The new project will be part of the Aerospace Valley program, which will bring together production, research and educational institutions of the European aerospace industry, based in Toulouse, in one complex.
The Montodran airfield is known for the fact that for a long time it served as the base for the planes of the French Air Mail, among the pilots of which was Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, and also there is the Lateker plant, one of the "pioneers" of the world aviation industry.
The FOA project will include office buildings, laboratory buildings, as well as leisure and commercial facilities, located on an area of 40 hectares - next to the Rangey Science Campus and Paul Sabatier University. The compositional solution of the complex will be based on the line of the old runway. Since the groundwater is very shallow in this area, it will not be difficult to transform it into a "Canal" - a kind of reservoir that will supply water to almost 20 hectares of the campus parkland. The space of the ensemble will also be enlivened by the volume of the ground garage, which will have the shape of a streamlined "stylobate" forming a green amphitheater in the center of the complex.
The campus will be completely independent in terms of energy supply: for this, solar panels will be installed on its territory, biofuel and natural thermal inertia of the soil will also be used.
Individual buildings of the ensemble will be equipped with sun screens and solar-powered green roofs. For ONERA, the French National Aerospace Research Center, a 28-story tower will be built - the high-rise dominant of the entire complex.
FOA rivals in the final of the competition were the bureaus of Richard Rogers, Rem Koolhaas and Xaver de Geyter.
