The research guiding this project focused on finding the most thoughtful responses to the relationships between the buildings, their occupants, and the surrounding neighborhood.
The sense of a single, cohesive garden — a fragment of the city in itself — creates a dialogue between the residential buildings and gently echoes the charm of the surrounding gritstone houses and apartment blocks.
The design approach sought to give the impression of buildings set within a garden, like a string of small islands connected by “sandbanks” shaped by the tides and gradually colonized by vegetation.
These “sandbanks,” defined through a sophisticated pattern of mineral paving, vary in density to allow vegetation to emerge. In this way, pathways naturally reveal themselves through the mineral textures, while the interplay between paved surfaces and planted areas helps to create more intimate spaces and soften the boundaries between built forms and landscape.
Project Data
Landscape architecture: Espace Libre
Team: Viguier – Architecture Urbanisme Paysage, Mpa Architectes, Espace Libre
Year completed: 2023
Budget: 1.200.000 euros exc. taxes
Photo credits: ©JulienFalsimagne
