The Gobert ponds, which once functioned as the retention basins supplying the water for the fountains of the Château de Versailles, have been transformed into a new public space. Respecting the hybrid nature of the site, which has since losing its technical function been covered anew by a spontaneous growth of vegetation, the intervention sought to enhance the presence of nature in the heart of the city, proceeding with a large measure of restraint. Rather than creating a communal public garden from nothing, the focus was on the transformation and recomposition of what was an already wooded area. 

Located at the end of Avenue de Sceaux, the Gobert ponds have been transformed into a new public space, serving as well as a crossing point between the St. Louis neighborhood and the Versailles Chantier train station. Historically, the ponds were part of the hydraulic system of the Versailles estate. Although referred to as étangs or ponds, they were actually basins collecting the water coming down from the Saclay plateau, intended for use by the fountains in the lower part of the palace's park. The work was considerably modified with the establishment of the nearby train station and its numerous railway tracks. At the end of the last century, it lost its hydraulic function, after which a spontaneous growth of nature took over in part the abandoned site. Before the intervention, it appeared both as an historical technical work left in a state of neglect, and as a substantial presence of nature in Versailles.

The positioning of the Gobert ponds along the Avenue de Sceaux axis presents a certain ambiguity, putting any intervention on site at risk of orienting itself towards the creation of an architecturally classical object. The aim was neither to impart a status of historic garden to the place, nor to denature the site. Rather, it was imperative to maintain the double character the site has developed, taking advantage of the rectangular reservoir as a sort of embankment to frame a sunken garden around which one can walk, while at the same time respecting the naturalistic aspect of the spontaneous vegetation. The dimensions of the site are on scale with one of the sections of the Potager du Roi of Versailles (the King's Kitchen Garden), as well as with some of the groves in the palace's park. Its topography and proportions are of instant and particular interest, with the spatial distinction of the square pond and the high walk around it.

The existing vegetation was already a marked presence in the city. The whole of the site was overrun by a small yet dense spontaneous growth of trees. We devoted ourselves to the task of sculpting this “little wood” into a publicly accessible site. In playing with the densities present, the full and empty spaces, we created groves and clearings that succeed in multiplying the number of places within the site. Technically, we replanted a number of trees in order to ensure the longevity of the groves, while the range of plants used respects the flora present in the spontaneous natural recovery of the site (cherry, hornbeam, maple, and oak trees...). Not stemming from a fascination for the abandoned, the intervention is based rather on an “architectural domestication” that succeeds in creating new public places, including the integration of a sports field in an arbor.

The main entrance to the site is an extension of Avenue de Sceaux, from which a pathway and staircase lead visitors to the promenade around the garden below. The geometry of the historical work is respected, while avoiding nonetheless plagiarizing the aisles and pathways of Le Notre and Mansart. Just like for the whole of the project, the process of establishing nature within a technical work proceeds with a large measure of restraint. Rather than creating a communal public garden from nothing, the focus was on the transformation and recomposition of an already wooded area.