PROJECT 72

"LA GRANDE MOSAIQUE"

Mvrdv

MVRDV spent two years developing the research masterplan for Caen Presqu’ile, a 600 hectare area stretching from the centre of the historic city of Caen, along a long peninsula formerly occupied by heavy industry, and over the borders of two other neighbouring towns, Hérouville Saint-Clair and Mondeville. The peninsula sits between the Orne river and the canal leading to the sea, and was left heavily polluted after deindustrialization in the 1970s and 80s. The project is highly unusual in its scope, ambition, and context: the fact that it stretches nearly to the walls of the historic castle at Caen’s heart; the three cities united in their desire to regenerate the vast area, and vision for a comprehensive development plan to create a new area of the city grounded in precise interventions.