Looking up. By Elodie KANDAZOGLOU & Flora GOUTTE

Nobody notices

The future is here

We took the first photo on Thursday the 29th of October 2015 in Chamalières. We took it just before nightfall because we wanted it to show up how sad and dark the area is compared to what is shown in the second picture. The second photo is of a building in Tremonteix Street. We took it at noon because at this hour of the day the sun is brightest. It reinforced the contrast between this photo and the other photo in black and white. We were a little high up when we took the photo in order to have the surrounding panorama.

In the first photo, the weather was awful, the sky was grey and it was very cold. There was a very strange atmosphere in this place. The neighborhood was very noisy. We just wanted to run from this scary place.  While in the second photo we had the impression that we were cut off from everyday life. We enjoyed going to Trémonteix; it was after a school test, in the afternoon. It made us feel relaxed to be there and all the stress we had went away. It was so quiet. We could even hear the sounds of Nature that we usually never hear because of noise pollution.

In the first photo we can see flats. They look old and abandoned. Most of the shutters are closed. There is no vegetation. The weather was gloomy when we took the photo. We chose the title Nobody notices for this picture, because if you walk past, you won’t see these buildings.

In the foreground of the second photo we can see the vegetation and the building. In the background we can see the landscape of Clermont-Ferrand with the puy de Dôme. The building is white with nice wooden shutters. It is built using methods and materials that respect the environment. We chose the title The future is here. This picture gives us an idea of the possible architectural evolution of other parts of our city. This building is part of the Trémonteix ecovillage. Since the origins of the Trémonteix eco-neighborhood project in 2006, the City of Clermont-Ferrand and the firm Logidôme have set themselves a goal: to build exemplary affordable and sustainable housing in the Trémonteix area.

The common title is: Looking up. We wanted a positive title (as in “things are looking up”) to convey the potential of today’s housing developments and because housing is inevitably going to go vertical (because it is the only way to house a growing population and to reduce urban sprawl and transport distances). 

In the 19^th and 20^th centuries, building sufficient numbers of (affordable) houses for the growing population was the priority; the consequences on the environment were not always taken into consideration. Today, with the problems of pollution and destruction of nature which result in global warming, we have at last decided to protect our environment and make our towns more livable. We can see these changes through the designs of the buildings: a “closed-in” aspect for one, an “airy” aspect for the other. We decided to put a picture in black and white and the other with bright colors in order to accentuate the contrast between the old building which is not well maintained and the new building which is very clean. It creates contrasting feelings: “oppressive” versus “well-being”.

One of the main stakes today in urban design and planning is to meet the housing needs of the growing population while preserving the environment on which we depend. Judging by the Trémonteix initiative, there is hope for success.