Sequoia giganteum "Pendulum», tvian-Ies-Bains

I Contents I Sommaire

Introduction Francine Fort "Keep your distances!"

« Respectez vos distances!» Marc Claramunt

The Manner of Yves Brunier

La rnaniere d'Yves Brunier Isabelle Auricoste

A personnal impression

Une impression personnelie Petra Blaisse

Attitude Yves Brunier

Attitude Yves Brunier Hubert Tonka

A conversation with Jean Nouvel

Entretien avec Jean Nouvel Odile Fillion

A conversation with Rem Koolhaas

Entretien avec Rem Koolhaas Odile Fillion

8 11

15

19

27

85

89

Projects Projets

2000 hectares at IMelun-Senartl "But what did I do with them?" 2000 hectares a Melun-Senart «Mais qu'en ai-je fai!?»

Gardens of the 1 Saint-James 1 hotel and restaurant at Bouliac Jardins de l'hotel-restaurant Saint-James a Bouliac

1 Autoroutes du Sud 1 dela France toll plaza at Vienne

Autoroutes du Sud de la France gore de peaqe a Vienne

Gardens of the La Vendee departement building in 1 La Roche-sur-Yon 1

Pare de l'hotel du departernent de la Vendee a La Roche-sur-Yon

Public gardens in the] Zae Evangilel in Paris

Jardin public dans la Zac Evangile a Paris

Ir.-W:-:"a-t-e--;rl-oo'l site development

Arnenaqernent du site de Waterloo 'I M-u-se-u-m-p-a--:rk-'I in Rotterdam

Museumpark a Rotterdam

Garden at the Ivilla Dall'Aval in Saint-Cloud

Jardin de la villa Dall'Ava a Saint-Cloud

Nursery school garden in 1 Evian-Ies-Bains 1

Jardin de I'ecole maternelle a Evian-Ies-Bains

IChateau Canon la Gaffelierel in Saint-Emilion

Chateau Canon la Gaffeliere a Saint-Emilion

Place du GeneraHecierc in ITours 1

Place du General-Leclerc a Tours

1 Euralillel urban park in lille

Pare urbain Euralille a Lille

Gardens for the 1 European Patents Office 1 in the Hague

Jardins pour Ie Centre european des brevets a la Haye

Development of the IBerges de la Vilaine 1 in Rennes Arnenaqernent des berges de la Vilaine a Rennes

Three private gardens in IBrasschaat 1

Trois jardins particuliers a Brasschaat

Development of the banks of the river Adour in 1 Dax 1 Amenagement des rives de l'Adour a Dax

Garden of the 1 hotel des Thermes 1

Jardin de l'hotel des Thermes

32 98
34 100
38 102
40 103
42 104
44 105
46 106
52 108
56 110
58 111
60 112
64 114
70 116
76 118
78 119
80 120
82 122 Biography Biographie

125

Thanks

127

Remerciements

18

25

I Melun-Senart I

32

Structure of the site, exagerated by a linear urban plan, which at once projects an urba n density and preserves the existing fa rming and landscape features"

Urban plan:

superposition of a neutral fabric, multi-directional public facilities along the main highway, and historic features oriented NorthSouth.

3 Historic features: the groves, redrawn as squares.

4 Hustle and bustle, urban contrasts, connections, nerve-ends: the shift from town to country.

Structure du site, exageree par un schema urbain lineaire qui a la Iois projette une censtte urbaine et preserve les quahtes agricoles et paysaqeres existan tes

Schema urbain:

superposition d'un tissu neutre, d'~lements publics muttidirectonnels Ie long de l'artere principale, et d'elernents historiques orientes nord-sud. Elements historiques : les bosquets, redetinis en squares.

Animation, confrontations urbainss. liaisons, terminaisons nerveuses : passage de la ville a la campagne.

