{"id":22457,"date":"2026-04-02T14:31:57","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T12:31:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost:8000\/bonnes-pratiques\/dunkirk-france-waterfront-sustainable-housing-district\/"},"modified":"2026-09-12T13:44:54","modified_gmt":"2026-09-12T11:44:54","slug":"dunkirk-france-waterfront-sustainable-housing-district","status":"publish","type":"bonnes-pratiques","link":"https:\/\/aivp.org\/en\/best-practices\/dunkirk-france-waterfront-sustainable-housing-district\/","title":{"rendered":"Dunkirk (France): waterfront sustainable housing district"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span lang=\"EN-GB\">The closure of the shipyards in 1988 left a substantial area to the north of&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ville-dunkerque.fr\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Dunkirk<\/a>&#8216;s city centre vacant. In a comprehensive urban revitalisation initiative, the Urban Community developed an appealing and relatively dense neighbourhood on this 42-hectare site. The Grand Large project in Dunkirk marks the second phase of the Neptune project launched in 1991, the principal aim of which was to reorient the city back towards the docks. Grand Large concerns a site with a rich port history, home to yards abandoned in the wake of the shipyard crisis in 1987. For the city, which had reached the limits of its expansion, these abandoned shipyards became an opportunity to develop a new sustainable district based on a master plan by Nicolas Michelin, part of the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/anma.fr\/en\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ANMA architectural team<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span lang=\"EN-GB\">The ANMA team was inspired by&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/sustainabledevelopment.un.org\/outcomedocuments\/agenda21\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Agenda 21<\/a>, a UN agreement published in 1992. As the architects pointed out, they focused their design to align with section 1 of the Agenda, which refers to the social and economic dimensions of combating consumption issues in housing and creating sustainable energy usage. This corresponds with the more recent Goal 11 of the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/sdgs.un.org\/goals\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">17 Goals published by the UN<\/a>&nbsp;in 2015, Sustainable Cities and Communities.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span lang=\"EN-GB\">The&nbsp;<\/span><span lang=\"NL\"><a href=\"https:\/\/anma.fr\/en\/projects\/les-gables\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span lang=\"EN-GB\">Grand Large project<\/span><\/a><\/span><span lang=\"EN-GB\">, comprising 1,000 housing units, emerged from a unique collaboration involving the Urban Community. The Grand Large district, positioned between the sea and the city centre, blending elements of coastal and port aesthetics and encompassing both residential and collective spaces, extended the overarching strategy of the Neptune project initiated in 1991. The Grand Large district, notable for its diverse building types and varied public spaces, offers an array of landscapes, from the quayside with its gabled buildings to structures with green terraces, inner-block gardens, and a semi-circular park with individual houses.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span lang=\"EN-GB\">Among the initial housing units completed by the Nicolas Michelin agency, which also crafted the ZAC master plan, the gabled buildings were particularly emblematic. These eighteen large houses, comprising 101 housing units, formed the quayside frontage and were a defining feature of the project. These buildings incorporated an innovative system of natural ventilation (VNA) based on a simple design featuring a rotating wheel positioned atop the roofs. This wheel, activated by the constant winds of Dunkirk, drew air from each dwelling, providing efficient ventilation.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span lang=\"EN-GB\">While the buildings employed a traditional construction system with concrete columns and walls, their longitudinal facades were constructed using&nbsp;<\/span><span lang=\"NL\"><a href=\"https:\/\/anma.fr\/en\/projects\/les-gables\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span lang=\"EN-GB\">pumice-based blocks<\/span><\/a><\/span><span lang=\"EN-GB\">, an insulating cellular material, and clad with wood, aluminium, or fibre cement. The roofs were built with prefabricated wooden frames assembled on-site and lifted into place. These frames and adjacent facades were covered with aluminium sheets installed in a standing seam configuration. The irregularly spaced openings in the bays added to the visual diversity created by the various cladding textures.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span lang=\"EN-GB\">The Grand Large project draws heavily on the principles of bioclimatic architecture and applies environmental quality measures. Such as 1) using rainwater to irrigate public and collective green spaces, 2) gas heating for individual homes, with solar water heaters, 3) green roofs on individual homes, 4) installing solar panels, 5) creating protected loggias on the south-west facades to form a buffer zone between the inside and outside, 6) constructing buildings with roofs, a design that allows assisted natural ventilation and lends identity to collective dockside buildings.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span lang=\"EN-GB\">Additional information<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ville-dunkerque.fr\/\">Dunkirk<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/anma.fr\/en\/projects\/les-gables\/\">Grand Large project<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/anma.fr\/en\/\">ANMA architectural team<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/sustainabledevelopment.un.org\/outcomedocuments\/agenda21\">Agenda 21<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/sdgs.un.org\/goals\">17 Goals published by the UN<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aivp.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Winners.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Global district energy climate awards 2009 (pdf)<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The closure of the shipyards in 1988 left a substantial area to the north of&nbsp;Dunkirk&#8216;s city centre vacant. In a comprehensive urban revitalisation initiative, the Urban Community developed an appealing and relatively dense neighbourhood on this 42-hectare site. The Grand Large project in Dunkirk marks the second phase of the Neptune project launched in 1991, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","pays-bp":[10531],"ville-bp":[10535],"organisme-bp":[10536],"engagement-bp":[10417],"aivp_topic":[],"class_list":["post-22457","bonnes-pratiques","type-bonnes-pratiques","status-publish","hentry","pays-bp-france","ville-bp-dunkerque","organisme-bp-ville-de-dunkerque","engagement-bp-2-transition-energetique-et-economie-circulaire"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Dunkirk (France): waterfront sustainable housing district &#8211; AIVP<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Dunkirk (France): waterfront sustainable housing district &#8211; AIVP\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The closure of the shipyards in 1988 left a substantial area to the north of&nbsp;Dunkirk&#8216;s city centre vacant. 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