Lise Meitner Square: the square that was never meant to exist

Beatriz Ramo

Lise Meitner Square is a 2,600m² public space at the heart of the START-Ivry housing project in Ivry-sur-Seine, Greater-Paris, home to nearly 300 households. Paradoxically, the square was never meant to exist. Its site was originally designated as a fenced and inaccessible maintenance zone required to protect two 1,500-metre-deep geothermal wells supplying heating to a large part of the city. Left as planned, this central space would have become an asphalted technical void, seriously compromising residents’ the quality of life of the inhabitants. Through discussions with the geothermal operator, developer, and municipality, this constraint was transformed into a civic value: a fully open public square.

Geothermal energy is a major environmental asset, but when its installations sit within the city, they must be carefully integrated rather than producing exclusionary voids. The square’s design, treats infrastructure not as something to hide, but as its defining identity. The geothermal safety perimeter is traced by an orange asphalt oval, making the energy system visible and legible. At its centre, three ground markings introduce social, pedagogical, and poetic layers: a Super-Zebra emphasising its pedestrian character, a Mini-Masterplan reproducing the five residential buildings at scale, and a Quote by Françoise Héritier. Four paths structure movement while three circular zones support sports, fitness, and café-terraces.

Designed under strict technical constraints, the square relies on robust, low-maintenance surfaces and removable furniture, ensuring safety while allowing flexible everyday use. Fixed planting was limited, but future mid-height vegetation will enhance comfort, biodiversity, and seasonal change.

Lise Meitner Square exemplifies a new form of urban reindustrialisation, where energy infrastructure and public life coexist. What would have been asphalt became a shared space—an unplanned, yet enduring gift to residents and to the whole city.

Project Gallery

Lise Meitner Square – Crossing of paths.

The design of the square highlights the geothermal energy system right in its centre. Each geothermal wellhead requires a 15-metre-radius waterproof safety zone, materialised as an orange asphalt ring.

The materials respond to the strict maintenance constraints associated with the geothermal infrastructure. (Image: during construction.)

Three circular areas are designated as flexible-use zones—for sports, fitness, café terraces, etc.—and they are each materialised with a different treatment.

The security zone around each geothermal wellhead — materialised by an orange asphalt oval — shapes the buildings in the square.

Though shaped by constraints, Lise Meitner Square is ultimately a gift to the neighbourhood: a fully open, inclusive public space.

Beatriz Ramo NL

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