Climatic adaptation of mining houses, training of architects of our daily lives in local context
Learning by making: experts, inhabitants and youth co-design and co-renovate one of the poorest areas in France, the Nord and Pas-de-Calais Mining Basin.
Energetic renovation of 25 mining houses as a prototype to adapt for other 40 000 houses.
Climatic architecture with use of bio-geo based materials, participatory building sites with local community (inhabitants, high school students in building trades training, students... ), and experts (architects, engineers, building company).
Local
France
City of Harnes, Unesco Nord and Pas-de-Calais Mining Basin
It addresses urban-rural linkages
It refers to a physical transformation of the built environment (hard investment)
No
No
Yes
As a representative of an organization, in partnership with other organisations
Name of the organisation(s): Chair "Acclimatize post-mining territories" École Nationale Supérieure d'Architecture et de Paysage de Lille Type of organisation: University or another research institution First name of representative: Béatrice Last name of representative: Mariolle Gender: Female Nationality: France Function: professor of architecture, researcher Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: 2 rue Verte Town: Villeneuve d'Ascq Postal code: 59650 Country: France Direct Tel:+33 6 84 04 36 34 E-mail:chairepostminier@gmail.com Website:http://postminingacclimatization.com
Name of the organisation(s): Post Mining Network Type of organisation: Non-profit organisation First name of representative: Margarita Last name of representative: Dekina Gender: Female Nationality: France Function: coordinator Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: 9-9bis 9 rue du Tordoir Town: Oignies Postal code: 62590 Country: France Direct Tel:+33 7 82 69 41 14 E-mail:margaritadek@gmail.com Website:http://postminingacclimatization.com
The Mining cities in acclimatization initiative proposes an experimental way of renovating social neighborhood of single-family homes in a in a unesco world heritage site. 25 houses will undergo experimental renovation, using bio and geo based materials, testing innovative forms of climate adaptation and implementing self building. This experimental project is intended to impact 20.000 houses in UNESCO perimeter in Mining Basin of Nord and Pas-de-Calais that are still to be renovated, as well as other post-mining territories all around Europe.
Using the climatic architecture as a tool for heritage recognition and fight against energy poverty we put the inhabitant in the center of our reflections and actions. Through the use of bio-geo-sourced materials, we combine the sustainability with good design and low carbon emissions providing an inclusive and affordable home for all.
The initiative was born in the Cité d'Orient district one of the poorest territories of Northern France. It starts in 2021, when Mélusine Pagnier, young architect and PhD student, settles there for one year, in a mining house belonging to the social landlord Maisons & Cités. This architectural permanence allows her to experiment, in situ, the collaborative practices in architecture and be in close liaison to local community. Martin Fessard, also a doctoral student, is taking advantage of a vacant house located on the same street, to carry out tests and experimentation in terms of bio-geo-sourced materials.
The accompanied self-rehabilitation component has been associated as a learning vector allowing residents and youth to be involved.
The initiative is about learning through experimentation, human-centered, tangible and positive experience for everyone, promoting the transformation and adaptation of mining City of Harnes.
Resource-efficiency architecture
Human centered architecture
Post-Mining Climatic Design
Co-Design and self renovation
Bio and geo based materials
What is the responsibility of an architect working in a declining territory? The Mining Basin is marked by social fragility, high unemployment rate, only 19% of the population with university degree.. In addition, the stigmata of post-extraction industry (pollution, wastelands, climate change, water, junkfood, heath problems... Two key objectives in terms of sustainability guide our actions:
1/ Social sustainability, how to help the inhabitants to reappropriate the resources of the territory? co-design, self-renovation, architects on site...
2/ Environmental sustainability and climate change adaptation: mining cities of tomorrow, resource-efficient: food, energy, water, waste management, community services, solidarity, democracy...
Since the beginning of the architectural permanence of Mélusine Pagnier, the social sustainability objectives are in the heart of our reflections and actions. A lot of the objectives have been already met : the social cohesion and diversity ensuring the encouragement and facilitation to every individual/family/group of Cité d'Orient district to contribute to decision making process within public organizations, architects, designers etc. In 2023, the accompanied self-rehabilitation on participatory building sites will give a chance to every inhabitant and to professional high school pupils to learn a new trade, acquire new soft/hard skills. This training experience will allow to bring different generations together helping to fight isolation.
We stand for less construction and more renovation: 25 houses will undergo experimental renovation, using bio-geo-sourced materials, testing innovative architectural answers for climate adaptation, and answering the needs of local communities taking into account the global challenges.
The initiative aims to meet the needs of current and future residents.
When it comes to the aesthetics, the Mining Basin is remarkable thanks to its landscapes and mining towns recognized as UNESCO world heritage. The Cité d'Orient district is a living testimony illustrating a significant period in the history of industrial Europe. By using natural and living local materials (earth, linen, hemp, straw...) and allowing self renovation, the entire architectural language is involved.
