Architecture over time: what can heritage do?

The Ile de Nantes is the scene of a conflict: the temporary (12 years) installation of an Ecocentre, a controversial pollution control platform. One striking fact: the creation of three hectares of asphalt to seal the soil. Yet, just a hundred meters away is the former Béghin-Say sugar refinery, now vacant and already covered in concrete. Could we turn this conflict into an opportunity? What if these 12 years were used to open up the site to the public, prepare the rehabilitation of the factory into a chemistry faculty, and integrate it into the burgeoning university dynamic on the island?

The Béghin-Say site is being rehabilitated in two phases: the first dedicated to the ecocenter and the second to the chemistry faculty. Phase 1 – 2024 – 2036 : The 12 years of occupation by the ecocenter are an opportunity to gradually open the site to the public and anticipate the developments of phase 2. An axis linking the street to the Loire is created. The existing site has interesting structural capacities that would be too costly for new construction. This asset must be exploited to perpetuate the ecocenter's heavy-duty programs. The hangars are opened up, revealing their structures, and transformed into weather-protected storage areas. Between the two towers, a new steel construction is erected. Serving both buildings, this vertical circulation is designed from the outset for phase 2. Wrapping around vast open areas with views over the landscape, it is conceived to be reversible and adaptable to different uses. Phase 2 – 2036 : On the ecocenter's closing date, the site is de-artificialized and transformed into a park. One hangar is converted into lecture theaters, while the other, although not immediately functional, is retained for its future potential. The new building, originally dedicated to offices, becomes a communal space for students. The two existing towers house the main part of the faculty's program. Inside, the refinery's former machinery left openings in the slabs, which are reused to create spaces on multiple levels. Verticality is exploited for scientific experiments, and the duplex/triplex principle enables programs to be mixed and views to be generated between them.