Lise Meitner Square is part of the experimental housing project START in Ivry-sur-Seine, Greater Paris. Paradoxically, this 2,600 m² public space was never meant to exist. Its creation required overcoming major constraints linked to two 1,500-metre-deep geothermal wells that provide heating for much of the city and originally demanded a fenced, inaccessible area. Through negotiation and design ingenuity, a technical limitation was transformed into a meaningful urban asset.

©STAR strategies + architecture

Located on the Seine riverfront within the ZAC Ivry-Confluences renewal zone, the square is a fully open, inclusive public space. It demonstrates how infrastructure can generate civic value rather than exclusion. The design highlights the geothermal system at its centre while meeting strict maintenance and safety requirements through durable materials and a coherent colour palette aligned with the surrounding architecture.

© STAR-BOARD

©STAR strategies + architecture

The project explores a new form of urban reindustrialization, where renewable energy infrastructure is integrated into daily life. It exemplifies a growing design approach in which technical systems are reinterpreted as spatial and social opportunities.

© Nicolas Grosmond

© STAR-BOARD

The square’s identity unfolds around three themes: geothermal energy, four connecting paths, and three flexible-use zones for recreation and relaxation. An orange asphalt ring marks the geothermal perimeter, while distinctive ground graphics — including a poetic quote by Françoise Héritier — lend the space a civic and emotional dimension. The minimal, robust landscape of grasses, deactivated concrete, and movable furnishings reflects the site’s constraints yet invites diverse forms of use and encounter.

© STAR-BOARD

© STAR-BOARD

© STAR strategies + architecture

Lise Meitner Square turns hidden urban infrastructure into a visible, shared, and poetic part of collective life, a square that, against all odds, became a gift to its neighbourhood.

© STAR-BOARD