EXPÉ[Le Mans] Student challenge
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Project Description
EXPÉ[Le Mans] is jointly organised by West Creative Industries (WCI) in partnership with two institutions of higher education: Le Mans University and Ecole supérieure d'art et de design TALM-Le Mans. This interdisciplinary challenge engages students in designing and prototyping innovative solutions for the region and its future needs. It resulted in the creation of a heritage sound trail promoting the historic city centre of Le Mans.
Geographical Scope
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Urban or rural issues
Physical or other transformations
EU Programme or fund
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Description of the project
Summary
EXPÉ[Le Mans], a student challenge organised as part of the West Creative Industries programme, brings together students around sound scenography projects. Their goal: to enhance the heritage and history of the old town of Le Mans !
2 institutions / 5 courses : between 2018 and summer 2020, the EXPÉ[Le Mans] project gave rise to a partnership between TALM-Le Mans (Sound Design) and the University of Le Mans (History, Civilisations and Heritage, Computer Science and Acoustics masters). This project, which mutualises the training courses of Le Mans, engages in a research experience on a heritage theme. In 2018-2019, the students worked together to create the geolocalised sound trail Errance et rois to enhance the sound of the Cité Plantagenêt. The application proposes sound sequences in the different places of a scripted course. The partnership, consolidated by this first joint experience, has made possible a second project developed in 2019-2020 which dealt with the valorization of the history of two public gardens of the old town of Le Mans.
Sound is a central topic for the city of Le Mans which concentrates acoustic activities recognized for their high level of expertise. The city dedicates a biennial to sound since 2019 (Le Mans sonore - Biennale internationale du son).
EXPÉ[Le Mans] is jointly organised by West Creative Industries (WCI) in partnership with two institutions of higher education: Le Mans University and ESAD TALM-Le Mans. It is supported by the Pays de la Loire and Le Mans City Council and Le Mans Innovation.
Key objectives for sustainability
Thanks to feedback and comments from visitors, the students were able to improve the system. The question of the short-term future and the sustainability of the various devices designed and prototyped by the students is now the subject of collective reflection. The installations could find a permanent place in the gardens. Beyond the city of Le Mans, similar projects of valorization could be created in other localities, the methodology of work (partnership, documentation, site studies, engineering and creation) being reproducible.
Key objectives for aesthetics and quality
The city of Le Mans offers a unique opportunity for heritage promotion, acoustic engineering and sound design. Local educational bodies have worked in partnership with local stakeholders to come up with an original approach that combines sciences and design. To consolidate this project, working and stand-alone prototypes have been tested under actual operational conditions, in situ and with members of the public. The two editions of the student challenge have resulted in a sound plan for the Cité Plantagenêt, Unesco candidate, the historic medieval centre of the city of Le Mans (first edition in 2018-2019) and projects in two historic gardens (second edition in 2019-2020). Beyond developing a professional project within a university framework, the students perfectly understood the main theme behind the Challenge: interdisciplinarity. Combining their specific specialities, they were able to move forward by putting together a project that was feasible and of which everyone, whether historian, engineer or designer, could feel proud.
The two prototypes imagined by the working groups result from the environment in which they are located:
- prototype 1 (Square du bicentenaire) is a listening platform. The public is in front of an object which directs its field of vision on a precise place. The object allows the stereo listening of a sound illustration of what he is observing ;
- prototype 2 (Terrasses du Verger) hangs the shape of a sound "rock-furniture". It is similar to a "weather station". The sound produced is modulated in real time by information relating to rainfall, wind speed, etc. The sound interacts with the place in a living way. The user's experience is thus constantly renewed.
Key objectives for inclusion
EXPÉ[Le Mans] is one of the three student challenges organised as part of the West Creative Industries regional program on the design and evaluation of the user experience. The student challenges create a space favourable to this reflection by mixing skills in digital sciences, creation and human and social sciences to design original experiences adapted to users. The project is closely accompanied by the expertise of the culture, tourism and heritage departments of the City of Le Mans. At the end of the prototyping phase, the devices are tested in real life. For the second edition, they were installed in the summer of 2020 in order to collect the opinions and feelings of tourists and residents. The sound installations were accessible free of charge and addressed to all from the youngest to the oldest.
Results in relation to category
EXPÉ[Le Mans] intends to participate in the revitalization of a territory. Located at the crossroads of several traffic routes, the city of Le Mans has been crossed for a long time... but it deserves to be looked at! Paying particular attention to its history, its built and landscape heritage, and at the same time highlighting its capacity for innovation through sound, can contribute to making a city that suffers from an image deficit better known and more attractive.
