MVRDV completes La Vallée Verte, introducing a secluded green refuge in the Bastide Niel neighbourhood

MVRDV has completed construction of La Vallée Verte, a residential project within the Bastide Niel district of Bordeaux. Situated between the shaded streets and former railway tracks of MVRDV’s own Bastide Niel masterplan, the project combines the angled forms of the masterplan’s “suncuts” with a verdant “crater”: a circular internal courtyard with an intense abundance of plants adorning generous terraces. Providing 70 new homes of varying sizes to attract residents in all stages of life, the project’s sleek white exterior blends in as part of this brand new, innovative urban district, while the inner courtyard offers a distinctive and secluded park-like space in which residents and visitors can relax.

MVRDV’s Bastide Niel masterplan creates a new district on the right bank of the Garonne River in Bordeaux, redeveloping a former industrial area and military barracks. The plan retains the historic structures and layout of the district, surrounding these elements with narrow streets for shade and intimacy. The unusual slopes and angled shapes of the buildings were determined using a parametric approach known as “suncuts” that ensures all buildings receive a minimum amount of direct sunlight throughout the year; no building is overshadowed by its neighbour. With its 144 plots being developed by a wide variety of local, national, and international designers, the result is a district with a focus on sustainability, liveability, and historic character – a vibrant update to the urban tradition of the European city.

Positioned at the north-western edge of Bastide Niel on the Quai des Queyries, La Vallée Verte serves as an exemplary project following the principles of the masterplan. Made up of three buildings on a triangular plot, the street-side façades and roofs are smooth – adhering to the shapes of the masterplan and its daylighting requirements – and are clad in light grey tiles, following the masterplan’s approach to reduce the urban heat island effect.

In contrast, at the centre of the site the three blocks are hollowed out into a circular courtyard covered in greenery from the ground to the topmost floors. Where the outward-facing façades are solid and flat, those facing the courtyard have full-height openings that face onto private loggias. Plant pots of various sizes line the edges of these loggias, supporting plants of all types – from flowering shrubs to small trees, and from evergreen to deciduous plants. The project replicates a natural valley landscape, with different plants at different levels, to enable a diversity of species.

To ensure the continued health of the project’s greenery, the design provides a route for professional gardeners to access the length of the balconies and provide regular maintenance, with openings placed in the structural walls and steel doors separating the balconies of different neighbours. In a playful acknowledgement of their purpose, these openings and doors take the shape of a person, with a wide-brimmed hat clearly hinting at the silhouette of a gardener.

“One of the key motivations of our Bastide Niel masterplan was to give this new piece of the city a sense of intimacy, shaping the district around historic traces to form a surprising network of cute streets, while the buildings are cut to give access to sunlight. This leads to a roofscape like icebergs that echo the old city. Each architect should add their own interpretation, while staying within the rules”, says MVRDV founding partner Winy Maas. “With La Vallée Verte we cut the three blocks and added an explosion of greenery, achieving intimacy in another way: the green courtyard is like a secret world, almost separate from the rest of the neighbourhood; being there becomes a moment shared between the visitors and the residents.”

By providing a mix of apartments of different sizes, La Vallée Verte allows for a diverse mix of residents, ranging from single first-time buyers to large families. The design includes a day-care centre on the ground floor of one of the buildings, providing a secluded external space for the children within the courtyard that brightens up the daily life of the neighbourhood.

The entire Bastide Niel district has been certified as part of France’s EcoQuartier initiative. In keeping with the rest of the neighbourhood’s sustainability strategy, La Vallée Verte is connected to a district heating system, while photovoltaic panels provide a portion of its electrical energy needs. It also conforms to Bastide Niel’s principles of a porous streetscape, allowing for the absorption of rainwater and floods – an important consideration due to the project’s location in the Garonne River floodplain. Parking for the surrounding community is consolidated in an adjacent above-ground structure, both reducing the risk of flood damage and reducing the embodied carbon emissions of the project, while ground-floor apartments are elevated to allow water to pass through.