Located in the historic centre of Alençon, the site includes 3 entities: a venerable religious institution teaching deaf-mutes, its outbuildings, and a public square, the whole linked by the bordering Sarthe River.
The facing riverbank will host a planned bus terminal, currently in the design phase and to be completed concurrently to this project (Project-managed by Sogetti).
The intent is to reinforce and encourage urban daily walking (to or from the market, the bus terminal and the shopping strips) as well as providing a setting for events and a tourist presence, especially making use of the continuity to be created along the Sarthe. This was outlined in a guide plan prior to the consultation (with architect Paul Ravaux).
The composition encompasses the predictable logic underlying these kinds of trails, highlighting the surrounding monuments and the traces that show how the Sarthe River and the city have evolved across the site (the former riverbed before it was channelled and the ancient battlements).
We completed a footbridge across the Sarthe River to spare the core of the site and to provide a powerful urban anchor. Made of irregular metal mesh, the footbridge lets through glimpses of the surrounding site, expressing a contemporary take on lace as it generates an intense interplay of light and shade. The footbridge’s metal frame is adorned with small ironwork elements.
To the north of the site there is a phenology garden with white flowers evoking the kinds of floral and leafy motifs that have inspired Alençon lace.
Lastly, the project is also deploying alphabetical sculptures representing sign language patterns (hands made of bronze set in a stand, moulded from the students and teachers at the Providence institution), also translated into braille, as an entertaining tribute the site’s educational past.

Feedback (last visit in 2016)

• Densely veined robinia boards have proven to be ineffective against slippage. This will be resolved by adding a corundum seal.
• Children are spontaneously using the slabs dotting the lawn for games that are half-way between hopscotch and leapfrog
• Children and adults have fun reproducing the letters in French sign language whenever they walk past the hand sculptures.
• The motif used for the footbridge has inspired the design of the municipality’s New Year’s Day cards 2016!

The garden of the Roquelaure Mansion had real potential and featured an interesting collection of trees amidst an architectural setting of very high quality. Yet it had suffered the effects of repeated ad hoc re-compositions lacking any long-term strategy. As a result, the initial garden, done in classical style, had gradually turned into a Haussmannian-style “landscaped” garden, quite unsuitable to the small surface area.

• The undergrowth was dark and lacked sufficient flowers. The composition and the plants were fairly similar to those used in Paris’ Haussmannian squares, like viburnam, aucuba and others.
• At the time, the garden was poorly managed, both technically and aesthetically. The Ministry wanted to open up the garden as part of European Heritage Days. To that end, we designed a temporary exhibition about the Nature Heritage/Cultural Heritage in 2014, and we enhanced the garden for the duration of the event.

A first lot of decorative borders was deployed across from the works to evoke the garden’s nature and cultural heritage: its composition, its tree collection and the featured statues.
A second lot of decorative borders, installations (birdhouses, cisterns, watering systems, chicken coops, sheep, keyhole gardens, insect hotels etc.) and educational events about sustainable development in the garden touched on a variety of issues: biodiversity, waste recycling, water and energy savings, thrifty cultural practises etc. We were grateful to Ministry employees for kindly volunteering to work as organisers during that weekend.
The garden’s re-composition should be gradual and happen in stages. The plants used for the temporary Heritage Days exhibition represented a first step. The garden was also made brighter by adding flowerbeds with light-coloured flowers and foliage.

Feedback (September 2014)

• The large lawn, the Ouessant sheep and the keyhole gardens were the stars of that September weekend!
• Regarding keyhole garden kits, we succeeded in finding an incredible Texan ecological farmer (yes, they DO exist!) who manufactures them. Please contact Mr W. Leon Smith http://keyholefarm.com/2014-september-update-exhibits-schools-deer/ Also be advised that he is currently seeking partners to develop his concept in Europe.
• The garden’s overall re-composition strategy via a management plan has come to a halt, and the available gardening skills are insufficient.

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!