After my visit to Beauvais, I felt the importance of the daylight and how it affects the interior more than anything else in the cathedral.
The challenges for the design is becoming clearer,
LIVING AROUND THE CATHEDRAL
WHY
Beauvais is not a touristic city, the cathedral should not be treated as a potential tourist attraction. It is more interesting if the amazing interior of the cathedral becomes part of the city life more than one day of the week, the proposal aims to pull people to LIVE around the cathedral, not TOUR.
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Beauvais is at the very center of Amiens, Rouen and Paris triangle and its airport is increasingly used by budget airlines and Disneyland Paris visitors. |
- Good transportation links to airports, stations and other cities.
- Interesting vistas, pleasurable interactions with the rest of the city fabric, landscape.
- Jobs, only Beauvais Cathedral has three unemployment agencies on the perimeter of the building.
- Jobs, only Beauvais Cathedral has three unemployment agencies on the perimeter of the building.
CELEBRATING THE INTERIOR
WHY
There is an endless, ongoing effort to keep the exterior of the cathedral clean and attractive while the interior requires much less work to maintain itself beautiful and functioning. Also, in terms of structural decisions, flying buttresses were the sacrifice done for the atmosphere created inside the cathedral. The proposal must be a continuation of this effort, celebrating the interior, feeding it with functions that are host around the cathedral.
HOW
- Additional structure, supporting the cathedral on the sides.
- Some of the chapel windows and upper openings will become alternative entrances to the cathedral.
- It is not affordable to sacrifice from the daylight entering the cathedral. Therefore new openings can be considered.
Lille hosted the great development in 90's developed around the Eurostar International Station. Still the airport of Lille is being used as half of the Beauvais-Tille Airport. While the population of Beauvais is very low in comparison to Amiens, Rouen and Paris.
Since on this triangle all cities have their own cathedrals, I compared the size of Amiens, Notre Dame of Paris, Rouen and Beauvais Cathedrals next to each other with the numbers in the maps.
