Situated in the south-east of France in the middle of the Alpine range lies the village of L‘Argentière-la-Bessée. Within the deep valley of the Durance river and a mountainous landscape with nearby summits exceeding 3.000 meters, it is meanwhile a famous location for whitewater championships or used as a starting point to go hiking and skiing. But it’s origin is industrial, as it was the former center for aluminium production in the Upper Durance Valley before its’ closure in the 1980s. The former Péchiney site in L‘Argentière-la-Bessée is one of four pilot areas of the research project trAILs (Alpine Industrial Landscapes Transformation) and is also the focus area in the master studio at the Chair of Landscape Architecture and Industrial Landscapes of the Technical University Munich in the summer term 2019.     «

Situated in the south-east of France in the middle of the Alpine range lies the village of L‘Argentière-la-Bessée. Within the deep valley of the Durance river and a mountainous landscape with nearby summits exceeding 3.000 meters, it is meanwhile a famous location for whitewater championships or used as a starting point to go hiking and skiing. But it’s origin is industrial, as it was the former center for aluminium production in the Upper Durance Valley before its’ closure in the 1980s. The for...     »