❮MKNO

The Cities Climate Leadership Group (C40) is the world’s largest network of cities united against climate change. It has designated Triptyque and its partners as Reinventing Cities winners for MBK in France. The Reinventing Cities competition is a world first: designing “net zero” urbanism is the challenge set to urban planners.

MKNO is a neighborhood designed to reduce carbon emissions by 25%*. An unprecedented global reflection on this project has been carried out in order to condition all the design choices to this reduction goal: layout of voids and completions, enhancement of the topographical and vegetation heritage of the site, choice of construction processes and their resilience, choice of technical systems, choice of materials and their life cycle, energy production, etc. MKNO will be a unique laboratory prefiguring the “zero carbon” city.

Diversity, mobility, nature and openness will be the keywords of this complex that will live along the water according to the variety of uses of a vibrant and open city. Site specificity will be represented by a set of walkways, pontoons and piers, organized between the buildings according to numerous routes and altimetries in harmony with the plant elements. The city of Palafitte then outlined will draw its intensity from the programmatic diversity of the project, that of a productive and festive district.

With a total surface area of 50,000 m², the MKNO project is a large-scale urban project that draws inspiration from and builds on the banks of the Ourcq Canal as the support for an innovative ecosystem, reinforcing the network of services and recreation in the Bobigny area. Designed by Triptyque Architecture, CAAU and PILA, the project includes 13 buildings and their bases. The pier, a real lookout on the canal, will be animated by food courts and hotel activities, while offering a pleasant living environment. The heart of the neighborhood, called “Le Jardin de Pluie,” will also meet this need for porosity between functions. Shaped and landscaped, this haven of peace with a plant-based atmosphere will be available to both residents and visitors to the neighborhood.

Finally, MKNO proposes to multiply innovations in the fields of mobility and urban logistics by bringing together in the same space facilities for production, research, work and experimentation. The main commitment of the Bobigny site is to “make the neighborhood.”

* calculated based on the life cycle of buildings (construction, operation and maintenance) compared to a conventionally designed project on this scale.