It is also an important heritage for locals, part of their culture and collective memory. That is why the Mining cities in acclimatization project preserves the identity of each house. At the same time, we take this heritage as an opportunity to draw new perspectives and underline the beauty guided by cultural context.
Our objective and mission is to co-design a responsible renovation, that will not only answer to energetical improvements but also take into account the aesthetics question ( inhabitants needs and suggestions/wishes), as well as peoples' habits (family organization, presence of children etc.)
Rich and varied accessible finishing techniques (grain, texture, color, trace, ornament) and social (cheap local resources, not harmful, manipulable) techniques have already been experimented on a small scale in a demonstrator house situated on the same street. In 2023, the enlargement to 25 houses will allow to link the pleasure of collective work and use of natural materials with conviviality moments of and social interaction. The ornament, thus, becomes a powerful tool in the hands of inhabitant, that acts as an artist decorating its own house, but also re-appropriates its own life.
The project confronts concretely the aesthetic conceptions of different target groups (what is beautiful? enviable for an interior?how new materials can lead to reinterpretation of the whole issue of ornament and aesthetics. Crime and ornament, said Adolph Loos: how to pass from a white and smooth imaginary to that of the earth and its asperities and natural colors?
The Mining cities in acclimatization project answers the following key objectives in terms of inclusion:
1/ Respect the accessibility and affordability of the dwelling (proposing of a high-quality housing in correlation to residual income)
2/ Offer different ways to participate to every individual or group. The participatory building site gives a possibility to each inhabitant to find the better way to be involved : work on site , organize conviviality moments, check the transformation... Have already been organized different community events allowing to include children, adults, elderly people, families and individuals (workshops with geobased materials, Christmas market, cinema evenings, neighborhood café etc.)
3/ Extend the solution to other social houses (20.000 houses that are still to be renovated in the framework of National plan) by promoting a new societal model where the bottom-up approach is the starting point for design.
4/ Ensure the inclusive governing system : the recently created association of local inhabitants Corons d'Orient is a full-member of steering committee of the project and will supervise the design and realization of the public space. The association will pilot the renovation of the neighborhood's public spaces, particularly a common space to install an open-air cinema, a refreshment bar and a recycling center.
Thus, our objective is to achieve an inclusive, accessible and suitable living environment making it beautiful and usable to the greatest extent possible by everyone, regardless of their age or abilities.
Today, The French government is financially supporting the project and in particular the architects on site who will lead the operation, the neighborhood association and the Chair that oversees the entire project. It is therefore a transversal research, between applied and academic research, between the scale of the house and that of the neighborhood and the whole territory, between the inhabitants and the experts...
The citizens benefiting and directly affected by the initiative are inhabitants of the Cité d'Orient disctrict. By extrapolation, the project really raises the issue of involving inhabitants in the renovation of the mining cities to come.
First of all, since 2021 they are actively involved in the co-design of the future renovation by means of presence of young PhD architect that is currently living in the neighborhood as part of her PHD. This allowed citizens to : obtain a close technical and architectural assistance, make a regular meetings with the social housing landlord, create a positive dynamic thanks to neighborhoods festive moments and cultural events, participate in study visits abroad (visit to Kent in April 2022).
In the end of 2022, the civil society representation was concretized by creation of Corons d'Orient Association, that is piloting the conception and realization of the future public space.
The project experiments the place of the civil society during the renovation process, design and construction: inhabitants, high school students in training, architecture students. The initiative will take advantage of the residents presence to test with them different approaches to heating and use of insulation and finishing materials.
In terms of heating, Martin Fessard's thesis raises the stakes of a climatic architecture. It is a matter of questioning the relevance of heating a space in a homogeneous way. It will be proposed to the inhabitants to test heating furniture, like a wood stove, radiant panels or thermal curtains. Some sample dwellings will allow the inhabitants to experiment with other heating methods.
In terms of finishing materials, the earth makes it possible to decorate one's own home, which disrupts the modes of management and appropriation of housing.
This project will help the citizens to discover new ways of learning, make their voice heard, regain the sense of belonging and re-appropriate their territory.
Between programming, technical design, social housing management and territorial cooperation, the renovation of the Cité d’Orient demonstrates a necessity to redistribute the roles of each partner and apply cooperative work methods.