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33

Saint-James

34

The forecourt! la (our d'entrse

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La Roche-sur-Yon

Abelia grandiflora Acer pa/matum Albizzia Julibrisin Azalee japonaise Azalee mollis Calycanthus praecox Camellia japonico Ceanothe

Cercis siliquastris Cognassier du Japon Cierodendron triehotomum Comus alba sibiriea

Comus florida

Daphne

Erica

Fuchsia

Hebe

Hibiscus syriacus Houx

Hydrangea maerophylla Hydrangea arborescens grandiflora Kalmia latifolia

Jasmin de Virginie

Lagerstromia

Magnolia grandiflora

Magnolia stellata

Mahonia aquifolium

Pivoine en arbre

Pieris japoniea

Skimmia

40

View from the street towards the park View inside the park, looking towards the boulevard

Plan of the gardens (competition)

Vue de la rue vers l'interieur du pare

Vue de I'interieur vers Ie boulevard

Plan du jardin (eoncours)

41

Zac Evangile Perspective Perspective
2 Layout Plan
The parts of the gardens: Les cornposants du jardin :
3 The ground area Le sol
4 The enclosu re La cloture
5 The different levels Les niveaux
6 The main axis L'axe
7 The natural elements Les elements naturels
8 Uses of the gardens L'usage r------------------- ---- ---,

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I Waterloo I

44

Emerging from a well-tiled plain. monuments commemorate differents episodes of the battie like so many miniature baroque gardens;

Memonal to the belgians who died on 18 June 1815 Wellington tree

Demulder monument

~mergence dans la plaine cultivee des monuments cornrnemorant des episodes de la oataille cornme a utant de petits jardins baroques :

Monument aux Belges morts Ie 18 juin 181 5 Arbre de Wellington

Monument Demulder

D

Landscaping structures with the d ilferent tree species used

Structures psysaqeres avec les differentss essences utilisees

Spirea Japonica "srowmooro" Spirea venbcone.

Vibumum plica tum "mariesii" Hydrangea macrophylla "veitchii" Vib(lm(lm tinus "verieqetom" Hamamelis japonka

HamameliS mollis

Hamamelis virginiana

Com (IS mas

Chimonantus praecox

Mahonia x wagneri "unoueto" Mahonia aquifolium

/lex aquifolium "beccdteve:

Amelanchier lamarckii E(lonymus fortunei "coloretus" Rosa virginiana

Berberis thunbergii

Rosa rugosa

Rosa nilida

Spirea x bumalda "anthony waterer" lIex crenala

lIex «eoete "convexe" Hypericum "hkkote"

Poten!illa ttuticose "tenqerine" Potentilla ttuticose var. rigida Rubus odoratus

Comus florida

Comus alba "sibirica variegata" Comus stolonifera "keysey's dwarf" Salix alba "vitetliae"

Prunus lusitanica

Cotoneaster horisontalis

Magnolia liliiflora

Viburnum opulus

Poncirus trifoliata

Buddleja globosa

Skimmia japonica "thumb"

Erica herbacea "springwood white" C ytisus x kewensis

Salix tenete

Lonicera nitid« "beqqeset: '5 gold" Salix viminalis

Azalea mollis "tis: M. ocstroek"

Acer palmatus "atropurpureum" Rhododendron "catawbiense boursov':" Carpinus betulu: "purpurea"

Vinca minor

Ajuga replans "atropurpurea" Asarum euiopeeum

Viola labradoriea

Hedera helix "glacier"

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47

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48

The white orchard on white sand and the reflecting wall f Le verger blanc sur sable blanc et Ie mur miroir.

- ---- - ------ - -~---- - ---- -- - ----

The asphalt podium for temporary exhibitions / Le podium d'asphalte des expostions temporaires.

