The Basilica of Saint Sernin is one of the main monuments of Toulouse and European Romanesque architecture. The urban voids that surround it have been generated as a result of the demolitions carried out after the French Revolution and the subsequent superimposition of successive projects of alignments and ordering of buildings.

The reorganization project of Place Saint Sernin in Toulouse proposed by BAU returns prominence to the historic urban fabric of the city. The cars that occupied its surface indiscriminately are removed and the lost trees are restored, placing them as organizing elements of the public space.
The simplicity of the BAU proposal, the use of materials and the recognition of the heritage of the place have become the mechanisms of the project to reactivate this new public space, once disappeared, recovering its morphology and its capacity to contain different uses. and be a meeting place for citizens.

The project for Saint Sernin Square in Toulouse was announced as one of the 5 finalists for the 2022 European Public Space award.
 


Development of the public space around the Basilica of Saint Sernin by Joan Busquets (BAU). Photograph by BAU.


Development of the public space around the Basilica of Saint Sernin by Joan Busquets (BAU). Photograph by BAU.

Project description by BAU

The Saint-Sernin basilica, a masterpiece of Romanesque art, is one of the emblematic and most visited monuments of Toulouse. A stopover point on the Way of St. James is listed as a World Heritage Site.

The Grand Saint-Sernin project includes the development of the public space around the basilica, the restoration of the religious building, and the modernization of the lighting of the basilica contributing to the enhancement of its architectural ensemble. A scientific committee had been set up specifically for this operation overseeing the design process and the construction of the project.

The work on the public space of Saint-Sernin, which started in 2017, have been completed in the 2020 spring. The arrangements made around the Saint-Sernin Basilica, with its landscaped gardens and its pedestrian esplanade, transformed the car parking surrounding the basilica into a large 18,000 m² public square with different atmospheres;

- The Jean-Paul II square and the parvis of the Basilica formed a historic ensemble with the musée St Raymond and the Hotel du Barry.
- The Miégeville forecourt, at the end of the historical axis connecting St Sernin with the Place du Capitol.
- The historic space of the abbey and the cloister
- The Apse garden at the apse of the basilica derives from the urban form given by Violletle-Duc’s alignment plans. a new green space in the heart of the city

The project recovers the place for the pedestrian and reinforces the unitary image of the site. Therefore the range of materials and construction solutions are reduced. The natural stone pavement, (Porphyre from the Alps and French Comblanchien), gives coherence to the whole, but its layout and finishing differ to explain the site history.

The redevelopment of the space also offers the opportunity to create public gardens, in a neighbourhood with few green areas.  Reinforcing the existing landscape structures, such as the Lycée Garden and the 19th-century apse garden, expanded and opened to the public.

More information

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Architects
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BAU (B - Arquitectura i urbanisme). Architects.- Joan Busquets, Pieter-Jan Versluys, Linus Nordström.
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Design team
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BAU (Lead consultant) – MDP – LEA – Egis.
MDP.- Michel Desvigne, Enrico Ferraris, Carla Greco.
Egis.- Jean-Michel Anjuere, Jean-Charles Chenac.
LEA.- Laurent Fachard, Christine Badinier.
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Client
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Toulouse Métropole.
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Area
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18,260 m².
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Dates
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Commission - design.- 2015.
Works.- 2017.
Completed.- 2019 - 2020.
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Location
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43.607029°, 1.443974°. Pl. Saint-Sernin, 31000 Toulouse, France.
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Photography
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Joan Busquets (El Prat de Llobregat, Spain, 1946) is an architect, urban planner, and Professor of Urban Design at the Graduate School of Design (GSD), Harvard University, since 2002. He earned his degree in Architecture in 1969 and completed his doctorate at the School of Architecture of Barcelona (ETSAB) in 1975, where he also served as a professor and co-founded the Laboratory of Urbanism of Barcelona (LUB). From 1979 to 2002, he was a visiting professor at international universities such as Urbino, Bouwcentrum, Leuven, Rome, Lausanne, Geneva, the AA in London, and Tsinghua.

In the 1980s, as coordinator of the Urban Planning Department of Barcelona, he was involved in planning the city for the 1992 Olympics and the New Areas of Centrality. Among other initiatives, railway infrastructure and the waterfront were major priorities, along with the improvement of neighborhoods and existing cultural facilities as urban subcenters, with particular emphasis on the revitalization of Barcelona’s Old City. In 2014, he led the initial phase of the update of the Urban Master Plan of the Barcelona Metropolitan Area (PDU-AMB) as research director. The results were exhibited in Barcelona, Cambridge, Chicago, and Shanghai, and published in the exhibition catalogue and other publications.

Through his firm, BAU – B. Arquitectura i Urbanisme, founded in 1992, he has worked on the design and implementation of urban projects and planning strategies both in Spain and internationally. His work includes plans such as the «Special Plan for Toledo» (1995) and the PXOM and Port of A Coruña (2013); as well as urban projects across Europe in The Hague, Delft, Geneva, Rotterdam, Lisbon, Trento, Toulouse, or Avignon, among others; and around the world in Singapore, São Paulo, Shanghai, Ningbo, and Montreal.

Among the many national and international awards he has received are the Spanish National Urbanism Prize in 1981 (for the Master Plan of central Lleida) and 1985 (for the Improvement Plan for the Sant Josep neighborhood in Barcelona); the Toledo Foundation Prize in 1996; the European Gubbio Prize (Italy) in 2000; the Erasmus Prize 2011 (Netherlands), for «his contribution to the design of the public space of the city»; the Catalonia Culture Prize 2011 (CoNCA); and the Grand Prix Spécial de l'Urbanisme of Paris 2012 (France). He received the Patrick Abercrombie Prize 2021 from the International Union of Architects and, since 2016, has been a full member of the Académie d’Architecture of France.

His applied research on specific territories has been published in the GSD’s Case Study series, with studies on New Orleans, Lisbon, Manhattan, Chicago, Shanghai, Osaka, Rotterdam, Hangzhou, among others; as well as his theoretical research in books such as Barcelona: The Urban Evolution of a Compact City, Regular City: A Manual for Designing Grids and Urban Fabrics, Expos as Great Urban Projects, Present and Future, and his most recent Modern Architecture and the City: A Quick Immersion.

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Published on: July 25, 2022
Cite:
metalocus, JAVIER ARIAS
"Development of the public space around the Basilica of Saint Sernin by Joan Busquets (BAU)" METALOCUS. Accessed
<https://www.metalocus.es/en/news/development-public-space-around-basilica-saint-sernin-joan-busquets-bau> ISSN 1139-6415
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