Context:

The City of Toulouse wishes to convert the site of La Grave, a former hospital from the 17th century and a historical and architectural symbol of the city, into an animated place dedicated to the Cultural and Creative Industries and open to the neighbourhood’s inhabitants. This future “City of the Arts” will need to contribute to the global transformation of the Saint Cyprien neighbourhood in order to better integrate it into the city, as an extension of its historic centre.  Beaux Arts Consulting, the CENTQUATRE-PARIS and the architecture agency Encore Heureux have been asked to design a project driven by an international cultural ambition, which will foster to the space’s activation by local inhabitants and promote a multiplicity of uses and contents. 

Activities:

• Developed a critical analysis of the project’s first orientations, through interviews and a field study
• Defined a global vision for the project, around the notion of hospitality, in reference to the site’s historical background
• Designed a detailed cultural program through confronting the site’s spatial and urban characteristics to the programmatic aspirations held by the City of Toulouse, in order to create a project “anchored” in its territory and a multiuse animated place
• Developed of a business model adapted to the cultural program
• Defined the communication strategy