The consultation was launched by Lafayette, which manages properties for the Catholic Archdiocese. The site is currently occupied by a complex inaugurated in 1980 consisting of a hotel, a boarding school, offices and a restaurant, all located at 5 Avenue Marie-Thérèse in Luxembourg City.

Overlooking old fortifications, this will be one of the last lots of this size to be developed so close to the city centre, according to Marc Wagener, the managing director of Lafayette.

The re-design will see 30,000m2 of gross surface built on the 1.9-hectare site, with 60% going to housing and the other 40% to other purposes, including offices, a 4-star hotel, and cultural, commercial or professional workspaces. An existing protected chapel will remain.

A jury selected Christian Bauer & Associés Architectes for the project, highlighting the simplicity of the design, the attention paid to nearby city architecture and the breakdown of the project into phases involving different architectural firms.

A model shows the winning design's layout of the Centre Convict site. Photo: Esther Jansen. 

Projects submitted by Steinmetzdemeyer, Metaform and BeBuch together with associated firms came in second to fourth place.

Wagener confirmed the jury’s decision and said he would like to see the project progress quickly.  

This story was first published on Paperjam and has been translated and edited for Delano.