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Proposal to Revive Plaine de Pierrelaye


Members, Participants and Jury of Les Ateliers, Paris

Photograph: Léa Morfoisse


Preetanshi Singh and Shantesh Kelvekar were among the 24 participants who were shortlisted to participate in the competition to revive Plaine de Pierrelaye in the Greater Paris Region, France by Les Ateliers. There were in total 24 participants who came from 12 countries.


Team D, comprising of Preetanshi, Shantesh and Juliette, Joseph, Préscilia, Sophia were awarded the Egis Foundation Award. The design was presented to two panels - the first comprising of 12 jury members from 7 countries, and the second panel comprising local and county mayors, politicians and activists. Egis Foundation awarded the team for their innovative and sustainable approach in resolving the issues and providing a transitional solution for the region of Plaine de Pierrelaye.

Diagram: Woven Milieus


Reinterpreting ‘Bocage’ – a very bureaucratically evolved structure in parts of Paris has become a farming typology that is listed for conservation. Essentially the Bocage is a arrangement of trees lined up to divide the territory. Metaphorically reinterpreting Bocage we proposed to use it as a connector instead of a divider. This provided us with an opportunity to weave a weak ecological corridor, and restore a balance whilst the inevitable urbanisation can be accommodated.


On this contaminated territory with heavy metals like mercury, cadmium etc the proposal was to plant flowers which could extract these metals that could be used in research labs and medical industries. There were also some areas identified which could have hemp and miscanthus being planted which could be used in fibre reinforced plastic and bio-fuel industries respectively. Thereby eliminating the need for the local farmers to cultivate anything for human or animal consumption. This helped create an alternative economy, and eliminated the cultivation from entering into the food chain.

Participants and Organisers of Les Ateliers at Lille, France

Photograph: Esha Kundu

For project details visit this link.

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