49

3

Drawings: Dessins:
The white orchard on white Le verger blanc sur sable
sand a nd the refl ecting wall blanc et Ie mur miroi r.
2 The dogwood trees on the les cornouillers sur I'lle et les
island and the grou nd (over (ouvre-sol au printemps
in spring
3 The amphitheatre of L' amphitheatre de verd u re et
greenery and the les Ileurs de sous-bois
underwood flowers
4 The bridge through the le pont a travers les Ileurs et
flowers and the stone and Ie chemin de pierres et de
glass path Verr€ 5
50 Museumpark, July 1994 Museumpark, juillet 94 51

Villa Dall' Ava

Early drafts I Premiers dessins

53

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Flower divider I Moss I Qu i nee arrangement! Field flowers and bamboos I Water fruit

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Evian-Ies-Ba i ns

56

1 The gardens

2 Playground 1 : the chessboard 3 Playground 2 : the flying saucer

Les jardins

C our 1 : I' echiquier cour 2 : la soucou pe

57

I Chateau Canon la Gaffeliere I

58

59

IToursl

5

62

6

Magnolia grandiflora, glass pavingstones

2 Psroti« "Persice", Medlar

3 Petals 01 Fevilles de Ginglas cherry trees ifs

4 Magnolia grandiflora, primroses 5 Clumps 01 Lagersrroemia

Magnolia grandiflora, paves de verre

Parrotia «eersce», NEdlier Petales de cerisiers Fevi lies de Ginglas its

Magnolia grandiflora, primeveres Cepees de Lagerslroemia

6 The square in July 1994

La place, juillet 1994

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Ambiances: Ambiances
pages 64-65: pages 64-65 .-
The main avenue and horticultural Promenade majeure et jardins
gardens horticoles
The grassy area: the green beach La prairie' plage verte pour
for grassy picnics dejeuner sur I'herbe
pages 66-67: pages 66-67 :
3 The orne mental Wood: different Le bois ornemental : variations
skylines beneath the trees d'horizons sous les arbres
4 Rue des Affaires, looking towards Rue des Affaires vers Ie pare
the park
page 69: page 69."
11 The park and Roubaix gate Le pa rc et la porte de Roubaix
page 68: page 68:
Paulownia area Zone Paulownia
6 Paved area Zone dalle
7 Swimming-pool area Zone pisdne
8 Brick area Zone briques
9 Cemetery area Zone cirretiere
to Asphalt area Zone asphalte 69 I European Patents Office I

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Models:

1 competition, 1989 2 1992

Maquettes: concours, 1989 1992

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Preliminary design Etudes prelirninairss
page 72: page 72:
Sports garden Jardin des sports
Micro climate garden Jardin des micro-climats
page 73: page 73:
Sunrise islands iles du leva nt
4 Moor garden Jardin de landes
page 74: page 74:
5 Motion garden Jardin en mouvement
6 Sunset islands iles du couchant
3 page 75: page 75:
7 Mosa·ie garden Jardin rnosaique 73 5

74

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Berges de La Vilaine

76

Plume, and bloom,

Willow embankment

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The giant sequoias

The green areas

2

I Brasschaat I

78

6

Maison N.

Fruitiers Chenes Hetr!?s Pins Sapins Malus Betula

Taxus barrora Rhododendrons Hydrangeas Pyracantha Fagus sylvatica Ilex aquifolium Erica

Tiarella cordifolia

Comus canadensis Pachysandra terminalis Hedera helix "glacier" Polypodium vulgare Polysticnum setiferum Epimedium grandiflorum Endymion non seriotu:

Hedera helix Lonicera japonica "halliana" Clematis montana

Maison B.

Malson S.N.

