A park, expanded: A 1-hectare green landscape spreads throughout residential buildings in this neighborhood park

The Cartoucherie site, located in western Toulouse, is the last abandoned remains of the historic headquarters of a prewar munitions factory. The housing development project at this site offers the opportunity to create an eco-friendly, green ensemble, uniting the Garonne River waterfront, the Parc de Berry park, and the Touch River. 

Our design transforms the entire site into a large urban forest, forming a wooded space from which the buildings emerge. The urban forest merges seamlessly with the “street park,” the alleyways, and the building courtyards. Each gardened space flows from one building to the next, shaping an uninterrupted landscape. Fences blend into the vegetation.

The buildings are different shapes and sizes. Their open angles and generous spacing expand public areas while breaking up the grid design to create a more naturalistic layout. This increase in surface area enables us to cover 38% of the site in densely planted softscape.

The urban forest is split into three landscape sections.

An urban forest for the city: The large park

Thanks to a dense planting composition, the large public park recreates a slice of nature. It features a dynamic landscape and a functional ecosystem well adapted to the urban surroundings. Trees are planted in groves, forming a layout arranged in clearings.

A linear urban forest: The street park and the alleyways

These border zones, filled with seasonal plant species, create offshoots of the large public park. Nestled between the public park and the future constructions, the street park forms an eco-friendly, green ensemble, its dense vegetation connecting the public spaces with traffic flow. The tree layer features pines and Mediterranean species, the lush canopy enriched with groundcover that blankets the tree beds. 

The greenery extends into the heart of the housing development, rich tendrils stretching along the alleyways. Along the eastern end of the site, the simple and clean lines of the alleyways form a naturalistic landscape full of water-friendly species. These spaces contain gullies for collecting surface water runoff and channeling it to storage reservoirs.

A pocket forest: The landscaped building courtyards

A pocket forest is planted at the foot of the buildings, filled with undergrowth species well suited to the low light of building courtyards. These resilient environments merge with the green tapestry that unites the open spaces of the Cartoucherie with the surrounding landscape ensemble.