An outstanding religious architectural heritage
Among the main centers of interest, there are many places of worship in the area. For example, the Saint-Maclou cathedral of Pontoise: located on a hill, it dominates the city. In addition to its beauty, its originality lies in the multiple architectural contributions and additions that contributed to its construction. It is estimated that the first works go back to the beginning of the 12th century, to a period called first Gothic or primitive Gothic: the chevet of the cathedral testifies to this. From the end of the 15th century, the central portal was built in the flamboyant Gothic style. Then followed, in the 16th century, the collateral galleries, in Renaissance style, as well as six small chapels illuminated with stained glass. The whole is logically classified as a historical monument. Beyond this symbol, the territory has a multitude of churches, of varying sizes, which are all testimonies to important architectural works over the centuries: the church of Notre-Dame-de-la-Nativité and its Romanesque bell tower with stone spires, in Jouy-le-Moutier; the church of Notre-Dame-de-l'Assomption, in Gothic style, in Vauréal; the massive church of Saint-Martin de Courdimanche, built on a hillock allowing it to dominate the nearby Oise valley. Also noteworthy are Notre-Dame-de-Pontoise, the church of Saint-Christophe in old Cergy (12th century, modified in the 13th and 16th centuries) and the church dedicated to Saint Ouen, located in Saint-Ouen-l'Aumône, whose portal dates from the 12th century. Finally, the church of Sainte-Claire in Vauréal, built in the mid-1990s to the plans of Jean Cosse, has pure and simple forms, and its roof is pierced with openings that light up the interior. Even more recent is the Bienheureux Frédéric Ozanam church in Cergy.
Sublime careers
In Pontoise, the medieval habitat is made of stones coming directly from the ground: the city is built on a limestone plateau, allowing at the time its inhabitants to extract the material necessary for the construction of houses, many of which still remain today. The quarry was used until the 17th century. Today, the excavation pockets are estimated to number 900. From the end of the 18th century until the beginning of the 19th century, they were consolidated to reinforce the foundations of the main buildings, including the churches. Some of them were even treated in a special way: vaults with ribbed crossings, decorated capitals or splendid access staircases constitute an original architectural heritage of great beauty, which can in part be visited today. More generally, it is estimated that a large number of the houses in the heart of Pontoise have their own cellar from this period.
Contemporary architecture: Cergy Préfecture
It is undoubtedly one of the greatest French architectural adventures of the 20th century: designing and building the new city of Cergy-Pontoise - the construction of which is still going on today - is a work that lacks neither innovation nor inventiveness. In 1970, the first architectural gesture inaugurated was strong: the prefecture, which houses the administrative services, is an immense inverted pyramid. The architect of the Maison de la Radio in Paris, Henri Bernard, designed the building, inspired by the City Hall in Boston, USA. From then on, the heart of the new city was developed from the prefecture: a high-rise building initially intended for tertiary activities, called the "GDF tower" (the company occupying its 14 floors) (the company occupying its 14 levels), representing 85 meters, is built in 1974 on the plans of the architect Renzo Moro. Today, it is to be totally reconverted to accommodate student housing.
Architecture and habitat
Cergy has also been the object of countless architectural innovations in terms of housing, whether in apartment buildings or individual houses. In the 1970s, the Orée du Bois neighborhood was one of the first in France to give pride of place to pedestrian walkways. Similarly, the small houses in the Ponceau neighborhood, a little further west, constitute a neighborhood in which the car is not a priority. Thus, from the very first constructions, the architecture and the layout of the area is avant-garde: to keep the car away from the residential areas? An idea that is still very much in vogue today!
In Cergy, the choice was still made to adjoin different residential areas with heterogeneous architecture: there are many individual houses, like those in Bellevues, whose developers, originally from the north of France, paid tribute to their region of origin by building them in brick. A few years earlier, the "Maison de ville" competition had been launched to design some twenty homes: the individual homes "La Hayette", which are still very much in use today, were designed by some fifteen Parisian architects, in full consultation with the residents, who wanted to allow nature to be very present: a success.
Collective housing also benefits from numerous architectural innovations, and this for decades. Thus, near the Linandes park, the buildings called "Justice Mauve" are curved, offer large balconies and are reminiscent of certain 1970s seaside standards. Finally, the Touleuses district should be noted: relatively low buildings (4 floors), large balconies, dark wood facades and many trees around, giving the whole a surprising Nordic look. Finally, among the most emblematic achievements in this field, the housing of the Place des colonnes, designed by Ricardo Bofil. The latter, who signed the impressive spaces of Abraxas and Picasso's arena in Noisy-le-Grand, realized here a monumental set distributed in a perfect semicircle around the Belvedere tower, starting point of the Major Axis.
Strong gestures
Here, more than anywhere else, the construction of the new city was accompanied by a strong desire to add architectural gestures that are now a reference. The world-famous Axe majeur, designed and built by Dani Karavan, has become the architectural signature of the agglomeration. Designed in the early 1980s, it takes advantage of the slope that plunges from the heights of the Saint-Christophe district towards the Oise River to create a monumental promenade punctuated by unique works: the Belvedere tower, the twelve columns, the amphitheater, the pyramid, the footbridge, the astronomical island and the Ham crossroads are the main stations. Today, the inhabitants have made the work their own, walking around it, doing sports, taking photographs or meeting friends. The majesty of the place has even inspired fashion designers: a fashion show was organized there, and films and music videos are regularly shot there. A few hundred meters from the starting point of the Axe, the Saint-Christophe district has a unique architectural feature, placed so as to be seen from afar: the big clock. Designed in 1985 by the architects Martine and Philippe Deslandes (who also built the blue tower of Cerclades in Cergy), with the support of the watchmaker Huchez, it takes the form of a huge cylinder crossing the RER station on both sides. Its dial, 10 meters wide, is the largest in Europe.
Recent achievements
A return to the "village" aspect can also be noted in certain more recent projects. For example, the Port-Cergy marina, built in the early 1990s by architects François and Bernard Spoerry (who had already designed Port Grimaud, in the Var), has a traditional, regionalist look. Slate roofs, balconies, dormer windows: if the spirit of the buildings remains the same, they have played with their dimensions, like a village that has been built over the centuries. Today, people come to visit Port-Cergy, but also to have fun, as the place is so animated. Further west, in Vauréal, the heart of the city, built in the second half of the 2000s, benefited from the same desire. After consultation with the residents, the intention was to give this area an architectural identity that some call "village-like", with large squares and houses with sloping roofs, dormer windows, balconies and dormer dogs, which open onto squares and terraces. Here too, the gamble was successful, giving the city a strong identity and a coherent point where the different neighborhoods meet.
Among the notable achievements since the 1990s, schools and educational facilities are numerous. In the middle of this decade, the Neuville site of the University of Cergy-Pontoise, designed by architects Bruno Gaudin and Michel Kagan, plays on the openings, allowing natural light to penetrate the white concrete of the building. At the same time, the Paul-Emile Victor high school in Osny opened: it was built to the plans of Gilles Lehoux and Pierre Philly. Its straight lines, its vast bay windows and the square on which it seems to stand give the building a refined appearance that is still very much in evidence today. Another recent public building: the courthouse in Pontoise, designed by architect Henri Ciriani and inaugurated in 2005, also offers clean lines and large openings to let in light, in a desire for transparency. The building harmoniously fits in with the slight slope of the land, proving that the urban area continues to be daring in terms of architecture.