Locally the involved stakeholders are: Maisons& Cités social landlord (contracting authority), a group of young architects and engineers Groupement BLAU (project conceptors and managers), Chaire Acclimater les territoires post-miniers from the Lille's School of Architecture and Landscape, (piloting the project from research point of view), Post Mining Network association (managing the project, international exchange platform for future replications), Neiborhood Association Les Corons d'Orient (managing the active participation of inhabitants), Mission Bassin Minier (heritage questions), City of Harnes (local authority, rehousing of families for the time of building site) , Communauté d'Agglomération de Lens Liévin (local authority), LGCGE (Civil engineering lab of the University of Artois), LACTH (architecture Lab of ENSAPL) IPRAUS UMR AUSser CNRS (architecture Lab of ENSAPB). In addition to all these actors, we find stakeholders on regional level : Region Hauts-de-France, Compagnons Bâtisseurs Hauts-de-France (accompanied self-rehabilitation stakeholder), vocational high schools... All these partners were identified in the EQLD application and are very involved in the project.
As part of the EQLD project, National actors are : Ministry of culture, Ministry of housing, GIP-EPAU (Public Interest Grouping Europe of architectural and urban projects.), Caisse de dépôts, Banque des territoires that provide institutional and financial support.
The project has started concretely with the diagnosis in progress and the planning in discussion. The habits and functioning of each inhabitant are upset, requiring a large number of meetings to accompany the process. However, the motivation is very high and the stakes in the field are enormous!
As the New European Bauhaus itself, the Mining cities in acclimatization is creative and interdisciplinary initiative. It links different backgrounds and facilitates the interactions among diverse disciplines to build-on the participation at all levels.
The main reflected disciplines are architecture, engineering, design, social sciences, landscape, heritage, ecology and citizens empowerment with ambition to bring beauty and high-quality experiences for people's everyday lives. The learning is the narrative thread shaping and guiding the project through its different stages.
The idea is not to interrogate each concept, but use the interdisciplinarity as a tool to interrogate the transformational movement happening in Cité d'Orient.
Thus, young architects work with inhabitants on conception, professors and researchers work with social landlord developing together people-centered approach, young high school students will be trained at the participatory building sites along with experts, but also with inhabitants, ecology will be connected to comfort and aesthetic, design will be adapted to heritage context, existent landscapes will be subject of citizens empowerment actions, architecture will act as a tool for prioritizing the places and people that need it the most.
Thus, the project is in the middle of interactions between academic and applied research, on the edge between global ecological transition and involvement of the local community , between memories and common future shaping.
The added value of bringing together multiple disciplines, and on working at the intersections of disciplines, is that each partner brought to the table a unique and distinct set of tools and approaches.
The initiative is an invitation to address complex societal problems of post-mining territory through learning, co-creation and climatic architecture.
The innovative character is reflected by following points :
1/ Propose a new concept of renovation project: reconsider the limits between programming, design, training, realization and management.
2/ To question the national norms and regulations with regards to use of bio-geo-based materials and experimental building sites.
3/ Test the new learning methods, such as participatory building sites thanks to accompanied self-rehabilitation and shared management.
4/ To use the bio-geo-sourced materials for insulation and finishings and employ the new knowledge in terms of comfort, appropriation of housing, aesthetics, inhabitant's experience. Question the Diagnosis of Performance (DPE) standards : the project will be based on real, measured energy consumption, rather than on theoretical and calculated. In general, poorly classified housing (F, G) theoretically consume a lot, but in reality much less if we consider a global approach. And conversely, well-classified housing consume the theoretically little, but in reality more than expected. So one of the project's goals is to help make the more reliable DPEs, especially for the old buildings, thanks to house instrumentations and dynamic thermal simulations that will be put in place.
5/ We propose to re-think the figure of the everyday architect seen as an author of acclimatization, in close dialogue with the social, economic and cultural context, the inhabitants, the local actors, the municipality, the social landlord...in order to not only create the sustainable and innovative solutions but also accessible, affordable, and life-changing for all.
In addition to all these points, the ambition to serve as an example for future renovations of mining cities, makes the initiative very experimental and promising.
It is the essence of this project to be replicable. The Mining Cities in acclimatization is an experimental operation that intends to influence future renovation projects in other mining towns of Mining Basin of Nord and Pas-de-Calais. It is about 20,000 houses that are part of National plan for renovation in the UNESCO perimeter.
Secondly, the project aims to question and re-work the national regulation norms that concerns the use of bio-geo-sourced materials for renovation. The evolution of such norms will allow to massify the sector, facilitate the use of such practice's for any interested entity fostering the ecological transition on the national level of France.
The transfer of knowledge and experience obtained in the framework of initiative will be also possible thanks the Post-Mining Network that gathers more than 30 partners all around the world. Most of them are learning and academic institutions, working with youth on post-mining territories. The Network also brings together with researchers, architects practitioners.
The non-profit organization Post-Mining Network will organize several meetings in Harnes to discuss the process of the project with international researchers and practitioners. In the beginning of September 2023, an international week of post-mining territories is planned in Mining Basin on Nord and Pas-de-Calais, where networking activities will take place to assure replication and transfer of project results and solutions.
