This urbanisation project (solely devoted to housing) is set within municipal limits, right by the River Seiche which produces substantial wetlands.
A growing environmental awareness has led to a proposal to unify the various areas of ecological concern surrounding the site by maintaining a physical continuity between them:

• Enhancing and integrating existing wetlands into the project by creating new wetlands
• Creating a “semi-wild” strolling area as a transition from the existing urban park to the Seiche riverbanks
• Increasing wooded areas (carbon sinks)
• Gathering as many technical holding basins as possible and using landscaping techniques (gentle slopes, gullies, ditches)
• Restoring the Mécanique brook to open skies in order to reduce its downstream flow
• Supply water to the wetlands and to the Mécanique brook downstream by using the neighbourhood’s rainwater

Meanwhile, special attention is focused on landscaping the borders between public areas and private plots by taking advantage of the existing groves and copses which are still widespread throughout the site.

The municipality of Lannilis has acquired the main nature area enclosing the village to the south. It is a small affluent valley to the Aber Benoît River, combining several wetlands, some of which were damaged when the old village was urbanised.
The project consists in creating four vast rainwater holding basins in keeping with the catchment basin relating to current and planned urbanisation. The aim is to avoid splitting up the management of rainwater through making a small rainwater basin for every urbanisation operation.
Those technical areas are part of an approach to enhance wetland landscapes and to make them easier to get to, both for recreational strolls and day-to-day use. The explorer pathways also act as urban links towards schools and other public facilities from the various (existing and future) housing estates bordering the site.
Old hydraulic structures (a small heritage of washing-places and fountains) present on the site are being restored and enhanced as part of the operation, while more recent facilities like the water treatment plant are being redesigned so as to fit better into the landscape.
The project revives and highlights the wetlands for both environmental and educational purposes, by restoring settings that have been filled in. Planted basins are managed as wetland parks featuring different topologies that are specific to wetlands, like prairies, reed beds and lagoons.

This project is part of the Eco-Faur scheme.

The growth of the Sables-d’Or-les-Pins seaside resort was interrupted by the economic crisis in the 1930s, leaving the high street and seafront unfinished. While the area has many assets to offer, they are virtually unnoticeable from the two primary thoroughfares:

• Unusual geological features combining pink granite bedrock, an estuary, a marsh and a range of coastal dunes
• A bold urban masterplan relying on a host of structural planted spaces and quality architectural elements

The project aimed at expressing that diversity along the seafront and the high street by using a vocabulary that reinterprets the existing surrounding landscape and architecture. The entire road network was reduced to make it easier for pedestrians to cross the street, to slow down traffic and to clear vast stretches of grassy roadside verges dotted with pine trees.
The seafront was also restored to pedestrians by redistributing the parking spots within the resort, which consequently encouraged tourists to explore the area’s architectural and landscaped features. A large pedestrian plaza highlights the role of the two primary thoroughfares and puts the focus on the resort’s key attraction: the promenade along the beach, the casino, the green framed by cypresses and the monumental hexagonal arcade building.
In terms of synergy, special efforts in signage and some lighting have boosted the landscaping project, especially when it comes to the entrances to the resort. Similarly, this enhances the shopping aspect of the high street as well as the night time uses specific to seaside resorts.

Feedback (last visit in 2013)

• The planted spaces are not being properly managed, despite a detailed user manual
• Tutors have still not been removed 6 years after planting!
• Leafy plants have been compressed like shrubs.
  • Grassy parking spots are not refreshed
• The resin used for ground markings has a short lifespan
• The sculpture in the plaza was removed. The plaza is now dotted with giant multi-coloured plastic flowerpots… Unfortunately, they are not artworks by Jean-Pierre Reynaud!

• The site’s industrial past: the presence of water (which was the reason for the paper mill in the first place) led to the creation of hydraulic devices. The project brings out how the water was tamed, how far the former factory stretched, and it reveals the sculptural nature of the remnants which we have highlighted.
• The site’s geographic scope: The project exposes the relation between the site’s complex topography and the overall topography of the entire valley: docks, balconies over the water, lookouts to take in the whole view.
• The site’s ecological challenges: A listed NATURA 2000 site, it is bolstered and enhanced by the project and its forceful environmental approach:
  • All demolition waste was recycled on site, and machine parts from the former factory are being reused
  • Reclaiming work was performed on the riverbanks, trees were planted, seedbeds from the site were secured, and an experimental garden was created to observe natural fallow cycles
  • A habitat was set up for bats in the factory’s basement
  • The site’s artistic potential: We kept the existing graffiti on certain facades for it fitted well with the site’s features. In addition, the project provides various infrastructures that could host art events (tiered seating, a stage area, pedestals for sculptures) with a view to giving the site a second life.

Feedback (last visit in 2015)

• There were no prior discussions with the contracting authority about the art sculptures involved in the site’s renewal project, and so the artworks are not exactly “on par” with the rest on an aesthetic level. Pity!
• The same goes for the signage, which is really inconsistent and where the worst can be seen side by side with the best. Fortunately, “the worst” is not too visible.
• The site appears to be well managed, showing just the right amount of “slack” to ensure that the venue retains its melancholy charm.
• Every year, the site hosts cultural and art events. Also it is listed in a number of Brittany tourist guides, including Guide du Routard.
• On several occasions, I met former project workers strolling through with their family. This means that the memory of the site is alive and well, and that’s the main thing!

Elected officials wanted to give a new impetus to the resort, which had become dated, especially regarding its decrepit facilities and the lack of any hosting infrastructures. In parallel with the renewal, a hiking trail, accessible to the motor-impaired, was commissioned by the General Council (project-managed by another team from architects Lafon/Faunière).
The site was remodelled in such a way as to highlight the spectacular nature of the relief and its geology, and to enhance the specific features of the holding lake. Motor traffic was reorganised using one-way streets, while parking was moved at a distance in order to relieve the pressure by the beach, and to promote safety throughout this sector so popular with families.
The beach was extended and partly turned into a promenade complete with a small marina around a mooring pontoon and a dry dock. In addition, the renewal has provided a more lived-in and functional aspect around the restaurants. A new architectural reception facility (first-aid station, toilets, sports equipment rentals) provides the final touch.

Feedback (last visit in 2013)

• The development’s conditional lot, a vast prairie where they planned an extensive parking lot featuring substantial landscaping, was handed to… a surveyor! Of course, this new development did not trouble itself with obeying the initial intent, whether in terms of the design or the choice of materials and plants.