Frumers

Alnus imperialis

Prunus subhirlella "Autumnalis ., Chamaecyparis lawsoniana "erects viridis" Taxus baccala "Fastigiata" Thuja occidentalis "pyramidalis coneocta" Salix marsudana "tortucss"

Barula verrucosa

Fagus sytveuc«

Cupessus leylandi bouleaux

Roses tremisres Ifs

Lierre argente Comus canadensis Lavande

Cotoneaster horizontalis Amelanchier

Lonicera pi/eata

Fruitlers

Ilex aquifo/ium (tallie) Carpinus betu/us (taille) Mahonia japonica Hydrangea paniwlara fioribunda Rhododendrons

Taxus baccata

Spirea japonica "littte princess"

Viburnum davidii Spirea thumbergii Spirea voohoutte! Rosters moyesii Hydrangea pall/wiata Euonymus japonicus Viburnum opu/us Hydrangea serru/ara ··Grayswood"

Fagus sylvarlea (raille) Euonymus europeus Pommier

Poirier

Ribes sanguineum Crateagus

Ame/anclliar canadensis Cory/us avellana Vaccinium

Viburnum opulus Populus "Alba"

Azalee

Pin sylvestre

8

Garden house N Jardin de la maison N.
2 Garden house 8. jardin de ta mason 8.
3 Entrance t'entree
4 Pond Le bassin
5 The clearing La dairiere
6 Garden house S.N. Jardin de 1a rnaison S.N.
Dune (moor) Dune (landesJ
The garden seen from the Le Jardin depurs la dune ct Ie
dune and the root toit
8 Orchard planted in rows Verger en lignes
Central garden Jardin central 79 3

Place Thiers Place Thiers 4,5 Les Baignots Les Baignots
Trees bedecked with red Voiles rouges tauromachiques Bench arrangements: white Intervention sur banes: tole de
bullfighters'capes suspend us aux arbres benches with oxidised steel + rouille + edairaqe sous banes
Woods at the Borda thermal baths Bois thermes de Borda (e\e) underlighting btancs
(summer) Chemins passe relies ~ travers les Day-time f Night-time Jour f Nuit
Walkways through ferns and fouqeres & Ie bois - Pleridium - 6 Rou ndabout & water tower at Rond-point & chateau d'eau route
woodland - Pteridinum - Aquilinum Castets road de Castets
Aquifinum 7 Periwinkle Pervenche
3 French Garden Jardin Fran,ais 8 La Potiniere garden Ia rdln de la Polin lere
Tiarella : evergreen plane-tree Tiarella : feuilles de platane 9 Promenad of the ra mparts Promenade des rernparts
leaves + white flowers - Star persistantes + Ileurs blanches - Red lines on asphalt Lignes rouges sur asphalte
shaped concrete pathway - Airport Chemin de beton en etoile - 10 tes Saignots Les Baignots
beacon lighting Eclairage de balise d'aeroport COURS MARECHAL FOCH

--_ ..... --------

I Odile Fillion I Journalist. film-maker Journaliste, reatisatrice

IEntretien avec Jean Nouvel

A conversation with Jean Nouvel

Comment est arrive Yves Brunier dans votre agence?

Jean Nouvel: Hubert Tonka me l'avait recornrnande. II m'a surernent montra un dossier a l'epoque. mais je n'en ai aucun souvenir. Je savais qu'il avait ete eieve d'Isabelle Auricoste

et qu'il avait travaille avec Rem Koolhaas. II devait avoir un statut lnterrnediaire a I'agence, il etait a la fois salarie, mais il etalt aussi consultant, car il avait une specialite. C'etait un paysagiste, avec qui je discutais d'approches conceptuelles.

Comment evcqueriez-vous sa personnalite ?

J.N. : II avait une grande exigence, une grande determination. Tres doux, tres calme, il n'elevait jamais la voix; il ecoutait beaucoup, il etait tres synthetique et il apportait souvent des solutions qui avaient une sorte d'evidence. Ses propositions coulaient de source. En merne temps, il savait ne pas inflechir un projet si celui-ci etait mis en danger; j'ai ete frappe par exemple par sa determination, face au maire de Tours, Jean Royer. Ce dernier avait une certaine idee des essences d'arbres, qui, pensait-il, convenaient a sa ville; iI y a eu alors des discussions epiques, et il eta it capable de tenir tete!