To be interested in a territory is above all to consider those who practice it... This is why EXPÉ[Le Mans] addresses different communities. The project brought together students from TALM-Le Mans (Sound Design) and the University of Le Mans (History, Civilisations and Heritage, Computer Science and Acoustics masters) and their teachers. The mobilization of students around issues raised by local socio-economic partners allows them to learn about the management of cross-disciplinary projects and partnership logics, while taking part in the territorial dynamics.
The students also had the opportunity to work with city agents (culture, tourism and heritage departments) and to exchange with the users of the site (walkers, tourists and residents). Thanks to EXPÉ[Le Mans], the inhabitants can renew their experience of the city. At a time when local tourism and less consumerist practices are being encouraged, EXPÉ[Le Mans] invites people to take the time to contemplate and to respect the place.
How Citizens benefit
The two editions of the challenge gave rise to public presentations allowing fruitful exchanges with the inhabitants of the city. As pointed out by Lucile Colombain, Operational Director of the West Creative Industries Research : “EXPÉ[Le Mans] is a great success because the students demonstrated the feasibility of the project and succeeded in infusing the spectators with their enthusiasm by highlighting the added value it represents for the region and its attractiveness.” Thanks to feedback and comments from visitors, the students will be able to improve the system, in particular through several internships.
First edition (2018-2019)
On 18 March 2019, in the presence of Stéphane Le Foll, Mayor of Le Mans, faculty members from the University of Le Mans, the ESAD TALM school of design and the ENSIM engineering school, along with other partners, the students who took part in the first edition of the EXPÉ[Le Mans] Challenge unveiled their sound plan for the Cité Plantagenêt, the historic medieval centre of the city of Le Mans. On 18 March, visitors followed this sound itinerary with headphones on. The acoustic shower (directional loudspeaker) and the vibrating panels (plexiglass speakers) placed along the itinerary offered them the opportunity to stop and immerse themselves in the medieval sound atmospheres of the old town.
Second edition (2019-end of summer 2020)
Permanent installation of the devices for the summer tourist season. The two fully functional prototypes, one per garden, were very successful. All the scenographic devices should be perpetuated at the end of the challenge, to complete the summer tourist visit of the old town. This initiative, supervised by teachers from the two universities/schools (TALM-Le Mans and Le Mans University), was supported by the expertise of the culture, tourism and heritage departments of the City of Le Mans and is receiving support from the Pays de la Loire Region, the City of Le Mans, TALM-Le Mans.
Physical or other transformations
Innovative character
How to design an original sound experience fully adapted to the users of a heritage site? The synergy of complementary skills in design/creation, acoustics, computer science and heritage is undoubtedly a factor of success. This is one of the key ideas of the Student Challenges promoted by West Creative Industries in Pays de la Loire: to encourage innovation in use through interdisciplinarity.
The mobilisation of students around issues raised by local socio-economic partners also allows them to learn about the management of crossdisciplinary projects and partnership logic, while taking part in the territorial dynamic. The conclusion of the challenge with a prototyping and experimentation phase confronts the participants with the constraints of realization and the concepts with real uses. It is also a way to give students a taste of the innovation issues that will certainly be at the heart of their future professional lives.
By taking part in EXPÉ[Le Mans], the city is supporting an innovative project to develop audio experiences in the Cité Plantagenêt quarter and offer an original alternative to the usual heritage trails. The goal of this joint project, involving a consortium of stakeholders, is to engage local expertise in developing prototypes and original sound trails (unique to the city) from scratch. For the challenge, local students of history, computer science, acoustics and sound design (Le Mans University, ESAD TALM-Le Mans) pooled their expertise to develop audio experiences for the Cité Plantagenêt quarter.
Learning transferred to other parties
The experimental systems developed within the framework of the EXPÉ[Le Mans] student challenge met with great enthusiasm on the part of the elected officials and partners. This project represented a significant added value for the city and its attractiveness. The method, which was that of project engineering involving academic and territorial partners, could be replicated in the future in different contexts and for various objectives.
The potential is both in :
- the methodology employed (student training, crossing of disciplines, communities of people involved, etc.) ;
- the enhancement of a plurality of urban and rural spaces (historical and industrial heritage, landscapes, works of art, etc.) ;
- the creative renewal of installations (objects and sound environments) ;
- the openness to experimentation in order to reach more people with disabilities (blind or hearing-impaired people for example).
