23-10-25 // LISE MEITNER SQUARE: THE SQUARE THAT WAS NEVER MEANT TO EXIST Completed
Lise Meitner Square – Crossing of Paths, Image ©STAR strategies + architecture
A Square Born from Technical Challenges
Lise Meitner Square is part of the experimental housing project START in Ivry-sur-Seine by STAR – strategies + architecture, which includes five residential buildings. And yet, this square was not initially meant to exist. Its creation required overcoming major constraints linked to two 1,500-metre-deep geothermal wells on site, providing heating for a large part of the city, which originally demanded a fenced, impermeable, and inaccessible zone.
Such an arrangement would have seriously compromised the quality of life for the nearly 300 families living in START-Ivry. Currently, geothermal energy is, alongside solar and wind power, one of the most widely used renewable energy sources in urban contexts. After extensive negotiations with the geothermal operator, we transformed a technical limitation into a meaningful urban asset: a 2,600m² public space.
From Constraint to Urban Gift
Though shaped by constraints, Lise Meitner Square ultimately became a gift to the neighbourhood: a fully open, inclusive public space. It occupies a privileged location on the Seine riverfront, just 400 metres from the future Parc-de-la-Confluence, at the heart of the ZAC Ivry-Confluences urban renewal zone.
The square’s design highlights the geothermal system at its centre, while its materials meet strict maintenance requirements, and its colour palette aligns with the START-Ivry project. Its triangular form connects it to neighbouring public areas, while two newly created pedestrian alleys cross the plinths of the buildings, linking the square to the main avenue and framing views of the iconic cable bridge over the Seine.
Because of the maintenance constraints of the geothermal wells, plantings and fixed furniture were prohibited, and most of the surface had to remain waterproof and extremely robust to support heavy maintenance vehicles. Moreover, as the square was never originally planned, there was no budget allocated for its creation. However, through close collaboration with the architect of the START-Ivry project, we managed to secure the necessary funding to bring it to life.
Revitalize and Reindustrialize
Few would have expected an industrial comeback in Western cities decades after deindustrialization. Over the last four decades, much of this industrial capacity, particularly in heavy manufacturing, has been dismantled or relocated. However, recent efforts to fight climate change have reintroduced certain industrial features, such as geothermal wells, into the urban fabric.
As renewable energy production becomes increasingly embedded within neighbourhoods, architects and urban designers face growing challenges in integrating these systems without compromising the quality of public space. One might speak of a partial reindustrialization of the West, a phenomenon that parallels the contemporary ambition of many Western countries to “revitalize and reindustrialize,” as the French policy discourse puts it. Lise Meitner Square embodies this new form of urban reindustrialization, where energy infrastructure and public life coexist in a single landscape.
The design of the square highlights the geothermal energy system at its centre. The choice of materials responds to the strict maintenance constraints associated with the geothermal infrastructure, while the colour palette aligns with the overall identity of the surrounding START-Ivry project by STAR – strategies + architecture. Image ©STAR-BOARD
From Infrastructure to Public Space
The existence of Lise Meitner Square embodies a broader shift in contemporary urban design: the transformation of technical infrastructures into public spaces. Here, the once-hidden mechanisms of the city, energy, access, and maintenance, become visible and meaningful parts of collective life. This approach guided the design process, which unfolds around three central themes:
The first and most defining theme is geothermal energy. The square’s layout, and particularly its safety perimeter, usually perceived as a technical constraint, here becomes the central feature of the project. It is materialised by an orange asphalt ring that traces the emblematic oval shape of the square. At the centre, a broad expanse of black asphalt is animated and humanised by three distinct ground markings, each applied with specialised, high-contrast asphalt paint similar to that used for pedestrian crossings, durable, legible, and suited to the square’s demanding maintenance regime. Each marking serves both a visual and a symbolic role, turning the technical surface into a field of signs.
The first is the “Super-Zebra”, a continuous carpet of zebra stripes running across the north-west sector. This clear, graphic element underlines the square’s pedestrian character and visually links the single tower to the rest of the ensemble. It integrates three steps, a concrete gutter, and accessibility features such as contrasting risers and tactile strips.
The second marking, the “Mini-Masterplan”, reproduces on the ground the footprint of the five iconic START-Ivry buildings. Oriented like the real project and drawn at roughly 1:30 scale, it invites visitors to read the architecture in situ, enhancing spatial legibility and reinforcing a sense of recognition and attachment among residents and passers-by.
The third marking, the “Quote”, inscribes a line by French writer and anthropologist Françoise Héritier (1933 – 2017) from her book Le Sel de la vie (2012): “Respirer l’odeur secrète du goudron et de la mer dans les cheveux de la personne qu’on aime…” (“Breathing in the secret smell of tar and sea in the hair of someone you love…”). It brings a poetic dimension to the black oval.
