The project of Guillaume Lachana - Pierre-Bénite (69)

Urban gardens, country gardens, living gardens

We want to address the question of soil fertility. Town side, on a crust of bituminous mix, a huge structure proposes above ground gardens and demonstrates our sector’s creativity, making gardens possible in hostile environments. Does the structure evoke the poles we use to support fruit and vegetables, a trellised vineyard or an urban Robinson Crusoe’s hut?

Countryside, visitors walk “in” earth and among levitating trees. They can observe their roots and touch the earth in which they grow. On both sides of these two structures, two edge strips frame the garden: Town side, a bench has been cut into a twenty metre long tree trunk but the countryside is natural. On the other side, tree trunks have been hollowed out and laid in a line. These are “substrate tables”.

What makes your garden a garden for lovers of
(the good things in) life?

First of all, like any garden, it invites visitors to awaken all their senses and journey from an urban garden (a priori an unfavourable setting) to a garden in the countryside.

In both cases, our garden’s objective is to give visitors a feeling of proximity and wellbeing. Next, our garden is nourishing, a place for fruit and vegetables. At a time when concepts like “urban greenery” and “urban farms” are flourishing, our idea is to put them in a spotlight and bring them to life.

Lastly, our garden will play a teaching role in particular with regard to the future of soils and aids for cultivating our gardens, especially in urban surroundings: the rarefaction of arable lands obliges us to innovate and propose alternatives which respect agronomic rules for fields that we know guarantee good plant growth.