Valeria Zamora Marco

    Lakeborn-e is the result of one year research on Lake Léman. In our research we question the actual level of Lake Léman, fixed at 372,5m by man after a treaty at the end of the XIX century between France and Switzerland.

 

    We propose an experiment : “What would happen, if the lake level dropped? What would happen to our cities, beaches and borders?”A decline of several meters of the current water level would cause a transformation of the entire region: the waterfront changes, cities grow and new connecting infrastructures develop. New frontiers open and old ones vanish.

 

    The project structures a new land in the Pays Lémanique. We propose a strategy called the “Inner Border” to activate this new land that has two hundred kilometers in length and a total area of ten square kilometers of new public space. The accesss and the transitions between the former and the new lakeshore as well as the adaptation of the harbours and the mobility in the new border of the lake are the three main aspects of this strategy.

 

    We propose two different toolkits for transitions and harbours. The first one is a catalogue of sections classified by the use that they host and the topography of the site. We call them the « keyseries ». The second one is a serie of modular piers that can be combined to  create the new harbours of Lac Léman. These points of interest are crucial, as they adapt to the new waterfront. For that purpose, we propose New Harbor Typologies whose spatial  organization and programs reactivate the inner border of the Pays Lémanique.

 

    The new land along the lakeshore establishes structural continuity for this region through the implementation of two complementary infrastructures: the Boat and a Shoreline Tram.The Shoreline Tram is a means to pass through the Inner Border where the Key Series gives a rhythm to this ride. The boat is a means to cross or to wander around Lac Léman.