Some people get their name on a street sign –
though generally when it’s too late for them
to see it. Ora ïto, the puckish 41-year-old
French designer with a talent for controversy,
is about to have his name on a streetcar
snaking across Nice. The tram is sleek and
futuristic, and gleams like a candy apple.
Born Ito Morabito, Ora ïto spent his
childhood in Nice. ‘That’s what makes the
project even more incredible,’ says the
designer, who keeps a miniature model of the
tram on a shelf in his Parisian loft. ‘To have
an entire line in the city where you grew up is
very special.’ His logo will appear next to the
manufacturer’s, Alstom, on both sides of each
vehicle, a fact that pleases him immensely.
This was Ora ïto’s first experience
designing public transport. His collaboration
with Alstom, a global leader in light rail
vehicles, started when the French company
asked him to design a concept for a tram of
the future. In late 2014, the company invited
him to join its bid for Nice’s new tram, and
together they won the contract.
Ora ïto admits that he had always had
problems with tramways because of the visual
pollution of overhead cables. Nice’s mayor,
Christian Estrosi, felt the same – an absence
of wires was part of the brief. ‘It was essential
that this new tramway line blend perfectly
into the urban landscape while preserving
our city’s architecture,’ the mayor says.
The winning model, Alstom’s latest
generation Citadis X05, is wire-free, using a
revolutionary static charging solution hidden
between the tracks. Each time the tram stops
at a station, it automatically plugs into an
energy source in the ground and recharges
the batteries in under 20 seconds. (After
launching in Nice this summer, it will hit the
streets of Sydney next year.) Each tram is 44m
long, carries up to 300 passengers and travels
25km/h (accelerating to 70km/h in a tunnel
section). The new East-West line, or Line 2,
will link the airport to the port in 26 minutes.
(Another extension, Line 3, will start service
in 2019.) For passenger comfort, there areTRACK STAR
Ora ïto brings a new charge to public transport in Nice
WRITER: AMY SERAFINABOVE, ORA ÏTO’S FIRST SKETCHES OF THE NEW TRAM.
OPPOSITE, THE DESIGNER IN FRONT OF THE FINISHED
VEHICLE AT ALSTOM’S LA ROCHELLE FACTORYdouble doors along the entire vehicle, a
wide central aisle and panoramic windows.
Once Nice selected Alstom’s project,
the city asked its inhabitants to vote on
three different design propositions. Ora ïto’s
original favourite was a blue one inspired
by the artist Yves Klein, who was born
in the Mediterranean city. But a different
choice, a red ochre colour reflecting the city’s
architecture, won the popular vote – though
not for the reasons the designer anticipated.
‘Since I’m not a football fan, I’d completely
forgotten that the colours of OGC Nice are
red and black,’ he says. ‘The Klein blue would
never have passed; it’s the colour of Marseille.’
He developed the terracotta colour by
photographing the Italianate façades of
Place Masséna and mixing the different reds
together. Another landmark, Place Garibaldi,
provided the yellow shade that will be usedfor the trams on Line 3. Both models have a
contrasting black strip around the windows.
A tram comes with countless design
constraints, but Xavier Allard, Alstom’s
design director, was impressed by what
Ora ïto managed to achieve despite the cost,
technology and security considerations:
‘He was able to create a particular interior
atmosphere and exterior character. His
graphic work gives the impression of different
proportions, of new dimensions.’ For the
interior, Ora ïto had dreamed of ways to play
upon the Mediterranean context, such as
wicker seats, but the costs were prohibitive.
These limitations led to other ideas, such as
putting a handrail between the seat backs at
chest level. ‘It seems obvious,’ he says, ‘but no
other tramway has this function.’ His branch-
like design for the horizontal handrails recalls
his ‘Arborescence’ candelabra for Christofle.
Knowing that Ora ïto was designing Nice’s
new trams, the French company JCDecaux,
a leader in street furniture, asked him to
collaborate on its bid to build the Line 2
stations, which it won last December. The
resulting stations have simple lines in a
bronze-painted metal finish neutral enough
to coexist with the red and yellow trams.
Trams have become increasingly popular
of late as an efficient, environmentally
friendly way of getting people around a city
while spurring urban renewal. Line 2 has
brought 30,000 sq m of redeveloped public
space to Nice. ‘This is about building a
more efficient transport network, where
all modes are interconnected,’ says Estrosi,
who hopes that Nice will serve as a role
model for others. In one way it already is:
New York and Vancouver are both planning
tramway projects. And though neither has
yet selected a manufacturer, Alstom has
provided New York with a true-to-size model
of the Ora ïto-designed tram to use in its
promotional material. Perhaps one day the
French designer will get to see his name
gliding around the streets of Brooklyn, too. ∂
ora-ito.com; tramway.nice.fr Photography: Stéphane Aboudaram122 ∑