Visit of the Darwin space in Bordeaux Bastide

Guided tours are organized at the heart of businesses and the economy in New Aquitaine: Darwin space in Bordeaux is one of them, in particular through Bienvenueencoulisses.com

Isabelle, guide within the Darwin space, each Saturday Photo: Valérie Doulevant

Darwin space (Bordeaux Bastide) is a site that the public can discover in detail, thanks to tours offered by Bienvenue en Coulisses. As its name suggests, visitors actually go behind the scenes of the proposed places: Darwin space for example.

Hall, central alley and halls of the Darwin space in Bordeaux Bastide Photo: Valérie Doulevant

With&Visit, Welcome Backstage parent company, exchange tool

This original creation of behind-the-scenes tours of companies or companies, is a leisure product, pedagogic, cultural, fun and accessible to as many people as possible.

“The way we look at the business world is usually tinged with negative a priori. As society faces environmental challenges, important social and economic, the company is a carrier of solutions.”

Espace Darwin, access to offices Photo: Valérie Doulevant

These company visits constitute a communication tool at the service of companies' dialogue with its stakeholders.

Not without philosophy…

Besides helping companies to communicate, this company, co-founded by Audrey Oranger and Sandrine Larrouy Castéra presents an attachment to certain values: among others, mhighlight the beautiful stories, solutions that work, new ways of producing, the made in local… and bring the company closer to the general public or even make the economy accessible to as many people as possible by making company visits a fun and educational product.

Darwin's urban garden and self-contained house Photo: Valérie Doulevant

Wish to contribute to a better understanding of the economy

“We co-construct the speeches with the host companies and ensure that it is as educational and factual as possible. We are aware that, by our visit proposals, we highlight certain sectors of activity more than others. We take care not to offer a visit whose purpose has a proven negative impact on society.” can we read on the Bienvenue en Coulisses website.

Darwin: his history, its construction, its concepts and the future demolition of the Niel barracks

The Darwin space is installed in former Bordeaux warehouses dating from the 19th century, used to store goods from trains that then went to Orléans station (replaced by the Bastide cinema).

The old station of Orléans de Bordeaux Bastide during the works in 1999 Photo: Valérie Doulevant

The old station of Orléans de Bordeaux Bastide during the works in 1999 Photo: Valérie Doulevant

This former military barracks would allow the ZAC project of the Bastide to extend over 34 hectares, but the Evolution group only acquired 2 hectares… (14 million initial investment approximately).

Map of the Niel barracks, Darwin space “limiting oneself” with the two purple rectangles on the left ZAC Bastide project plan (link below)

It includes several spaces: un skate-park indoor XXL, free expression spaces for graphers, an organic grocery store, an organic restaurant Le Magasin Général,

free expression spaces for graphers, an organic grocery store, an organic restaurant Le Magasin Général, one of the biggest coworking in France (+ of 250 companies) one of the biggest coworking in France (+ of 250 companies) as well as a field as well as an urban sports field : Bike Polo, Roller derby, Basket, urban foot, BMX, crossfit…

Isabelle shows around, recently, this Darwin space, Right bank of Bordeaux (in the Bastide district) acquired by the Evolution group (Philippe Barre, co-founder of Darwin with Jean-Marc Gancille).

Co-working offices at the Darwin space, Bordeaux Bastide Photo: Valérie Doulevant

This conscientious guide to Welcome Behind the Scenes, with a warm smile and great availability, roams the place with ease and leads his small group of curious, warehouses in furnished spaces, outside as inside: bureaux, urban garden, skate-park, ecocylo, associative shops… all surrounded by graffiti and other colored tags.