Urbanism of Transformation : New Commons

You are cordially invited to attend the lecture event by François Decoster:

Date: 28 August 2025

Time: 18:00 – 20:00

Location: SDE4-05-Forum

BOA-SIA, SILA, and SIP CPD Points: 2 points each respectively

Registration is now closed.

Urbanism of Transformation : New Commons

The future of cities lies in their transformation. Producing new commons is a strong lever for this transformation, both at the building scale and at the urban scale. This reasserts the social, cultural and collective values of the project on the city. This opens new perspectives for hybrid forms and programmes and hybrids. This makes heritage and “déjà-là” a dynamic resource to address contemporary challenges.

These ideas will be exemplified through the presentation of five recent and ongoing projects by the Paris based architecture and urbanism office l’AUC:

– ZIN, or How to Not Demolish a Building, the transformation WTC towers I & II in Brussels North dating from the mid 1970s, into a mixed use complex.

– Chapelle International, a new district on a former logistics site in the North of Paris, integrating SOHO programmes.

– La Nouvelle Tour des Poissonniers, a former social housing tower transformed into a students housing programme with shared spaces and a public facility dedicated to musicology.

– Olympiades 2030, an Ecology of the Slab in the 13t arrondissement of Paris.

– Lyon Part-Dieu and the Easy Ground for the emergence of a Contemporary Metropolitan Hub in the heart of Lyon metropolis.

François Decoster is a French architect and urbanist, graduated from the School of Architecture of Versailles and the Institute of Political Sciences of Paris. In 1996, with Djamel Klouche and Caroline Poulin, he founded l’AUC, an architecture and urbanism office based in Paris, acting in France and internationally. l’AUC was awarded the Grand Prix National de l’Urbanisme by the French Ministry of Urban Development and Housing in 2021 and the Patrick Abercrombie Prize for architecture and urbanism by the International Union of Architects in 2023. l’AUC is a supporting practice of the House Europe network. François Decoster teaches urbanism and urban design at NUS / CDE / DOA / Master of Urban Design since 2003. He regularly contributes in conferences and workshops related to planning, urban design and urbanism. He is currently involved in numerous projects dealing with complex issues of metropolisation, urban and architectural transformation, regeneration, environment and public space.