This project takes place in a hollow opening among a collection of very heterogenous residential buildings. The facades face composite mineral and plant surfaces: asphalt, gravel, decomposed granite, grass. Within its urban block, the project is freed from the constraints tied to a completely urban context. The organization takes as its inspiration the classical compositions of Japanese gardens. The task lies in taking advantage of the open spaces already being divided up (courtyards, rooftop terraces, balconies, passages, and the surrounding areas of buildings) in order to create singular and linked together parts of a recomposed landscape.

In the courtyards, the technical constraints are decisive. The paving slab of an underground parking lot limits the carrying capacity of the ground. The thickness of the earth, leveled in folds and small relief, has been adapted to the particular conditions the paving slab creates. In line with the poles, mounds are host to pilot plantings of maple and cherry trees. Ground cover species complement the stratum of trees. The space is also organized by a series of basins.

Miniature gardens, “Tsuboniwa”, ensure visual transition from the interior to the exterior. Horizontal and vertical, in the floors above they take on the form of vegetal terraces covered with a carpet of seasonal evergreen varieties, planted with small ornamental trees. The abundant vegetation overflows into the street. The boundary between public and private space is incorporated into the vegetal density.