Lomme is a typical 20th century town. The town’s layout was shaped by the industrial revolution and the social progress it brought, bombing during World War II and, latterly, the economic recession that has taken such a heavy toll in northern France. It is a patchwork of factories, disused railway land, terraced houses, major housing estates and public infrastructure for predominantly social use. Lomme town council decided to replace a former factory on the edge of a park, which contains a socio-educational centre built between the wars and the new multimedia library, with a small civic centre. The first stage in the development is a childcare centre. The site is steeped in history and is greatly influenced by the neighbouring brick buildings and the hundred-year-old trees in the nearby park. How to forge links between the site’s industrial past, the wooded park and these brick town houses so typical of Lille and its surroundings? How to integrate a small local facility into a site undergoing radical transformation as part of an as yet unfinished urban development plan?