MKNO – C40 Reinventing Cities

Located along the Ourcq Canal in Bobigny (93), the site known as “MBK” is the first piece of the future metropolitan centrality of “La Folie.” With the banks of the Ourcq Canal as a support for an innovative ecosystem, the MKNO Project will strengthen the service and recreational network in Bobigny. With a total surface area of approximately 50,000 square meters of floor space, the MKNO Project provides for a mixed program: family housing, residences for students, young workers and seniors, an economic hub dedicated to new mobility, a local logistics space, two hotels and offices.

Here the strategy relies on multiplying the routes and altimetries in order to best explore this urban fringe situation along the water. The project offers the canal to all the programs of the district. Footbridges, pontoons and piers are placed between the buildings, in the direction of the canal. These elements functionally link certain buildings, offering extensions, paths, experiences and views. Huts, slides, games, kiosks punctuate these paths and give life to a rich, vibrant and playful urban space. The juxtaposition of these light architectures in the service of a great intensity of use comes to form a unique urban whole paying homage to the genius of the place, the city palafitte.