Toulouse: the Occitanie tower, a strong signal of urbanity in Matabiau
Pierre-Louis Taillandier, the Toulouse architect of the Meett and the International Research Center in Toulouse, believes that the 150 m high tower has its place in the heart of Grand Matabiau and Toulouse mobility. It makes a plea for a reasoned verticality that protects the environment.
The Occitanie tower project, with its 150 m high, is controversial in Toulouse, a horizontal city. Yet has the City had any precedents?
The question of the towers in Toulouse must be placed in its historical context. The Capitouls had watchtowers and towers built in the 16thand century, at the time of Pastel, to affirm their success and their power. Verticality was already present at that time in Toulouse, as in San Geminiano in Italy where each large family tried to build the highest tower. It was of course more technically complex to build at height at the time. There were no design offices! Many cathedrals have collapsed before they were finished, when the scaffolding was removed. Verticality had a demonstrative function – it was who had the highest -, defensive and practical. Urban compactness was linked to the defense of cities and proximity to fields.
Reasons not so far from the current desire to preserve natural spaces in the city, after the period of construction of the post-war bars?
In these years of reconstruction, there was an urgent need to house people, especially returnees, to offer new conditions of modernity and comfort to replace often dilapidated housing. They were buildings above ground, new towns, like the Mirail, in the fields. We build much better today. The thermal regulations 2020, and 2012, and the next RT 2025, impose the environmental concept. What distinguishes a project like the Occitanie tower is the relationship between its base and its environment, in this case the Canal du Midi. There are two scales of verticality: the close, human, at the level of the base; and the distant, urban, emergence… To be accepted, it is first of all the base that must be successful.
Does this visit come at the right time and in the right place?
It is a private project, so the moment is that chosen by its operator, that of economic reason. The right place, for sure. The Occitanie tower is at the heart of major urban renewal and Toulouse mobility, with the future Grand Matabiau quai d’Oc district, the proximity of the future TGV and RER station, the three metro lines, the perspective of the Jaurès alleys . This is where she has a reason to be without overshadowing – no pun intended – anyone. I’m not here to say whether this project is good or bad, but this tower is a strong signal of urbanity. Any major urban project must be part of an urban renewal around it: from Guggenheim in Bilbao to the White Tree in Montpellier. Passing through the International Research Center in Toulouse, to a more modest extent, which could only be made possible thanks to the enhancement of the former Faculty of Sciences. And the work of Busquets in the city center is remarkable in that it highlighted public spaces, like the Place Saint-Sernin, which had been erased little by little.
Like any architect, don’t you also dream of building a tower?
When you’re an architect, you have to be curious. Realizing a high-rise building (more than 50 m high, editor’s note) would interest me, but not in a set of Dubai-style towers. The new town planning rules impose more verticality in our town, which is very low, where the average building is one and a half storeys high. To preserve nature. But I am not for radical solutions, this must be done according to each urban situation. Depending on the type of neighborhood, the urban situation.
In the top 5 worldwide
The Toulouse architect Pierre-Louis Taillandier, who participated with the Oma and Rem Koolhaas agency in the realization of the Meett, in particular delivered this year in Toulouse the International Research Center, a very interesting renovation from an environmental and heritage, very integrated in the Saint-Michel district, and the Aquatic Center (swimming pool) of Païcherou in Carcassonne. Sports equipment which earned the boss of Taillandier Architectes Associés a nomination among five projects in the world by the Architizer Awards in his category. He also created the remarkable Cité des start-ups for the Region in Montaudran.