UIA

LAST RESULTS

INTERNATIONAL IDEAS COMPETITION FOR THE RECONVERSION OF THE LORIENT KEROMAN SUBMARINE BASE (France)

• Programme
• Jury
• Prize winners
• The projects
  • First Prize
  • Second Prize
  • Third Prize

In December 1998, the District of Lorient (Morbihan) - France - launched an international ideas competition, open and anonymous, for the reconversion of the Lorient Keroman submarine base. Covering an area of 26 hectares, the site is occupied mainly by three monumental concrete constructions, built during the Second World War, to house the U-Boats of the German Admiral, Dönitz.

The aim of this competition was to provide an open and powerful reflection on the future masterplan for the urban development of the site. The competition received the approval of the International Union of Architects - UIA

JURY

Under the Presidency of Jean Yves Le Drian, President of the District of Lorient, the jury was made up of five representatives of the territorial communities concerned: Norbert Metairie, Daniel Gilles, Jacques Sinquin, Roger Keraudran and Robert Remot: of the Head of the << Mission pour la réalisation des Actifs Immobiliers >> / Ministry of Defense, Alain Villaret and of the following architects: Alexandru Beldiman (Romania), UIA representative, Raci Bademli (Turkey), Stefano Boeri (Italy), Jordi Garces Bruses (Spain), Henri Gaudin (France), Suk Won Kang (Republic of Korea), Stefan Lungu (Romania), Axel Sowa (Germany), Jade Tabet (Lebanon).

Five personalities participated in the jury deliberations as consultants without, however, taking part in the vote. They were:
Joseph Kergueris and Catherine Giquel, representing the Conseil General, Anthony Le Saffre, site representative, Mrs. Penven, Chief Municipal Treasurer, M. Plouzennac, representing the Competition, Consumption and Fraud Control Department.

192 teams submitted a project to the international jury which met in Lorient at the competition site, which they had visited in advance, on 8 and 9 July 1999.

The examination of the projects by the Technical Committee and the international jury gave rise to a very rich debate which led to the unanimous identification of the main principals for the urban treatment of the remarkable site this Base represents. This resulted in a joint idea which consisted in reacting to the violence of the bunker construction through urban and architectural design both discrete and significant for the future.

PRIZE WINNERS

First Prize :

• Atelier d'architecture Bohdan Paczowski and Paul Fritsch, architects (Luxemburg)
  in collaboration with : Mike Besch, Artur Stachura, Ulrike Sauer, Christine Berbec, and with, David Cras and Pascal Debard, assistant architects, Prof. Peter Latz, landscape artist, Georges Berne, lighting specialist, OTH engineers, RFR structural experts, Ricardo Basualdo, scenographer, Bertrand Ney, sculpter.

Second Prize :

• Nieto-Sobejano architects (Spain), in association with Ove Arup & Partners S.A., engineers.

Third Prize :

• Christophe Boyadjian, architect (France)
  in collaboration with Patrice Prevel, Lionel Boulay, Bruno Romanet, architects.

Mentions :

• James Campbell, architect (United Kingdom)
  in collaboration with Tim Rees, landscape artist, David Johnston, engineer (Ove Arup & Partners), Pete Grainger, ecologist.
• Jean Pierre Durig and Philip Rami (Switzerland)
  in collaboration with Christophe Tschannen, engineer, Eduard Witta and Hansjürg Leibundgut, engineers.
• Atelier d'architecture Olivier Souquet (France)
  in collaboration with SARL Epure, landscape artists, Yves Desuant, programmer, François Defrain and Pascal Grabli, architects.

Other mentions :

• Peter Beard, architect (United Kingdom)
• James Horan, architect (Ireland)
• Nicolo Privileggio, architect (Italy).

THE PROCEDURE

Both the promoter and the members of the jury appreciated the exemplary character of the way in which the competition was run. The competition regulations had, in fact, succeeded in conciliating the UIA /UNESCO Regulations and the directives of the French Public Procurement Code. As Alexandru Beldiman, member of the jury and Vice-President of the UIA, pointed out: << this competiton should set a precedent from this point of view. It should also serve as a reference in terms of the preparation and reflection which characterised the jury's discussions >>.

EXHIBITION AND PUBLICATION

An exhibition of all the projects, open to the public, will be held in the premises of the Keroman Base in autumn 1999 and a catalogue of the projects will be published .

Paris, 30 July 1999