The vision for the Lagune Waterfront is to create a beautiful, vibrant hub of leisure, sport and culture for the city of Abidjan – a beacon for the citizens of the city and a statement to the world beyond.
The inspiration for this development comes from other exemplary waterfront cities; Barcelona, Singapore and Rio de Janeiro. All of these cities have recently undergone successful redevelopments to their waterfronts and are therefore great precedents.
The main ambition of this project is to create an identity for Abidjan’s waterfront, spearheading the city’s development and ensuring this area can be fully used by all of Abidjan’s people. The Lagune Waterfront will turn the capital’s waterfront into a place its citizens can use, enjoy and be proud of for generations to come, as well as being an iconic project capable of attracting tourism and generating jobs.
The project brief called for the creation of a series of public spaces and buildings to be placed along the length of the Baie de Cocody. As well as this the brief also called for a pedestrian link that would tie all the public spaces together, connecting the Plateau to Cocody. The basis for this project was to achieve both elements of the brief with one single gesture.
As the city is surrounded by water, it is this which provides the source of design inspiration. Fluid and flowing, a series of ‘water drops’ have been created along the edge of the city, each ‘drop’ marking an event within the programme. While the Main Square and pedestrian plaza is one ‘waterdrop’, the private Marina is another, as are the Botanical Gardens, the Museum and other public spaces throughout. These structures reflect and underline both the water beyond and the vibrancy of the city, bringing both these elements together in harmony.
To connect these ‘water drops’ a series of walkways have been designed to envelop the ‘drops’, bringing them together in a free flowing and organic language. In this way, the new waterfront will create a continuous pedestrian connection between the Houphouet Boigny Bridge in the Plateau and all along the Baie de Cocody until its conclusion at the southern tip of Cocody. The masterplan creates a series of new public spaces, events and buildings for the city which currently do not exist, all of which will breathe a new life into the capital beyond the scope of the project itself.
The raised walkway has been designed as a continuous promenade throughout the new waterfront. It consists of a 12m-wide pedestrian strip with flows for runners, walkers and cyclists alike and features trees along its entire length to provide shade as well as furniture such as benches and lamp posts along its entire length.
This is a new space for the citizens of Abidjan to explore and enjoy, a place for people to relax, learn, run, walk and play in the very heart of the nation’s capital city!
