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.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 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.