A giant tower soon to be built in Caen, what we know
By Christophe Jaquet
Published on
We know a little more about the giant tower that must be built at the entrance to Caen. As a “symbol of modernity” of the city, according to its mayor Joël Bruneau, and the “totem of the Millennium”. It could have been built for the Millennium festivities in Caen in 2025. It will then still be under construction. In the immediate future, the real estate program in which it fits is presented this Monday, December 12, 2022 before the municipal council.
“Major Entrance”
Visible from the Calix viaduct, the future tour is part of the Cascades program – a “large-scale mixed programme, with dominant activities”, specifies the City of Caen, which has just to publish the first images of the project, provided by the agency PetitDidierPrioux Architectes (PPX), winner of the competition. With it, the City is planning “an emblematic operation that will complete the vertical markers of the city such as the bell towers punctuating the urban landscape”. It is for this “101e bell tower”, as Joël Bruneau already calls it, that the municipality resells an almost bare plot, occupied today only by the Maison du Vélo and two aerial parking lots for the staff of Caen la mer and the SNCF.
For the City, this land located at the corner of rue Rosa Parks and Cours Montalivet is one of its “major entrances”. But it has been at a slight disadvantage so far, between the station sector undergoing renewal, and, on the other bank of the Orne, the Trébutien islet, the port basin soon to be requalified and the Presqu’île . According to Joël Bruneau, the location is ideal “to bring activity and jobs back to the city”.
Six buildings in total
On this right-of-way of more than 1.7 hectares, the Cascades program must include six buildings of different heights. With the tower, part to rise at least 15 stories. It will be crowned with a “panoramic room, unique in Caen”, swears the mayor, and an architectural “headdress”. It should thus exceed the Molière tower in the Chemin Vert district (58.51 m) and the tower at 214, rue d’Auge (51.62 m). Which made it the second tallest building in Caen, after the CHU towerwhose future is in doubt.
In the tower will be concentrated all the planned housing and shops on the ground floor. The other buildings will house offices, some of which have already been allocated to Caen la mer, additional shops, and a restaurant Coupled with a new parking silo. This must free up 317 parking spaces – more than 200 will be reserved for office tenants and future customers.
All these buildings would be set around a central, vegetated island. The promoters of the Cascades will undertake to cede this “interior garden” so that it becomes public. A consideration for the sale of municipal land? Perhaps. The buyers are well-known players in property development in Caen.
A project close to Saint-Étienne
To carry out the Cascades, the two semi-public companies La Caennaise and Normandie Aménagement joined forces and created a common entity, the civil construction and sales company (SCCV) Rosa Parks. It is she who will operate the Cascades. La Caennaise will manage social and home ownership housing in the tower; Normandie Aménagement, offices and stores, marketing of which has already begun.
Mayor Joël Bruneau has already said it over and over again, he wants “a strong architectural gesture” for the tower and the Cascades. Among 84 candidates at the start, PetitDidierPrioux Architectes (PPX) won the contract. The Paris and Lyon agency is carrying out two city entrance towers this year in Saint Etienne and Differdange (Luxembourg) with characteristics very similar to those planned for Caen.
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