Parc de la Mare aux Moines – CHARTRES (Eure-et-Loir)
RetourCompletion year 2008
Contracting Authority Municipality of Chartres
Mission Renewing and extending an urban estate
Project Management Team Consulting engineers CSD’Azur (mandated agent), Landscape architects and designers Laure Planchais
Surface area 6 hectares
Budget €1m exc. VAT (including €500,000 exc. VAT for cleaning)
Ratio €17 exc. VAT per m²
The site used to be a quarry, which was turned successively into a rubbish tip then into a “theatre of greenery” with rugged terrain, located within the Mare aux Moines low-rise residential neighbourhood bordering on Chartres. A housing estate adjacent to the site has failed to find a buyer because the land is polluted, unstable and very noisy on account of the traffic on the orbital bypass. This neglected space, plagued by both the lack of urban connections and the old-fashioned layout was causing the site to be cut off from the outside. Given the need to contain the pollution throughout the site, the project delivered a substantial landscape renewal that completely changed the site’s image. To begin with, it involved entirely taking over the abandoned estate and working to open it up to the outside by creating a host of pathways across the site’s unusual topography, thereby shaping direct links with the neighbourhood. The former amphitheatre was partly filled in, forming a kind of “volcano” open to the sky and to the distant horizon, with a trail around its summit where strollers can enjoy the characteristic vegetation grown inside the crater (bulbs). The slopes feature a basic children’s playground made from local cyclopean rock.
Existing forested areas were cleared, leaving only certain species (wild cherry trees and pine trees). The new tree plantations provide a very singular setting since the chosen colours are not often found in nature, featuring extremely bright foliage (white bark and foliage of gold, pink or mixed hues). The plants were chosen while in their early growth period so they could better adapt to the terrain’s highly delicate conditions. On the other hand, the protections (tutors and netting) were very colourful to provide spectacular visuals right away once the project was completed.
A holding basin was created to buffer the neighbourhood’s rainwater which was causing problems, as well as the water flowing from the park. The basin made it possible to recreate a semi-wild area to show all around that the site had reclaimed its environmental quality.
Feedback (last visit in 2013)
- The limited budget did not allow for very comfortable pathways (natural gravel) for the strollers, who tend to be rather urban (pushchairs, the postman’s bike).
- The children’s games that were initially set up (small rocks with climbing handles) have been replaced since the project’s completion with a more standard playground (set on soft ground and featuring spring-mounted games).
- The very poor condition of the soil is not helping the plants to grow.
- The rainwater filtering basin is functioning perfectly, producing abundant biomass which, however, does not facilitate its upkeep.