Comment Ie situer en tant que paysagiste?

J.N. : Dans I'agence, Yves a travaille essentiellement sur quatre projets, I'extension de Cartier a Jouy-en-Josas, Ie palais des conqres de Tours, l'hotel de Jean-Marie Amat, et l'hotel des Thermes a Dax. Sur chaque projet, les dessins qu'il faisait etaient a chaque fois I'aboutissement paysager de certains principes architecturaux pi us generaux. Chez Amat, par exemple, je voulais que tout soit rouille. Ce qu'a propose

Yves, c'est cette entree avec les graviers rouges, les citrouilles et les capucines, en fait une unite orange entre Ie naturel et Ie mineral, assez sophistlquee. et la plantation tres radicale de la vigne.

How did Yves 8runier find his way to your aqency?

Jean Nouvel: Hubert Tonka recommended him to me. He must have shown me a dossier on him at the time, but I don't remember any such thing. I knew he'd been a student of Isabelle Auricoste, and I knew he'd worked with Rem Koolhaas. He must have had an in-between status at the agency as he was on the payroll, and he was also a consultant - because he did have a speciality. He was a landscape architect, and I could discuss conceptual approaches with him.

How would you describe his personality?

J.N.: He was very demanding and very determined. And he was also very gentle and quiet. He never raised his voice. He was a very good listener. He had a global, well-balanced approach, and he often came up with solutions which had a kind of obviousness about them. His propositions were straightfonward and spontaneous. At the same time, he knew better than to reorient a project if it was in trouble. I was struck, for example, by his determination when he dealt with Jean Royer, mayor of Tours. The mayor had a certain idea about the species of trees which,

so he thought, would suit his city. This gave rise to some epic arguments, and Yves managed to stand his ground!

How would you place him as a landscape architect?

J.N.: In the agency, Yves worked mainly on four projects: the Cartier extension at Jouy en Josas, the Conference Centre in Tours, Jean Marie Amat's hotel, and the Hotel des Thermes in Dax. The drawings he produced for each project were in every instance the culmination, in landscaping terms, of certain broader architectural principles. For the Amat hotel, for example, I wanted there to be a rusty feeling and look to everything.

What Yves came up with was the entrance with its red gravel, pumpkins and nasturtiums - in effect a rather sophisticated orange harmony somewhere between the natural and the mineral- and the extremely radical way of planting the vineyard.

Institute of Tourism: wooded area in front of the building Iinstitut du Tourisme . boisernent en front de bat.ment, Champs-sur-Marne, 1989

Avez-vous, comme Rem Koolhaas, ressenti chez Yves Brunier ce rapport un peu brutal qu'il entretenait avec la nature 7

J .N. : J'ai decouvert a un moment qu'i I se considerait architecte, avant de se considerer paysagiste; a Tours, notamment, je lui avais demande d'inteqrer dans la place les verrieres qui permettent d'introduire la lumiere naturelle dans Ie parking, de retravailler la largeur des escaliers; je lui avais suggere de mettre de I'eau sur les verrieres: il a saute sur I'occasion, et il s'est passionne pour Ie travail du « gla~on ». cette sorte de protuberance vitree. dans l'axs du batlment, qu'il a arrose avec des jets; ce qui, vu d'en dessous, produit I'impression d'etre dans une machine a laver. II a gere ce

« gla~on» comme une architecture, et Ie travail sur cet element de la place l'interessait autant que Ie choix des essences.

Comment qualifieriez-vous sa demarche?

