Reinventing the town of Brest

This exhibition presents the work carried out by students as part of a university exchange
programme between the Institute of Geoarchitecture from the University of Western Brittany in Brest, the Faculty of Architecture from the Technical University of Dresden and the Faculty of Architecture from the University of Technology in Brno. The thinking undertaken helped to initiate the transdisciplinary project Res Urbanae on the theme of cities under reconstruction.

The exhibition opened in January 2023 in the Maison des Projets in Brest.

Students from the three universities visited Brest and Dresden in order to measure the architectural and urban planning challenges facing these cities. The poster boards and 3D models on display provide a comparative history of Brest and Dresden over time, highlighting similarities in their histories and their architectural and urban development. They also illustrate possible redevelopment projects for the former Pontaniou prison, situated in the Recouvrance district of Brest, in resonance with the Carré des Arts (the building which houses Brest’s Art school). The reconfiguration of the courtyards in the rebuilt city centre raises questions about the possibilities for urban renewal in the heart of Brest’s conurbation.


This work, which is exploratory in nature, responds to the initiatives put into place by the
municipality of Brest and its urban agglomeration. These studies reveal the extent of Brest’s
development potential in its ongoing reconstruction process.

Exhibition at the Maison des Projets. You can see posters and models of Brest.
Exhibition at the Maison des Projets
Exhibition at the Maison des Projets
Posters of the students of the VUT in Brno about the former Pontainou prison
Posters of the students of the VUT in Brno about the former Pontaniou prison


Model of Brest 2022