The site of Chaponval, a former nursery of 28 ha, is located near the national forest of Marly le Roi and the plain of Versailles. A preliminary study on its next transformation has been entrusted to the MDP agency. The issue at stake is the conditions for the installation of a district, through the definition of its public spaces and pathways. It is a structuring landscape developed prior to the work of the urban planners who will subsequently come to specify the typologies and bring to the plan a new complexity.

Observation of the territory on a large scale shows that the rural plain bordering the forest is punctuated by estates of comparable areas. We have taken inspiration from these components, transforming them to set the foundations of a district with a singular typology mixing park and agricultural writing.

The presence of numerous existing trees on the edge of the site is reinforced by new plantations to form a thick belt, a sort of tree-lined jewel case surrounding the estate of the district. Its porosity of varies according to orientation. In this thick "forest ring" are scattered bicycle paths, footpaths, roads and parking lots.

Inside, the district is divided into two distinct parts. The eastern half, located in a natural zone that cannot be built on, is dedicated to an "agricultural park” open to the great landscape of the plain. Its sloping profile hides the heart of the neighborhood. A ridge walk shows the extent of the agricultural landscape of the plain. The western part is defined by a landscape of densely distributed hedges, forming the backbone of the future district, and providing a vast public space in its center.

The orthogonal structure of the site's former greenhouses is reinterpreted in a network of paths, alleys and collective gardens bordered by hedges. This landscape of hedges is linked to a precise dimensioning of the building plot. It gives both a landscape and a shape to the district.

This particularly dense grid does not simply correspond to an access function. Above all, it is a precise landscape with a strong and immediate legibility. Hedges are planted in the private plots, while they frame the public space. This overall landscape structure is mainly financed by the private sector, thus avoiding a multiplication of public spaces to be maintained.

A large lawn is laid out in the center of this grid, contrasting in its extent and simplicity. This is a major public space that will accompany the gradual constitution of the future neighborhood. To the south of this central park, existing ponds are integrated into the general rainwater management.

The first components of the project to be implemented will define a curious set of public spaces that will immediately benefit the city of Noisy-le-Roi: the “ring park”, the network of hedges and the central park. They will lay the foundations of a neighborhood with a familiar yet singular landscape, and whose uses immediately distinguish it from the surrounding housing estates, most of which are nowadays constituted as gated communities "à la française".