Living on the River and Swimming in the Sky

Mixed-Use Building, Îlot Belcier, Residences and Sports Facilities Bordeaux, France

Mixed-Use Building, Îlot Belcier, Residences and Sports Facilities

Bordeaux, France

Living on the River and Swimming in the Sky

Residential - Sports - Wellness

2026

Find out more

Status

Ongoing

Client

Altarea Cogedim, EPA Euatlantique Bordeaux, UCPA

Address

Zac Belcier, Bordeaux, France

Date

2026

Area

30 000 m²

Program (Details)

Program Metropolitan Building, Housing, Student Residence, Artist Studios, Restaurants, Sports Center, Swimming Pool, Wellness Spa, Fitness, Padel Courts on the Roof

Credits

Images: Mikoü

Architect

Mikoü

Structure

IBC Bordeaux

Fluids

TUAL

HQE

PAYET

Others

Acoustics: VIAM
Landscape: EXIT

At the intersection of dynamic flows and transformations, the Saint-Jean Belcier district represents the urban renewal of Bordeaux. Located around the TGV station and facing the Garonne River, our project resonates with the iconic buildings of the Quai de la Création.

Here, the city reinvents itself through a rich layering of uses and communities: housing, student residences, sports facilities, restaurants, water amenities, and rooftop padel courts form a dynamic urban fabric that is both vibrant and inviting, blending daily life with urban energy.
Facing the river, this architectural triptych follows the triangular shape of the block, sculpting the city with a strong presence.

A composition of relief-shaped modules

A clay concrete marquetry with columns architraves

Building Differently: Towards Off-Site Architecture
Located at a dense urban crossroads, facing the Garonne River, the project required a responsible and innovative approach. We opted for prefabricated modular construction, designed off-site using a dry construction process, with most of the materials transported to the site via the river.
This approach enables a clean, fast, and disruption-free construction process, with an optimized structural system combining concrete columns and beams with preassembled prefab slabs.
Modular architectural concrete façades, integrating insulation and windows, are designed to seamlessly fit into a carefully crafted assembly system with an invisible joint.

Like an urban still life, these three distinct entities are organized around landscaped pathways that cut through the site, offering open views of the Garonne River. Their crowning elements recall Venetian altanas—suspended terraces that celebrate the beauty of the surrounding landscape.

Inspired by Bordeaux’s heritage, the project reimagines the mineral textures and moldings of local façades. With simplicity and rhythm, this clay concrete marquetry architecture plays with depth, solids, and voids, creating a lively composition enriched by the tones of the local clay. Each façade shifts with the light, unveiling subtle variations in arrangement, textures, and offset planes, fostering a dialogue between the urban scale and the intricacy of architectural detail.

To the east, a residential tower rises like a ship’s prow, acting as an urban landmark. In the center, a multi-sport volume becomes the dynamic and inviting core of the project, while to the west, a cubic block housing student residences and apartments extends, with its continuous balconies floating between sky and water.

Off-Site Technology: A New Approach to Construction.
This project goes beyond the building itself, initiating a broader reflection on prefabrication and off-site assembly. Each module was designed not only as an independent component but also as part of a cohesive whole, capable of establishing an architectural dialogue with both the city and the landscape. This interdisciplinary approach, developed in collaboration with industrial partners from the design phase, allowed for the integration of structure, envelope, and function into a unified process, ensuring coherence and
high- quality execution.

An urban layering

Saint-Jean Belcier represents a vision for contemporary urban development: a multifaceted architecture centered on innovation, a responsible construction method focused on performance and quality, and a renewed urban experience where layers and everyday functions are stacked into a vertical composition that opens up to the vast Bordeaux landscape.