This is not just the simple renovation of a parking lot at the entrance to the city, but a new direction in thinking about cities, parking, mobility… As evidenced by the impressive procession of elected officials, neighborhood representatives, entrepreneurs and partners who went to Strasbourg on Tuesday for a site visit to the P3 Wilson car park in Les Halles. A place where you suddenly had to show yourself, with petits fours and live musicians. And for good reason. This architectural wart dating from the 1970s, largely underused by motorists, almost located at the A35 motorway exit, is today the first stone of the much-discussed requalification of the entire Les Halles district, the true northern entrance to the city.
A neighborhood marked by the seal of a time of “all car”, grey-colored and aging, partly concreted as desired. Cluttered with a bus station which never knew where to stop, a terminus district for traffic of all kinds which criss-crosses sometimes dilapidated homes.
Not enough to make the European capital dream, but a sector of the city which should change very significantly in the years to come, despite disagreements which broke out once again in the ranks of the last municipal council. Because the task is enormous, a real sea serpent on which all the executives have broken their teeth until now, because it is a question of apprehending a new vision of a city to live in, confronted with societal, technical and obviously budgetary.
A strategic restructuring
This complete restructuring of the Wilson car park, the main facility for easy parking as close as possible to the Strasbourg city center while reducing on-street parking, is above all a strategic step forward for the entire Eurometropolis. Located near the railway station, on the passage of the future North tram line, adjacent to a large shopping mall, the car park will soon be accessible via an existing tunnel but closed for years and which will be reopened for the occasion, is a real marker. Soon to be located in the heart of a multimodal hub which will complete the transformation of this essential but aging district.
Brightly colored signage, informative chromatic decorations, skylights and natural ventilation via a gigantic atrium, the Wilson car park, managed by Parcus, already responds to what the car parks of the future will be. Work carried out with beating drums by the Lama architectural firm and the Franco-Swiss designer Ruedi Baur and whose cost still amounts to more than 9 million euros, for delivery of the work at the end of May 2024.
Surprisingly, the place is striking with its graphic architecture and contrasts with the austerity of its ultra-concrete facade which has been partly preserved, despite the architects’ attempt to lighten it and open it up. In fact, everything happens inside, where you could sometimes find yourself in an architecture school, a modern art museum… Airy, secure, brighter, you will find there, among the 975 parking spaces spread over seven levels, services of all kinds. Motorcycle parking, lockers, a self-service bicycle station, scooter rental, dozens of electric charging stations for cars, but also two vegetable greenhouses on a rooftop which could host parties and, more seriously, a platform for a day ensure delivery by drone to the terrace…
Enough to change the lives of users but also to calm down a little residents and local residents who will have priority over 600 subscriptions to the work. A counterpart of sorts to the numerous on-street parking spaces which should make way for a little greenery…