An urban project for the St. Michel neighborhood in Toulouse, France, located just outside the town’s historical center. This is foremost a residential area, in which most of the buildings are disposed along the blocks’ perimeters. The internal courtyards (Coeur d’ ilôts) serve exclusively to the local citizens. There is no passageway linking them to the street. The project aims to open up these widely unused interiors so as to further integrate them to the city.
In order to guarantee the future use of these new public squares, a walkway system was created. The newly opened courtyards would be associated to one another, stimulating more encounters and exchanging experiences between the citizens. In order to preserve this engagement, other uses would be integrated to these courtyards, such as libraries, sport courts, commerce and services.