J.N. : II fonctionnait evidemment sur une approche trss conceptuelle. Ce que je cherche avec un paysagiste, c'est la merne chose que ce que je cherche avec un artiste; c'est d'abord de trouver un accord sur un concept, puis de laisser celui-ci se I'approprier pour approfondir un champ particulier. C'est ce qui s'est passe avec Yves, mais ce qui est valable dans Ie cinema I'est aussi pour I'architecture. Je ne laisse jamais carte blanche absolue, sur aucun projet. Le realisateur, c'est moi, mais un film se fait avec des specialistes de l'eclairaqe, des cadreurs, des scenaristes ... Dans sa discipline, qui etait celie du paysage, Yves a developpe des projets qui staient un approfondissement des concepts. ('etait sOrement la merne chose avec Rem Koolhaas. Les projets d'Yves etaient a chaque fois des projets a l'interieur des notres,

Son apport a t-il ete important?

J.N .. C'est ce que Ie temps dernontrera: comment, a travers cinq au six projets chez mal. et sans doute autant chez Rem, an trouve quelque chose qui soit de nature a conforter son identite dans cette discipline. Personnellement, et bien que Ie temps ait deja qornrne les choses, j'ai "impression que tout se passait naturellement, sans histoire, et pourtant, I'histoire

eta it la, quand rnerne.

Paris, mars 1996

86

Did you, like Rem Koolhaas, sense Yves Brunier's slightly brutal relationsh ip with natu re?

J.N.: At a certain moment, I discovered that he saw himself as an architect first, and a landscape architect second. In Tours, to take a specific example, I asked him to incorporate within the square the glass roofing that would make it possible to have the carpark lit with natural lighting, and I asked him to rework the width of the stairs. I suggested he put water on the glass roof. He jumped at the opportunity, and got quite carried away by this "ice cube" effect, this sort of glassed-in protuberance, in the actual axis of the building, which he sprinkled with jets of water. Seen from below, this produced an impression of being inside a washing machine. He handled this "ice cube" like a form of architecture, and the work on this feature of the square interested him every bit as much as the choice of tree species.

How would you define his approach 7

J.N.: It goes without saying that his approach was very conceptual. What I'm looking for in a landscape architect is the same thing I'm looking for in an artist: first and foremost, you've got to agree about the concept, then you must let the architect/artist take up the concept and develop a specific field in-depth. This is what happened with Yves, but what is viable for film also applies to architecture. I never give anyone an absolutely free hand, for any project. I'm the director, but to make a film you need lighting specialists, cameramen and scriptwriters. In Yves' discipline, which was landscape gardening and architecture, he developed projects which were an improvement on these concepts. I'm sure it was the same with Rem Koolhaas. Yves' projects were all projects within our projects.

Is his contribution important?

J.N.: Time will decide - it will show how, in five or six projects with me, and certainly as many again with Rem, you find something that tends to consolidate his identity in this discipline. Personally, and even if time has already blurred things a bit, I have the impression that everything happened quite naturally, without incident, and uneventfully ... and yet it was an event, all the same.

Paris, March 1996

Fondation Cartier: plan of the complex and vegetation I plan masse et vegetation, Domaine du Monteel, Jouy-en-Josas, 1987

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87

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92

"But what" did I do with them?"

This project is critical of the town/country co-existence policy.

It opted, accordingly, for a clearly defined distinction between these two concepts. By creating a dense, linear town, linking the built-up areas of Saint-Germain-Ies-Corbeil, Lieussaint and Moissy-Cramayel (the main thoroughfare follows the route of the N 447 road).

And by organizing the countryside. In this way, the scattered elements of the natural area, formed by clumps of trees and farms, are reinstated in square plots put to plants, in an attempt to juxtapose them with the squares belonging to the built-up area, occupied by amenities.

The contrasts, peculiar to the European town or city, between living space/home and work, the group and the individual, the public and the private, and so on, are here reduced to well-defined specific features within a very clear urban cornposition. The town or city may be described as "environment-friendly" when there are no conflicting relationships between the above-mentioned contrasts, rather than just when greenery is omnipresent.

I 2000 hectares it Melun-Senart r

2000 hectares at Mehm-Senart

Graduate of landscape I DiplOme de paysagiste dplg, ~cole nationale superieu re du pay.sage de Versailles, 1986.

