Assemblage

The specifications for the Avenir have been drawn up in progressive consultations since 2020 with SOS Méditerranée rescue crews, medical staff from Assistance Publique - Hôpitaux de Marseille, chefs from the Grandes Tables restaurant in Marseille, pilots from the Pilotes Volontaires association and survivors from a temporary shelter centre for asylum seekers in Marseille. The program is organized around four pairs of action verbs, which define the four main axes that shape this ship’s conception:

Navigate Rescue
Shelter Live in
Share Tell
Connect Arrive

On June 26 2022 the Avenir was unveiled during a procession in Marseille, taking form as a work of art consisting in 106 pieces, which will cost a total of €27 million to complete. These pieces are inventoried as follows:

Sailing_Rescuing

A pioneering tool for rescue on the high seas

The statutes that define the ad hoc structure of ownership for the Avenir.
A catamaran-style steel building, 69-meter (226.4 ft) long and 22.5-meter (73.8 ft) wide.
A 6-meter main mast. (19,6 ft)
An embroidered European maritime flag measuring 250 cm by 150 cm.
A European maritime flag established under law.
A siren (foghorn) made of human voices.
An electrically-powered engine.
Two strong wings to take advantage of the wind.
Three hundred and seventy-one square meters of photovoltaic panels.
Two 300-kilogram cast-iron anchors.
An aircraft designed to be an airborne extension of the ship
An office for the aircraft liaison officer.
Satellite search devices for boats in peril.
A radar.
Satellite search devices for boats in peril.
Three pairs of binoculars.
A meeting room.
Thirty-six cabins for crew and rescue team.
Two messes for crew members and rescue team.
Uniforms and technical clothing for rescue team.
Graphics and lighting to indicate to shipwreck victims that l’Avenir is a friendly vessel.
Four semi-rigid rescue boats, two 10-meter, two 6.5-meter.
Two ramps with winches to facilitate access at the rear of the ship.
A planking door with a folding ladder.
A thousand life jackets.
A helicopter landing pad.
An on-board crane.

Sheltering_Living in

A medical shelter

A 123 m² reception area.
Soft, comforting lighting in the reception area.
Eight removable benches in the reception area.
Fifty-two sanitary facilities on the three decks accessible to survivors.
Thirty-eight showers on the three decks accessible to survivors.
A welcome kit containing information and items for everyday life on board, including a toothbrush, soap and water bottle.
A hygiene kit for the women.
Eleven water points installed on the bridge-square.
Fifty-six mirrors installed on the refuge deck.
Two stretchers.
A fully equipped and air-conditioned hospital.
An oxygen-generating machine.
Respirators accessible from both the bridge and the plaza.
Four medical beds.
Four observation rooms with sanitary facilities.
A large modular care and rest area.
A midwife’s office.
A telemedicine booth.
A listening and psychological care area for survivors and rescue sailors.
A protocol for transmitting first aid and treatment techniques to survivors.
A morgue with capacity for 6 bodies.
A shelter for 372 people and an 80-place extension on the upper deck or “pont-place”.
One hundred and twenty-four modules with three bunks on top of each other.
Signs and words of friendship printed on the canvas of the bunk modules.
Privacy sails for each of the shelter’s bunks.
Wool blankets.
Two hundred comforters for the children on board.
One hundred and twenty 90 cm or 40 cm diameter portholes.
One hundred and twenty printed curtains to cover the portholes.
Light, foldable, individual floor mats or mattresses.
Four hundred meters of railings.

Sharing_Telling

A Mediterranean public square

Recipes from a Mediterranean culinary creation program specifically tailored to the needs of survivors.
Kitchen furniture and equipment.
Cooking utensils.
Storage space for fresh produce.
Refrigerated storage space.
Garbage compactor.
A drinking water production system.
Five hundred unbreakable and recyclable bowls and cutlery.
Two dumbwaiters.
A food distribution area.
A sound system broadcasting music transmitted from the area by refugees.
Generous seating on the ‘pontplace’ for sharing food.
Awnings to create semi-collective spaces on the ‘pontplace’.
Overhead awnings for the ‘pontplace’.
Hand-washing facilities on the ‘pontplace’.
A collective rope for use as a handrail and for hanging laundry.
A multilingual typographic system incorporating literal Arabic, Persian, Urdu, Farsi, Bengali, Tigrinya, Somali, English and French.
Functional multilingual signage.
An information kiosk on the upper deck, with maps of the ship.
Writing and drawing boards.
A non-verbal communication kit.
A logbook for each of the survivors.
Card games.
A play area for children.
A ship-building game for children.
Books for children.
Coloring books for children.

Connecting_Arriving

A research laboratory for the development of desirable futures

Compasses mounted on the taffrail.
A cartographic representation on the floor of the ‘pontplace’.
A garden or planted area in the middle of the ‘pontplace’.
Electrical sockets to connect telephones on the refuge deck.
A multilingual document containing legal information for survivors to claim their future European citizenship.
Images of hospitality in action on shore to inform survivors of the solidarity movements underway in Europe today.
Signs of gratitude embroidered on the towels used by the rescue crew
A footbridge to dry land
Two work studios and two berths for researchers, architects and artists in charge of designing the other ships making up the European fleet to come.
A gathering of cultural institutions, museums and art centers to protect the Avenir as a work of art.
A mobilization of citizens to co-finance part of the construction of this work of art.
An action plan to raise €27 million to finance the Avenir.
A visual, audio and visual display of the ship’s ongoing activity, so that together we can ensure its free movement.
A monument to those rescued, to celebrate every human life.
A public, open-source archive of studies, plans and the creative process behind the Avenir.
A scale model preserved in a place of note.
An inauguration party for the Avenir.
An inaugural speech pronounced by a representative of the UNESCO.
A document to answer all objections to the creation of the Avenir.
An inauguration plaque that places the work under the UNESCO framework for the protection of intangible cultural heritage.
An invitation to the inauguration, which will take place one fine day in 2025.