LIBREVILLE WATERFONT

LIBREVILLE (GABON)

Client: Agence Nationale de Grands Travaux du Gabon
Date: 2013
Status: Concept Design- Competition Second Phase
Program: Bord de Mer Waterfront in Libreville
Scope: Waterfront redevelopment, landscape design and digital social reactivation

The intervention’s main objective is to reconnect Libreville with the seashore, extending urban life to the waterfront. This is achieved through operations of urban regeneration, adjusted to the unique cultural, sociological and economic context. The proposal concentrates visual impact, identity and activity in five nodes, rather than spreading them along the entire promenade, in order to have a more powerful effect.

Five pier-like structures (jetées) are a great way of getting closer to the water, of having a unique view of the city and at the same time of providing space for programs that could work as catalyzers of urban life. They act as unique landmarks, breaking the regularity of the promenade and facilitating the orientation of citizens. These points of “urban acupuncture” attract attention and pull the urban life of Libreville to the seashore, providing new spaces for citizens to interact.

Each pier has a singular character defined by its size, shape, vegetation, dominant colors and other design factors, but also by the specific set of activities that can be performed there.

At the same time, the promenade´s configuration varies depending on the character of the surroundings. There are defined elements: waterfront boulevard, landscape markers, coastal bike lane, waterfront promenade, urban appropriable fringe, etc. The combination of these elements generates diverse profiles and multiple interest areas.

Thus, while the promenade is kept simple, regular and clean, these structures act as landmarks that divide the promenade into more apprehensible, walkable sections, marking the coastline like ‘signal fires’ or lighthouses that provide visual clues to help the passers-by understand their exact location at a glance.

The waterfront of Libreville is not just a physical space: it is a place where things happen, where people think, feel and act. Our proposal is to make that activity visible through a mobile-enabled web application. The LibreLigne app will help citizens make the most of the seafront promenade and share their own experience of it, creating an accurate visualization of its identity and providing feedback for the municipality about security and maintenance issues.

The landscape aspect of the project has been jointly developed and presented with UBERLAND.

La-jetée, Waterfront transformation for the city of libreville, Ecosistema Urbano, GIF

Waterfront transformation for the city of libreville, Ecosistema Urbano, GIF

Location:

Related links:

Need more information about this project?