« Mais qu'en ai-je fait? Il

Le projet critique la politique de la cohabitation ville /campagne.

Aussi optait-il pour une nette distinction entre ces deux notions.

En creant une ville lineaire, dense, reliant les zones urbanisees de Saint-Germain-les-Corbeil, Lieussaint et Moissy-Cramayel (I' artere principale reprend Ie trace de la N 447). En organisant Ie paysage rural. Ainsi, les elements epars du site naturel constitues de bosquets ou 'de fermes sont repris dans des cartes de vegetaux auxquels on tente d'opposer des carres appartenant au domaine urbanise, occups par

des equipements. .

Les oppositions caracteristlques de la ville europeenne entre I'habitat et Ie travail, Ie collectif et I'individuel, Ie public et Ie prive, etc., sont ici rarnenees a des particularites distinctes a l'interieur d'une composition urbaine trss claire. La ville peut etre qualifiee de {{ douce» grace a I'absence de relations conflictuelles entre les oppositions deja dtees plutot que par l'omnipresence de l'elernent vegetal.

Yves Brunier

Les bosquets

Faire decouvrir la geom~trie (I imperfane» des boscuets existents en les confrontant

a des structures tramees : dilterents cas de figures, correspondant a plusieurs, contextes formels ou volurnetriques, modes de vegetalisation feront varier et (I vibrer» toute la diversite et la richesse de ces anciens cerres boises au (OUrS des salsons.'

Ces squares deviendront. outre leurs fonctions premieres de promenade, de jeux,

de repos..; des lieux d'evenernents colores et de spectacles « naturels».

98

Yves Brunier

Grove

Discovering the "imperfect" geometry of existing groves by matching them to weft-patterned structures: various configurations are associated with different formal or volumetric situations and patterns of vegetalisation, to bring variation and vibrancy over the seasons to the diversity and richness of these former wooded squares.

Beyond their primary function as spaces for walking, playing and resting, the squares become places where coloured and "natural" events take place.

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Jardins de I'hotel-restaurant Saint-James a Bouliac

Gardens of the Saint-James hotel and restaurant at Bouliac

Le site est une col line dominant la vallee de la Garonne : un village ancien, groupe sur sa crete.

Le projet architectural implante un .hotel a partir d'un corps de batiment existant. en forme de U, sorte de ferme bourgeoise; des volumes architecruraux comparables a ceux du village sont greffes et forment des terminaisons rnetalllques. Une gal erie les relie.

Ses biltiments en acier brut rouillent.

t'art de ce restaurant est de presenter des mets composes comme des peintures colorees,

L'idee de la creation des jardins etait de prsfiqurer I'assiette, de la mettre en scene, de se promener a travers des fruits, des -legumes, des ar6mes, du vin, des poissons ... natures vivantes, « rnatieres plastiq ues».

La cour d'honneur, au sein du batirnent existant, est I'accueil,

la reception, l'intrcduction de cet univers culinaire. Un tapis de briques concassees couvre tout I'espace, surface sirriplernent polie sur Ie passage principal; iI tisse des liens avec une frise de briques et les frontons en briques du batiment.

Quelques vegetaux romantiques existants (camelis. Phormium, yucca) se retrouvent comme electrises par les rapports de couleurs nouveaux.

Deux « kakis » bornent maintenant Ie portail et formeront un filtre mais aussi un appel symbolique de la rue. lis exploseront de fruits oranges en hiver.

Des cotoneaster rampent pres des facades, Ie long desquelles grimpent des Pyracanthas; leurs baies rouges pointillent I'espace. Un bassin redangulaire persiste de I'ancien jardin comme tombe du ciel et rouille de ses fruits rouges: ses poissons. Enfin, des citrouilles enflent sur la brique comme par la magie d'un conte de fees.

