Estran: designing the resilient city in the face of climate change

Cities are both the primary drivers of accelerating climate change and its first victims. Their future depends on a dual imperative: reducing their CO2 emissions and adapting to the climatic upheavals already underway. In response to this urgency, the triptych Mitigation – Adaptation – Biodiversity serves as the roadmap for sustainable urbanism. This dynamic is at the heart of Bechu & Associés' approach. The agency claims the role of "guardian of habitability," with two fundamental axes: urban regeneration and the invention of new habitats.

The first aims to rebuild cities from within, integrating sobriety and resilience while respecting their identity. A sustainable project is born first from its roots. The second seeks to rethink urbanization models by drawing inspiration from the wisdom of the past, enriched by 21st-century tools such as parametric design and scientific advancements.

In this context, the adaptation solutions implemented by the agency in other territories exposed to similar risks serve as a source of inspiration. Through the Estran project in Biarritz, the agency designed a laboratory building and innovation hub that fully integrates into the water cycle, treating this resource as a fundamental material of the project. In Nice, with Mimèsis, it envisioned an architectural envelope inspired by the crenellated morphology of the ferocactus, optimizing the building's energy passivity. Further south, in Laâyoune, Morocco, the ASARI project explores 100% energy-autonomous architecture adapted to arid climates, while in Dakar, the Baobab campus, recently delivered for ISM's school year, redefines the educational and built environment based on local climatic conditions. Finally, in Martinique, the city of Lamentin has embarked on an experiment in climate-focused urban planning—a pioneering mission conducted in partnership with The Climate Company, where all territorial planning has been reimagined through the lens of climate challenges.

The architecture and urban planning agency Bechu & Associés, sustainable by nature as it stems from a family lineage spanning four generations, promotes an architecture inspired by nature while relying on new digital design tools and cutting-edge scientific partnerships. Thus, solutions experimented elsewhere can nurture the resilience of Mediterranean cities. For urbanism must not only adapt but also has the power to transform constraints into opportunities, ensuring that the city of tomorrow remains a desired and desirable living space.