BET structure
Text Credits: DFA | Dietmar Feichtinger Architectes
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Read about another project designed by Dietmar Feichtiger Architects on toposmagazine.com.
“This project embodies the meeting of the Pyrenees and the beaches of the Landes, of the mountain and of the sand, of the earth and of the sea” explains Martin Duplantier. At Anglet, in the Basque Country, Debarre Duplantiers Associés has created a new urban and landscape development project for the Chambre d’Amour and the Promenade des Sources. The site is an exceptional one. To the left, the Lighthouse of Biarritz, proud and soaring, while to the right the impressive cliffs create a panorama that stretches from neighboring Spain to the Arcachon Basin. The area is known for its beauty and its landscape, but also for the presence of an incongruous pyramid-shaped hotel dating from the golden age of mass-tourism.
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At the heart of the Bayonne-Anglet-Biarritz agglomeration (or simply BAB, for short), the site offers a true breath of fresh air. The conurbation, limited by rocky outcrops and a steep change in grade, has had some difficulty in stretching itself all the way to the ocean side in the past. Hence, the location only achieved popularity amongst the surfer community. After riding the waves all afternoon, they would often welcome the coming nightfall with picnics in the back of their Volkswagen campers. With a general disregard for the traces they left on the beach, the area gradually accumulated litter, damaging the fragile seaside ecosystem.
The Town of Anglet therefore launched a vast redevelopment project. “During the design competition we proposed the development of a resilient concept that accepts the tricky nature of the coastline. We have imagined a design response that channels the flow of people while limiting development and maximising natural space” explains Martin Duplantier. Photos of the site before the transformation attest to a miserable situation where asphalt was so engulfing that not even the slightest of weeds could grow. Given this situation, it was crucial to imagine the creation of a master-planned landscape. In other words, the trick was to put in place a means of controlling the impact of humans on the site while maintaining its accessibility.
“There’s nothing like using the car to stop car culture” the architect says, smiling. The design created by the firm aspires to organise parking more efficiently while dissuading visitors from bringing their cars to the site in the first place. “We have succeeded in offering the same number of parking spaces into the project while reducing the total amount of roadways and paved surfaces” he indicates. Simply put, the solution provides order and nature in a project that embodies, with subtlety, the tensions between “the organic and the orthogonal, between straight line and curved, between rock and concrete.
“We have constantly worked to frame that which is nature” states the architect. In fact, this delicate intervention calls for both contemplation and the awareness of the fragility of this natural zone. Because of their unregulated use over the previous decades, the cliffs have fallen victim to serious erosion. The proposed developments will prevent any risk of future damage. “In the upper portion of the site we have created a belvedere, in the middle of which we have placed a ‘water table’. Symbolically, this fountain marks the origin of a stream which snakes along the promenade until it reaches the beach. We imagined a pedestrian path that is marked by the sound of running water. We have punctuated this route with concrete troughs that are fed by the springs that emerge here and there. All of the water produced by the cliffs has been channelled in this manner to avoid any further erosion” Martin Duplantier points out. More than just a development project, the firm has delivered a sensible, ecologically sound design approach to the site.
See more in Topos 89 – Urban Projects. Squares and Promenades.
