The new square for the Familistère in Guise transmits the history of this utopia, through its design of a unified ground space at the foot of what was created during the 19^th century as a Social Palace. A vast square made up out of four hundred thousand anthracite bricks echoes and reasserts the value of the site's cultural, administrative, and architectural unity.

This large mineral and minimalist square highlights by putting back into contrast the different buildings of the whole, while reactivating the axial dynamics used by the industrialist Godin in his original project more than a century ago. The empty space, the centerpiece of our project, allows for the successful transplantation of new uses within the very heart of this complex registered as an historical monument.

The general topography was renovated in the precisest manner to clear it of any disparate elements that would hinder the legibility of the site, while retaining the rough patches of the ground. The unified surfacing is punctuated by the presence of a few oak and ash trees. Beyond the historical building, a spacious lawn is established on the interior garden side, which opens up upon a landscape made up of the banks of the Oise river and its peninsula.