Ostend

How to develop use of the beach in winter and offset the decline in seasonal appeal?

The town wanted to enhance the beach experience with a removable promenade which could be freed from the shadow of the seafront.
The project involves strategic thinking on a territorial scale that goes beyond the promenade itself.
The three existing local systems – a circular green loop, a linear seawall and transversal avenues – are woven together on the site via three interventions: a path on the beach with regular illuminated masts which evoke the wooden stakes of the bouchots; a jetty, which extends the transversal axis linking several urban parks to the beach; and the royal park, which unites the heterogeneous monuments of the seafront and completes the city’s “green belt”.#cut
The coastline thus becomes a truly performative space: the beach, a vast stage enlivened by occasional artistic performances; the amplified park, a green backdrop offering spaces that welcome and receive the public; the Brutalist former swimming pool rehabilitated as a storage space; a theatre composed of vegetation, a place for contemplation facing the sea.
Highly inspired by Land Art, this project combines radical intentions with a light touch, showcasing the fragility of human construction faced with the natural forces at work on the coast.