TEXT_The idea behind the restructuring project was to extend the notion of the inhabited park to the entire district.
Our inhabited park project combines a contemporary perception of landscape with ideas for using water and diversified planting and for positively integrating the constraints imposed by the form of the landscape.
The general philosophy behind the project seeks to produce an open, contemporary restructuring which knows how to both reveal and use the particularities and qualities of a site. The project respects the identity of the town while featuring a strong and clear approach symbolising the new urban age which is inevitable for these typical districts founded in the industrial urbanism of the 19th century.
In order to reunite these conditions as a means of transforming the image of the Belencontre site into an inhabited park which is at one and the same time a place for living and for culture and a place which is representative of a new image of the city, we focussed our work on seven specific areas:
1) The urban façade – the park as a dynamic interface between the town and the district
2) A peaceful district – the town handed back to pedestrians
3) The global park – the arboretum of Belencontre
4) The water – the reasonable use of which is important to the project
5) The form of the landscape – the positive integration of the slope
6) The use of contemporary public space – mixed use, culture, sport
7) The nocturnal ambiance