Le batiment traverse, Ie reste du parc s'etend avant l'horizon de la vallee, Une vigne, architecture vegetale, s'etire et roussit, la rouille de l'hotel aurait-elle coule?

Elle se frotte a des lignes fluorescentes de ronces blanches de saules ViminaJis, de tilleuls rouges ...

Des allees enqazonnees la bordent, ponctuses de plaques de metal,

reseaux. .

Des microclimats sont crees entre les batirnents, les charnbres. Des petits jardins libres qui se naturalisent. Des cognassiers sur des Pondrus, des coings sur des citrons, des framboisiers sur des fraisiers, des figuiers sur des artichauts et de I'ail.

En descendant Ie terrain, no us nous heurtons il un bassin triangulaire, artificiel.

Nous Ie franchissons par la pointe et descendons dans Ie bois sauvage ou seuls un belvedere et une source sont deux oasis romantiques, ornees de vegetaux existants transplantes. rhododendrons, azalees, Skimmias, et hortensias.

Contraste choquant entre la friche du bois et la sophistication de ces aires anglaises.

Un jardin 00 l'esthetlcue est aussi un plaisir de vivre, jardin de table.

Yves Brunier

Place / lieu: 8ouliac, Bordeaux, France Date: 1987-1989

8uilt / realise

Client 1 maitre d'ouvrage : Jean-Marie Amat Conception! maltres d'csuvre :

architect / architecle : Jean Nouvel

head project! chef de projet : Emmanuel Combarel landscape 1 paysagiste : Yves Brunier

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The site is a hill towering over the Garonne valley, with an' old village clustered around its ridge.

The architectural project introduces a hotel, based on an existing Ushaped building which is a kind of comfortable farm. Architectural volumes akin to those of the village are added on, and form metallic extremities. They are linked together by a gallery. The raw steel buildings are rusty.

The particular art of this restaurant is to offer dishes put together like colourful paintings.

The concept behind the creation of the gar.dens had to do with anticipating and setting the stage for the plate, putting it against a backdrop, strolling amid fruit, vegetables, aromas, wine, fish ... living stililife"s, "plastics ",

The main courtyard, within the existing building, is the entrance, reception and introduction to this culinary world, The whole area is covered with a layer of crushed bricks. For the main thoroughfare the surface is simply polished. It weaves links with a frieze of bricks and the building'S brick pediment.

One or two existing romantic plants (Camelia, Phormium, Yucca) are to be found, as if electrified by their relationships with new colours.

Two persimmon trees now flank the gateway and will form a filter as well as a symbolic reminder of the street.They will be a riot of orange fruit in winter.

Cotoneaster shrubs climb close to the tacades, and pyracanthas clamber up them, their red berries like so many dots in space.

A rectangular pond survives from the old garden, as if it has fallen from the heavens, rusty with its red fruit-in this case, goldfish. Lastly, pumpkins swell on the brickwork, as if by some fairy tale magic.

Once through the building, the rest of the gardens stretch away

to the valley's skyline. A vineyard, like an architecture of plants, bestrides the land, reddening--perhaps the rust of the- building has spilled over?

It rubs against fluorescent rows of white brambles, osier, and red lime trees ...

Turfed paths run beside it, punctuated by metal plaques and trellises,

Micro-climates are created between the buildings and rooms.

Small, open gardens returning to nature, Quince trees over poncirus trees, quinces over lemons, raspberry bushes' over strawberry plants, fig trees over artichokes and garlic.

Walking down over the land, we come upon a triangular manmade pond. We cross the tip and proceed down into the wild woodland, where a gazebo and a spring form two lone romantic oases, bedecked with transplanted species--rhododendrons, azaleas, skimmias and hydrangeas.

A rivetting contrast between the fallow woodland and the sophistication of those English areas.

A garden where the aesthetic aspect is also one of the pleasures of life, a garden to eat from.

Yves Brunier

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