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Florence Place in Fez
Florence Place in Fez
Florence
Square is situated in a strategic area in the new town of Fez: a neighbourhood
under development, with public buildings and institutional facilities, major
hotels and housing. The square is
structured by a main urban axis, Avenue Hassan 2, a broad boulevard with a
central pedestrian island generating an important pedestrian flow. The remodeling of Florence Square in Fez aims
to create a space for encounter and conviviality at a scale relating to
pedestrians and the scale of the neighbourhood, but also clearly identifiable
as a representative part of the modern Fez while being reminiscent of Florence,
of openness towards this other historic city.
This symbolic place should evoke Florence to the people of Fez, inspire
and move them. It should be a vehicle
for dialogue between cultures and recall the journey of architectural forms,
the choice of materials and of lighting, and the historical link between the
two cities.In
designing the square, we were inspired by a strong and symbolic figure in the Florentine
urban landscape, the Baptistery of San Giovanni. Our choice fell on the monument partly because
its original construction dating from the fourth century is in fact one of the
oldest buildings in the city, known today as a representative example of
Romanesque architecture in Tuscany, but also and above all because of the
magnificent doors it shades, that open to a transcendent other place which
don’t go without reminding us of the grandiose and monumental gates of the
Medina of Fes. We felt it essential to bring
strong architectural elements to Florence square to give it an urban presence
and limit it spatially. We therefore took the geometric form of the octagonal
baptistery and hollowed it, opening it to both the sky and the city.
The colour of materials is one of the strong elements on which the project
draws to symbolically link Florence and Fez.
The red originates from the ochre bricks of Florence and the emerald
green from the tiles of Fez. Our
project proposes an interlacing of ochre and green as a metaphor of Fez and
Florence united. Thus the urban
sculptures (‘totems’) and the surface of the square are in Corten steel, a warm
ochre coloured rusted steel with multiple
tones. On the totems, the steel is
pierced with a geometric motif from Fez, appearing like a metallic lace behind
which light is installed. On the ground,
networks of green glass, in reference to the green tile of Fez, run like
sparkling streams. Silk-screened with
the same motif as the totems, these animate the square and light up the ground
through the LEDs installed under the sheets of glass.
Square is situated in a strategic area in the new town of Fez: a neighbourhood
under development, with public buildings and institutional facilities, major
hotels and housing. The square is
structured by a main urban axis, Avenue Hassan 2, a broad boulevard with a
central pedestrian island generating an important pedestrian flow. The remodeling of Florence Square in Fez aims
to create a space for encounter and conviviality at a scale relating to
pedestrians and the scale of the neighbourhood, but also clearly identifiable
as a representative part of the modern Fez while being reminiscent of Florence,
of openness towards this other historic city.
This symbolic place should evoke Florence to the people of Fez, inspire
and move them. It should be a vehicle
for dialogue between cultures and recall the journey of architectural forms,
the choice of materials and of lighting, and the historical link between the
two cities.In
designing the square, we were inspired by a strong and symbolic figure in the Florentine
urban landscape, the Baptistery of San Giovanni. Our choice fell on the monument partly because
its original construction dating from the fourth century is in fact one of the
oldest buildings in the city, known today as a representative example of
Romanesque architecture in Tuscany, but also and above all because of the
magnificent doors it shades, that open to a transcendent other place which
don’t go without reminding us of the grandiose and monumental gates of the
Medina of Fes. We felt it essential to bring
strong architectural elements to Florence square to give it an urban presence
and limit it spatially. We therefore took the geometric form of the octagonal
baptistery and hollowed it, opening it to both the sky and the city.
The colour of materials is one of the strong elements on which the project
draws to symbolically link Florence and Fez.
The red originates from the ochre bricks of Florence and the emerald
green from the tiles of Fez. Our
project proposes an interlacing of ochre and green as a metaphor of Fez and
Florence united. Thus the urban
sculptures (‘totems’) and the surface of the square are in Corten steel, a warm
ochre coloured rusted steel with multiple
tones. On the totems, the steel is
pierced with a geometric motif from Fez, appearing like a metallic lace behind
which light is installed. On the ground,
networks of green glass, in reference to the green tile of Fez, run like
sparkling streams. Silk-screened with
the same motif as the totems, these animate the square and light up the ground
through the LEDs installed under the sheets of glass.
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