La Roche-de-Rame

In the Master‘s project “Alpine Planet“ during the winter semester 2020/21, the students focused on a municipality in the south-east of France, on a small town that nestles in the Durance Valley on the mountain slopes of the surrounding Alpine summits. La Roche-de-Rame is a municipality of approximately 800 inhabitants, located not far from the Italian border. It is connected to the nearest major cities of Marseille and Briancon only by the N94 national road. The picturesque surroundings of the region lead to an expectation of pure Alpine idyll and flourishing tourism. Indeed, the local economy today is largely based on this industry, especially winter tourism. However, there are some ecological, economic, social and structural problems that are evident in this area. Climate change with weather extremes and glacier melt is having a hard impact on the Alpine regions. Floods threaten the development near the river and an increasingly shorter winter sports season is endangering the current economic foundation, with the consequence that more and more young people migrate to surrounding cities. The origins of economic development lay in industry. This economic sector once brought great success to the region and consequently led to constant population growth, but lost importance with the decline of heavy industry. Today, a large part of the former factory area south of the village lies fallow and awaits new development impulses. The research project trAILs (Alpine Industrial Landscapes) provided new impetus to the area of the former MG Industries ‘Le Planet‘, the still active PVC manufacturer Extruflex and the gravel pit. In a field trip in spring 2019, a group of Master‘s students explored this site as well as the nearby Péchiney factory in the neighbouring municipality of L‘Argentière-la-Bessée. At that time, the students focused primarily on the latter area with their designs. However, students and teachers collected visual material and established contacts that could now - with travel restrictions in place due to COVID19 - benefit the project in La Roche-de-Rame. The designs of the students in this Master‘s semester were based on remote explorations of the planning area using various online maps as well as given photographic material. With strong commitment and iron stamina, they made it possible, despite all adversities, to develop the wide range of designs that are presented in this booklet.     «

In the Master‘s project “Alpine Planet“ during the winter semester 2020/21, the students focused on a municipality in the south-east of France, on a small town that nestles in the Durance Valley on the mountain slopes of the surrounding Alpine summits. La Roche-de-Rame is a municipality of approximately 800 inhabitants, located not far from the Italian border. It is connected to the nearest major cities of Marseille and Briancon only by the N94 national road. The picturesque surroundings of the...     »