The security zone around each geothermal wellhead, materialised by an orange asphalt oval, shapes the arrangement of
buildings in the square. Image ©STAR – strategies + architecture
The two newly created pedestrian alleys cross the plinths of START-Ivry and link
the square to the main avenue. Image ©Nicolas Grosmond
The Four Paths
The second theme is the four paths, which structure movement and access through the square. Two new pedestrian alleys cross the plinths of the buildings, connecting the main avenue to the square. The northern alley opens up to a view of the iconic cable footbridge over the Seine. Both alleys are paved in beige, deactivated concrete and lined with five benches, each bench echoing the footprint of one of the five surrounding buildings and incorporating integrated lighting.
A third path borders the square to the south, a six-metre-wide strip of brushed concrete, heavy-duty and road-like in appearance. It provides maintenance and delivery access. Retractable bollards at each end regulate entry, and its rough finish subtly communicates the limited speed of vehicles. A fourth path, also in deactivated concrete, runs along the north edge of the square, framing the square against the adjacent building’s facade.
Though shaped by constraints, Lise Meitner Square is ultimately a gift to the neighbourhood, a fully open,
inclusive public space. Image ©STAR-BOARD
Three main themes structured the layout and materialisation of this “miraculous” square: the geothermal energy, the four paths, and the three “zones”.
Image ©STAR-BOARD
The Three “Zones”
The third theme focuses on the three “zones”, circular areas designated as flexible-use spaces for sports, fitness, café terraces, and other activities. Each is materialised with a different surface treatment: red soft surface, beige deactivated concrete, and low grass. The remaining surface is planted with mid-height grasses and perennials, forming soft borders around the circular zones, although the planting around these zones is still to be completed.
In line with geothermal constraints and maintenance restrictions, planting is limited to vegetation between 50 cm and 1 m in height, depending on the season. The planting palette includes evergreen, wind-responsive grasses such as feathergrass, fescue, and hairgrass. Accents of blue come from perennial oats, while delicate green and purple spikelets punctuate the surface. These light, constantly shifting plants create a relaxing and sensorial experience throughout the square.
The wild grasses form a contemplative, blooming landscape during the summer, attracting bees, butterflies, birds, and small animals. This natural ecosystem is complemented by biodiversity features such as piles of drilled logs, light stones, sand mounds, and bird nesting boxes designed to support various species.
Detail of the ground markings in the oval area of the square: the “Super-Zebra”, the “Mini-Masterplan,” and the “Quote”. Image ©STAR-BOARD
The quote by Françoise Héritier, a French anthropologist and feminist, from her book Le Sel de la Vie runs parallel to the orange oval.
Image ©STAR – strategies + architecture
Three circular areas are designated as flexible-use zones, for sports, fitness, café terraces, and more, each materialised with a different surface treatment.
Image ©STAR-BOARD
Street Furniture and Lighting
Because fixed street furniture is prohibited on the square due to geothermal constraints, items in the heart of the block, such as sports equipment and chairs, are easily removable. The sports equipment is installed in two of the circular zones, while the chairs are placed on the northern part of the square. They combine coloured metal, matching the project palette, with wood, and their alternating orientations create small clusters of two to three seats. The geothermal wellheads, which must be protected from traffic, are surrounded by custom-made galvanised-steel guards that can also serve as supports for fitness exercises.
Lighting in Lise Meitner Square is provided in two types. High lighting consists of five-metre masts with adjustable luminaires around the square, each covering an area with a radius of approximately 20 metres. Low lighting includes 2.5-metre masts installed every five metres along the two alleys and the path in front of Tower 5, reinforcing the orientation of these routes.
Marc enjoys spending time at Lise Meitner Square, often sitting on one of the chairs facing the Seine.
Photo courtesy of a local resident
Title: Lise Meitner Square
Project: Public square in Ivry-sur-Seine, Paris
Date: October 2025
Type: Commissioned project
Location: Ivry-sur-Seine, Paris
Programme: Square design for residential areas
Surface: 2,600 m²
Status: Completed
Awards: Winner of the LOOP Design Awards 2025 in the Landscape and Public Space category, Platinum Winner of the ADC Awards 2025 in the “Public & Urban Spaces (Landscape)” category, Platinum Winner of the Houzee Awards 2025 in the “Urban Landscape Design” category, Platinum Winner of the Houzee Awards 2025 in the “Courtyard & Patio Design” category, Runner-Up at RTF Global Architecture & Design Awards 2025, Shortlisted for the Architecture Hunter Awards 2025 in the Public and Urban Design category, Archello Awards 2025 Longlist in the Public Space of the Year category
Team: Bernd Upmeyer, Efrain Perez del Barrio (BOARD), in collaboration with STAR – strategies and architecture