We believe that Mining Cities in acclimatization is an inspirational example of beautiful, sustainable, and inclusive project that address the real needs of post-mining territories and its inhabitants.
The New European Bauhaus initiative offers us a unique possibility to highlight the transformative pathways of our project to the Europe and the world.
The methodology we use is about establishing clear connection between academic research, applied research, professional practice and pedagogy.
In order to support the movement of transformation of European society, we apply the holistic, participative design and experiential approach that enables a wide range of stakeholders and individuals to contribute.
In terms of construction site, we go beyond simple public consultation with residents, by building and deepening equal collaboration between citizens, project conceptors and contracting authority. The long-term research conducted by PhD students of Lilles School of Architecture is directly applied in situ in the framework of initiative.
In terms of research, we try to crosslink technical, social and architectural issues by animating a multi-disciplinary in-situ experimentation, associating researchers in architecture, civil engineering and occasionally anthropologists : we try to enrich the technically focused energy retrofitting with aesthetical, design, heritage, participatory approaches.
When it comes to pedagogy, we organise a cooperative hands on work between professionnal high-school pupils and master and Phd students around "un problème d'avenir" : the shared and creative energy retrofitting of existing buildings with low-carbon materials. The initiative give a possibility to learn by exploring and experimenting, adapt to local situation and global issues.
Our mission is also to train future architects, thus, Master students in Architecture, already present in 2022, actively participate in the project process
The accompanied self-rehabilitation reflects the holistic approach allowing positive and collective communication, creativity, insights sharing and test out new ideas.
Global problems oblige us to think globally, but at the same time, to generate high-impact local solutions in order to move the Harnes community towards sustainability.
The climate change, energy precariousness, social ( inequalities, growing social fragmentation, lack of education, isolation) and worldwide learning crises are the most relevant global challenges that the Mining Cites in acclimatization initiative is intended to answer.
Creating local changes that will improve the daily life and, above all, the local community of Cité d'Orient will be able to touch and feel - in their homes and in public spaces is in the heart of our initiative. This tangible change and solutions will be reflected through following local solutions :
- Use of bio-geo-based materials like earth, plant fibers, hemp, flax and minerals which are natural carbon sinks and can be found in Hauts-de-France for energy renovation of 25 houses.
- The ambition is to implement a high-quality housing in terms of isolation, helping to adress the European Green Deal by allowing to reduce the CO2 emissions by targeting the B or C energy label.
- Inclusion of local individuals and families to play an active part in the project conception and implementation
- Organization of participatory building sites, involving inhabitants, experts, Master students and high school students allowing the transformation of ways of learning and creation of cross boundaries between disciplines.
- Develop and support locally the circular economy, by taking the choice to work with local suppliers and local construction materials.
- Create new architectural languages linked to local bio and geo based materials potentials, and not copied on vernacular architectures or modern aesthetics linked to XXth century materials (concrete, steel, plastic)
In 2022, the very first beginnings of initiative, the Bio-ARA week (week dedicated to accompanied self-rehabilitation in bio-based materials) gathered 80 people, students from Lille's school of architecture, inhabitants, artists, craftmen, experts, national and regional institutional stakeholders in Harnes. This was a first step that allowed to achieve the benefits for participants, such as experimentation on a participatory building site and gaining new knowledge and skills. This week was fully dedicated to new learning languages intended to re-think the role of young architect and his interactions with territory and local communities. It also allowed inhabitants and architecture students to learn and freely experiment the new aesthetics of bio and geo based materials, between nature and culture. An exhibition in a local cultural center (Cités des Electriciens, in Bruay-la-buissière) displayed these aesthetic researches, showing the wide range of colors, textures, grains offered by these natural materials.
In 2023, the envisaged steps, results and benefits are as follows:
- February: technical, social and heritage diagnostic of 25 houses to be renovated
- May: start of the experimental renovation works in the first prototype house, including, craftmen, experts, high school students, and other local stakeholders of accompanied self-rehabilitation.
- September: capitalisation of results from the prototype house, feedback from inhabitants
- October: start of renovation works in other 24 houses, same approach as on the prototype house but larger scale
- 2024, 2025 ... : replicability to 20.000 houses of Nord and Pas-de-Calais that are still to be renovated
Through learning by making Mining cities in acclimatization initiative creates encouraging environment to learn and apply the sustainability that is manual, interdisciplinary and relevant to local reality.
All involved stakeholders (inhabitants, civil society, local authorities, students from Lille School of Architecture, Professional High Schools, young architects, enterprises etc.) will learn and develop new competences with regards to climate change, climatic architecture, circular economy, natural construction materials, solidarity, personal and social responsibility. It is about critical thinking, organizational skills, technical skills for housing renovation and site management, practical applying of theoretic knowledge, social and communication skills.
