Lille
Awareness campaign
Built environment
Encourage learning and experimentation
Lille has prioritised the regeneration of the factories and wastelands remaining from its industrial history – and created the charter for 21st century business parks to outline its strategy. From the start there was a determination to improve the quality and sustainability of the new business parks set up to provide today’s employment opportunities. The Lainière, a 30-hectare site of Europe’s first woollen mill, was chosen for a pilot project inspired by cradle to cradle (C2C) and circular thinking.
La Lainière Project House acts as an events, resource and meeting space as well as a regional exemplar of a circular approach to architecture and construction.
From its extractable foundations to its non-bituminous roof membrane, the building brings to life the three founding principles of C2C: that all products must be biodegradable or capable of being transformed into new products for use elsewhere; that diversity and mutability of systems, architecture, social environments, revenue, biodiversity and more are embedded for resilience and longevity; and that energy must be renewable, from diverse sources and saved where possible.
La Lainière Project House accommodates a wide diversity of uses and users. In its first year, hundreds of local people came to the house for tours, book fairs and upcycling workshops and school children visited to learn about their area and its sustainable future.
SEM Ville Renouvelée
European metropole of Lille
Access la lainiere website