Ban de Gasperich

City of Luxembourg
‘Ban de Gasperich’
 
Residential Masterplan in Luxembourg
Invited competition for Promobe and Extensa
2013 - ongoing
Site Area: 25,000sqm, total construction 100,000sqm
 
 
‘Forest & Fortress’
 
Cloche d’Or is a major new development 3km south of the City of Luxembourg. We planned a residential quarter overlooking a new public park close to the existing village of Ban de Gasperich.

The design integrates housing into an urban pattern of 4 courtyard blocks. The plan connects to Cloche d’Or with a set of clearly defined urban spaces, including a new square, pedestrian lanes and courtyards. These connections blur the boundary between ‘work’, ‘shopping’ and ‘living’ to emulate the mixed, overlapping activity witnessed in older European town centres. Each block consists of 8 – 10 individual, modestly-sized apartment buildings, forming terraces which surround a shared courtyard garden. The individual buildings rarely have more than 4 apartments per floor.  No building design is repeated. The buildings sit high on the site, aligned with new boulevards, so the scheme presents a strong and clearly defined urban edge overlooking the park. Lanes, passages and generous staircases provide pedestrian routes around, between and through the squares to the park beyond.

The building concept designs, including all apartment planning and architecture have been shared between 5 architects; two international and three local practices, masterplanned by A P. An imposed material palette establishes a consistent tonal identity for the quarter. This consists of three elements; honed limestone, pre-cast concrete and warmly-toned metalwork. Each architect has been free to explore the limits of this palette with architectural character and detail. The resulting dynamic balances neighbourhood coherence with individual identity.

Each building’s relatively modest scale and individual design provides a rich grain to the quarter and an identifiable home to inhabitants within the density of this neighbourhood.

 

 

Park and Masterplan
The new urban quarter presents a strong and clearly defined urban edge overlooking the park.
Lanes, passages and generous staircases provide pedestrian routes around, between and through the courtyards to the surrounding park.
A new central public space for Cloche d'Or has been created between the residential courtyard blocks.
Ground Floor Plan
Study for the form of public spaces
Autumn Fog in Gasperich
Garden courtyards are at the centre of each urban block.
Pedestrian lanes and stairs connect the urban centre to the surrounding park.