06-08-26 // RESTRICTIONS AS AN OPPORTUNITY: LISE MEITNER SQUARE PUBLISHED IN G+L AND CENTRAS

The Lise Meitner Square has been featured in the German landscape architecture and urban design magazine Garten + Landschaft (G+L) and the Lithuanian architecture magazine Centras.

G+L writes:

In Ivry-sur-Seine, the Lise Meitner Square has become a public space that was never intended to exist. Two geothermal wells, each 1,500 metres deep, had turned the site into a fenced-off asphalt area. BOARD and STAR strategies + architecture nevertheless transformed it into a functional public square, despite strict requirements regarding structural loads, sealed surfaces and maintenance access.

An orange-coloured asphalt surface defines the safety zone around the wells, complemented by flexible activity areas and new pedestrian connections. Low grasses frame the square, creating a space that successfully combines a pleasant place to stay with ecological value using only minimal means.

The square demonstrates how meaningful urban public spaces can emerge even under extreme constraints.