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.

This operation involves a site on a steep slope (about fifteen metres’ difference in height) bordering a shopping area, a hospital for handicapped adults and an old village centre now absorbed into the municipality of Paimpol. The choice of landscaping highlights the topography and the views across the overall landscape by summoning up panoramic lookouts. The main pathways obey a hierarchy where the landscaping quality is specific to each line of sight. The creation of a network of shared alleyways provides privileged settings on a domestic scale.
A public park is being created, featuring several ranges of heath peat that are particularly suitable to the soil and climate, as well as a wooden children’s playground.
The Chemin de Malabry renewal alongside the project and the renewal of Rue Jacob makes it possible to initiate an urban thread with the existing village and its local shops.
By creating a square at the crossroads of Chemin de Malabry and the new East/West artery, we are enhancing attractive farmyard buildings located on the upper part. The redevelopment of the former Kerpuns sunken footpath, using hedges and shrubs, will soften the impact caused by the closing of the handicapped adults’ social centre, and it will reinstate the original ambiance of this sunken footpath through rural groves.

The site where the aquatic centre and the gymnasium are established is located at the city limits between a low-rise residential neighbourhood, a school campus and the countryside.
The creation of a car park for users of the sports facilities aims at structuring the multiple traffic streams (pedestrian zones, bike lanes, light vehicles and bus lanes), at encouraging soft mobility throughout the town in connection with the GR 39 “Grande Randonnée” long-distance footpath, and at providing comfortable waiting areas near the facilities.
The landscaping makes use of both buildings according to the various pedestrian streams in keeping with a primary North-South axis (the busiest one) and a secondary East-West axis (not so busy), by creating roomy footpaths. The car park was split into two parking sections (North and South) so as to cover both the swimming pool and the gymnasium.
The main car park to the North is lined with a tall maple collection. The fact that those trees were planted asymmetrically helps to soften the straight lines required for parking and will ultimately provide the car park with a forest atmosphere.
The overall growth of the trees clears the view over the sports hall’s architecture, thereby highlighting the building.
Lawns dotted with maple trees, oaks and shrubberies as well as park benches offer comfortable places to wait in the vicinity of the swimming pool entrance.

Feedback (last visit in 2016)

• The soil-covering plantations are having difficulties in getting a foothold.
• A few adjustments are to be expected and are covered by the “perfect finish” guarantee.
•  The site is popular with students any time the sun is shining during the lunch break.

The overall design of the estate and its 29 free batches (divided into 2 adjoining sectors) was inherited from a development scheme designed by the Côtes-d’Armor civil engineering services, where the provisional development phase has been completed, but not the definitive one on account of the Government pulling out of the project management. While there was little room for manoeuvre, there was enough to rethink the initially-suggested pedestrian/vehicle separation and to use a participative approach in choosing which plants would adorn each property. The project has created shared lanes in order to prevent any parking on the pavements, which were replaced with lengths of flowerbeds that blend the foreground into a consistent whole concealing the diverse private fences in the background. Residents were given a choice of 3 possible colours. Zones devoted to turning around and parking were shaped as small public squares treated with an earth and stone mix.

Feedback (last visit in 2016)

• Some of the perennial flowerbeds had difficulties surviving during the initial years, despite the fact that the range of varieties was rather well suited. For instance, the magnolias soulangeana have completely failed. Still, the landscaping has settled in in the end, especially the iris.
• The shared lane idea does not seem to be a problem, but the quality of the flowerbeds greatly depends on how much the residents are involved. Some have actually destroyed a few flowerbeds by doing some private landscaping and failing to restore them.

The project is intended to take root between the various mismatched residential areas along the city limits. It will rekindle urban links and provide a genuine identifiable, qualitative place to underline the municipality’s northern limits.
The area consists of two hillsides, one of which is relatively steep (about 10% natural slope). The housing is established on high ground to take advantage of the views and sunlight, while the central part in the valley is kept as a nature area including wetlands.
The public spaces are landscaped in such a way as to encourage the integration of the motor-impaired despite the steepness of the slope, providing a vocabulary that stems from the standard types of organisation and reinterpreted plantations (villages united by semi-pedestrian links, hedged banks, small walls, orchards etc.). In addition, there are many public spaces that are semi-pedestrian (small squares, shared lanes, lookouts overlooking the landscape). The operation is handled by a rainwater treatment system that is mostly open-air and collects water from both the public spaces and the constructible plots.
We have also applied an energy-savings approach to the lighting of the site, as well as taking care to reduce any risks of light pollution.
The final touch is provided by games in keeping with the site’s character, and educational signage about the trees and about rainwater management.
The landscaping works have required a prior major clean-up of the site (previously a breaker’s yard and a fertilizer factory).

Feedback (last visit in 2015)

• The ZAC has experienced difficulties, which has led the contracting authority to terminate the project management team’s contract, so as to continue the works as a public company as of 2015. Nevertheless, the fundamentals in organising the site and structuring the rainwater system were set up in time under the guidance of our project management team (basins and lookouts). Let’s hope that the municipality will succeed in meeting the challenge it has taken on in completing the project.

The new urban park in Langueux has chosen an approach based upon 5 landscaping requirements that are specific to the site:

• Stage the brook to highlight its geographic continuity towards the sea… this acts as a thread in the exploration of the sheer ecological wealth of the areas which the brook runs through from its spring all the way to the Bay of Saint-Brieuc. In this perspective, the park becomes the “tamed” part in the water’s journey.
• Make good use of the site’s lines of force and faraway vistas: the valley is highlighted by making the spaces converge towards the end of the thalweg. A vast platform underlines the park’s different levels. The site’s longest stretch is enhanced by a major alleyway halfway up the slope.
• Establish clear limits to the surrounding urbanisation by providing marked entrances towards the park: ultimately, denser urbanisation is proposed to assert the street’s urban character. The wood creates a buffer zone with the park’s interior.
• Establish a link between the park and its rural surroundings: On the northern part, farming plots, the wood at the end of the valley; along the brook, a tree-lined corridor reminiscent of an orchard, and a shady garden in the most sheltered part of the valley.
• Bring out an exotic atmosphere in the park’s most urban parts to fit with the nearby existing urban landscaping.

While designing the park, we were led to plan for the construction of the Grand Pré concert hall (Architects T. & J. Mostini) so as to make sure that the building will be suitable to its surroundings and that it will enjoy a quality setting.

http://www.legrandpre.info/le-site-le-parc/

Feedback (last visit in 2015)

• Together with the engineering department and elected officials of the municipality of Langueux, we have been very happy to conduct a yearly follow-up of the park’s progress and management. Every opportunity for a visit is an excuse for all of us to meet and it is a pleasant experience every time.
• The site’s fauna and flora is closely monitored by grassroots groups.
• The engineering department has made nice picnic tables that match the initial park furniture.
• In a smart move, a daycare centre has been built within the park, thus boosting the site’s daily use.
• There are two small concerns: the new playground (made after completion) will ultimately deserve better integration, and the signage at the park entrances is somewhat “demonstrative”.