Halle 6 Ouest, an interdisciplinary university centre for digital culture: putting the university at the heart of the creative district

The Nantes Université interdisciplinary centre for digital culture is located at Halle 6 Ouest, in the heart of the creative district (Quartier de la Création) on the Island of Nantes. Unique in France, this place of experimentation for the “University of Tomorrow” provides a new type of education that revolves around digital technology and an environment fostering creative cooperation and healthy competition in the Nantes region. 

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Since October 2019 , 200 students, around 50 researchers in digital sciences and young entrepreneurs all share this 2600 m² hybrid space that fosters interdisciplinarity, innovation and alternative educational practices.
The Nantes Université is preparing to develop a space for research, training, meetings, interactions and innovation on the former industrial site of the Alstom Group.
Students, teachers, researchers, artists, emerging talent and businesses will work together, facilitating the interface between humanities, sciences and economics.

In 2008, the Nantes Université received €13.4 million of funding for the renovation of Halle 6 Ouest, under the campus prometteur (promising campus) plan which is co-financed by the French government, Pays de la Loire Region and Nantes Metropolis. This plan gave rise to two other major projects: Nouveau Tertre and the Institut de Recherche en Santé 2 (Health Research Institute) (Bio Ouest Campus and Nantes Biotech).

An open space where technology is accessible and research is transparent

By making technology more widely available and research transparent and accessible, Halle 6 Ouest aims to provide the right conditions for knowledge to be created, in order to contribute to the major challenges of today’s society and create the skills necessary to support, anticipate and produce digital developments.
A real innovation laboratory, the building has a 550 m² event space, numerous experimentation rooms that researchers and companies can use, a co-working space and several third places that host  a rich variety of experiences: an immersive cube (an object of research that is open to artists), a Manufacturing Lab, a User Lab and a Learning Lab.
Around 50 researchers from Nantes will be able to use this unique infrastructure to carry out innovative projects on issues related to industry and health of the future, smart cities, the arts, culture, the media, and so on.

Preserving and showcasing the site’s past 

The new Quartier de la Création has transformed the former Alstom factories, which were once home to the French shipbuilding company Ateliers et Chantiers de Bretagne, into an urban campus for training, research and innovation. Halle 6 Ouest was completely rebuilt in the early 1950s and is the final stage in the site’s development that started at the beginning of the 20th century. The Nantes Université has contracted the project and commissioned the Berlin architecture agency LIN to manage the renovation works. The architectural choices preserve and enhance the memory of Halle 6, which once housed shipbuilding workers and heavy machinery operatives.

Nantes Tech

All of the workspaces are shared with the other actors in the Quartier de la Création. Not only will users of Halle 6 Ouest be able to excel in their career trajectory within a vibrant neighbourhood of Nantes, they will also get the chance to work with their creative neighbours such as the start-up Cantine Numérique (digital cantine), Stereolux and Trempolino artists, associations and businesses from cultural and creative industries, students from the graduate schools of architecture and of fine arts, Nantes Atlantique design school (École de Design Nantes Atlantique) and Médiacampus.

Preserving and showcasing the site’s past 

The new Quartier de la Création has transformed the former Alstom factories, which were once home to the French shipbuilding company Ateliers et Chantiers de Bretagne, into an urban campus for training, research and innovation. Halle 6 Ouest was completely rebuilt in the early 1950s and is the final stage in the site’s development that started at the beginning of the 20th century. The Nantes Université has contracted the project and commissioned the Berlin architecture agency LIN to manage the renovation works. The architectural choices preserve and enhance the memory of Halle 6, which once housed shipbuilding workers and heavy machinery operatives.

 
A bold and innovative project in which curiosity and interdisciplinarity are fundamental values, Halle 6 Ouest represents the values and ambitions of the Nantes Université. This university model, first of its kind in France, was launched in January 2020 . It is founded by the Nantes Université, the University Hospital (CHU), the French National Institute of Health Medical Research (INSERM) and Centrale Nantes, and is supported by the NeXT initiative, the Nantes-based Initiative for Science, Innovation, Territories and Economy (I-SITE). It will promote progress in scientific research, student success and equal access to opportunities and social advancement.