Aeby Perneger & ASSOCIES . photos: © Giorgio Marafioti
The new district of Les Halles in Morges takes place on a former railway area. The urban center is extended to the intersection of the railway path and the motorway, without morphological discontinuity. The scale of the existing blocks is preserved from rue Centrale to rue Saint-Louis. The size of the buildings gradually rises in the direction of the rail.
The urban shape is given by a long-folded building backing onto the railway tracks and by an urban block facing east of the “Place de la Gare”. Remodeled, it opens towards a new pedestrian mall, providing an extended and continuous public space. Surrounded by shops, it meets the current needs of the city of Morges and offers a new centrality in the heart of the district. Its morphology refers to the main street of the historic centre of Morges. The plasticity of the 3 buildings façades in the composition contributes to the definition of a complex and articulated urban space.
From a programmatic point of view, the district which already benefits from exceptional transport connections accommodates the elements of a balanced urbanity. In addition to the new station, offices, shops, housing, a school, a nursery, a large interchange car park and a large pedestrian zone are created. Particular attention has been paid to flow management, freeing the ground from any car traffic and making room for soft mobility.
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