A development project of the Right Bank territory

The Park aux Angéliques that we have been developing along Bordeaux's right bank is the product of a long process. Within the framework of the official landscape guidelines set up for the city of Bordeaux in 2002, we were led to take into consideration in our reflections the larger Garonne River Plan established by the state. In doing so, the idea of placing a park in the city center emerged. The development of the park along the right bank was gradual. From the start, the project anticipates this process through a very pragmatic approach of gradual substitution. Whenever opportunity allows, each new surface area acquired by the city is immediately planted. The actual material of the landscape is as a result made up of an accumulation of wooded areas that, as they grow, demonstrate the traces of time. The way in which the acquisitions spread out means the park will keep the trace of its successive planting phases. Phases which create the impression of a forest divided up into a grid-like pattern, with empty squares without any trees, “younger” squares with trees in the phase of early growth, and “older” squares with trees in a state of full maturity.

The Park aux Angéliques brings into reality an idea most relevant to contemporary society: how can a modern city renounce building upon tens of hectares in its very center so as to leave space for a park, for the surroundings of its river, for a large public space ? The park is formed out of groves between which clearings are created as public spaces. The rows of trees, planted at irregular intervals, but always in perpendicular alignment with the river, function like a backdrop: running alongside the walkways parallel to the river, they mimic the contours of a forest whose density, transparency, and porosity varies. In keeping with the orientation of the old industrial sites, this backdrop fluidly directs views and movement towards the river, prefiguring the future neighborhood's geographical integration. We participated in the creation of two portions of the project with meager financial resources (the Queyries segment). This economy of means brings a conceptual rigor to the design, and a readability that seems to be ever more appreciated.