Bastide Niel on Miroir d’Eau in Bordeaux | MVRDV

Bordeaux, a reminiscent town of times long past, a surviving relic of World War II and so on. As a legacy of history, Bordeaux represents itself as an atypical heart of Europe, the soul of the worker, adorned with rail tracks, barracks and historic set pieces. The town itself is now the envisionment of “older” times; carrying the burden of architecture now long lost to us as time. The urbanism within Architecture often seeks to revolutionize, using historic preservation not only as a powerful, conservative measure but carefully bringing in a green concepts resembles the epitome of thoughtful design. This thoughtful planning often goes into the heart and soul of inspirational works across the architectural frontier, taking from the old to give a new shine upon the futures ahead; we seek to find a conversion rather than just a contrast.

The plan for Bastide Niel, conducted by the urban community of Bordeaux and the MVRDV is not of little scale. Their objective to make a 35ha expansion of Bordeaux’ central city is a bold one, bringing the city limits right onto the Garonne River. Offering over 3000 building sites, to include homes and municipal functions as well as urban attractions, Bastide Niel’s heartfelt reconstruction of a once old, stagnate region is both surprising and yet so subtle.”However, it comes with a green twist, instead of simply retrofitting the old, MVRDV has an intent to create one of the largest zero-energy neighborhoods on the globe. Their ability to recognize a future need for conservative energy functions, while still building a society city for the times ahead will help it become a lively extension of the original historic city. Using warm colors, pastel contrasts and a lively theme, Bastide Niel and Bordeaux shall receive a facelift like none other. Adding glass walkways and powerful roof structures, an incredible brightening of once old times not only shows a level of appreciation for design aspects long ago, but also intends to pay homage to a city that shows pride in its histories.