EXPÉ[Le Mans] Student challenge
Basic information
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Full project title
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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.
Project Region
EU Programme or fund
Description of the project
Summary
EXPÉ[Le Mans], a student challenge organised as part of the West Creative Industries programme, brings together students in sound design (TALM-Le Mans), heritage, acoustics and computer science (Le Mans University) around sound scenography projects. Their goal: to enhance the heritage and history of the old town of Le Mans.
Between 2018 and 2020, the EXPÉ[Le Mans] project gave rise to a partnership between TALM-Le Mans 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; in 2019-2020, to create a sound system for the gardens of Le Mans.
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 will be able to improve the system, in particular through several internships. 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.
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.
Key objectives for inclusion
EXPÉ[Le Mans] is one of the three student challenges organised as part of the West Creative Industries regional programme 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.
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.
Results in relation to category
First edition (2018-2019). The day before the presentation of the project, the students were at work in the streets to set up the mobile application and the geolocation parameters, as well as to install the different acoustic devices around the emblematic buildings of the historic city centre. The sound itinerary followed the predetermined route of nine geolocalized stations in the old town of Le Mans, and mostly required the use of headphones. Each of the stations told the historical fiction imagined by the history students, Errance et rois (Wandering and Kings). All along the itinerary, acoustic installations in the open air brought to life the atmosphere of the city in the Middle Ages.
Second edition (2019-2020). For this second edition of the challenge, the students worked on the realization of projects in two historic gardens.
- Bicentennial Square: a listening platform to the rhythm of the landscape. The students imagined three devices installed on the terrace with a view. Through a transparent plate cut out according to the landscape and thanks to an immersive listening device, the visitors project themselves into the urban environment thanks to poetic references evoking the history of the observed place.
- The terraces of the orchard: a rock-furniture producing sound according to the weather. The students imagined three metallic rocks whose aesthetics are reminiscent of street furniture, for a harmonious integration into the space. Connected to a weather station, they conceal transducers which, by vibration effect, generate sound creations that fluctuate according to climatic variations. Intending to be interactive, this mood device is controlled by a desk: the public selects one of the 4 sound settings offered, each referring to a surrounding heritage element. On February 14, a rock was tested, piloted by a console still in a prototypical state.
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 (2019-2020)
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 and Le Mans University.
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 cross-disciplinary 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.
