Le Fil Rouge
Le Fil Rouge – a French proverb describing narrative thread that weaves together disparate elements, finds its place in this fragmented suburban landscape. Currently composed of repurposed industrial buildings, vacant plots, unutilized green spaces, and low-density, car-dependent housing, the area lacks identity. Here the restored surface stormwater ditch becomes the fil rouge itself, knitting a sequence of distinct places, linking the most urban and dense industrial zone to the least, fading out as a flower field into rocky hills. The reintroduced ditch is part of a site-wide water strategy. It connects with detention basins, wetlands, vegetated swales, creates a continuous linear park which follows the site’s topography and connects key zones: from industrial edges to residential neighborhoods. The re-opened stream manages stormwater, increases biodiversity, structures a public space.