The Pleyel quarter where the RATP site is located forms a territory marked off by the historic axes of the Plaine Saint-Denis which, paradoxically, encloses the quarter in relationship to the rest of the commune. Its heterogenous urbanization and blue-collar history, strongly influenced by the 30-year post-war boom as well as the crises that followed, have made it witness of the History of the Plaine and economic and social changes at work since 1945. Today, the site strives toward a new centrality of Grand Paris; a territory favoring the emergence of a new economy, notably based on urban density, environmental innovation and digital technologies.

The urban project for the evolution of the Pleyel bus depot fits into this overall dynamic. Our work highlights the real potential for the site’s evolution and its capacity to engender the more general development of the block. Making the roof of the bus depot into a public sports field frees up the street space of Landy, and leaves room for housing units and facilities to be built. The large parcels along with the space generated by the horizontality of the sports fields lets us envision high-rise buildings that would create a dialogue with the Tour Pleyel tower. The new blocks are characterized by the typological variety of the different buildings, their numerous scales and their varied programs. Their sizing perfectly lends itself to the imperatives of urban concentration and density, which are some of the major stakes in the development of the quarter.