14. Grenade

The last few decades have seen the reappearance of a natural, self-regulating irrigation method from bygone days: the oya. This simple system, consisting of a terracotta vessel buried in the ground, saves between 50 and 70% of the water used in standard watering procedures. The water contained in the pot does not evaporate and is slowly disseminated to the plants due to the terracotta’s porosity. Roots develop around the oya and draw the water they need by capillary action. True symbiotic interaction! The ideal garden aims to recreate this process on a bigger and more symbolic scale. Giant oyas, normally underground and invisible, emerge in the midst of the garden, like so many gigantic flowers, spreading their great petals to catch the rainwater. Creating a link between sky and earth, these objects become the initiators of an ecological virtuous circle in which humankind takes part.

The giant oya’s spherical shape and reddish-orange colour are reminiscent of the fruit of the pomegranate tree, while the overhead structure is evocative of its blooming. The pomegranate’s capacity for survival directly inspired the garden. The organic structures have a range of functions: places for gathering together and taking shelter, warning signs and design objects alike, they provide the garden with a fantastical, poetic dimension.

Once ripe, the fruit bursts. Classical oyas, buried here and there in the garden’s soil, represent its scattered seeds. Red spheres atop metal stalks pinpoint their location and serve as handles, making it easier to lift their lids.

This garden aims to raise awareness: water is a dwindling resource. When brought to arid areas and poor soils, it creates oases and brings life burgeoning forth.

ARCHIGROUP -Aymeric DUFOUR, landscape designer and Thibaut FLAVIGNY, architect-

 

 

Thibaut Flavigny is a State-registered (DPLG) architect who graduated from the Nancy School of Architecture and is now an associate at the Archigroup architecture agency in Lyon. After agency experience that enabled him to develop timber-frame public building projects, he went to live in Greece for 3 years, where he developed an interest in promotion of archaeological heritage in connection with more contemporary forms of architecture. His time there provided him with an opportunity to acquaint himself with the uniquely rich landscapes of the Mediterranean and the many outdoor usages that enable their habitation: meeting places, places of exchange and social crossover, as Greek Culture is firmly rooted in the environment and its ever-present natural components: sea, sun and wind. Upon his return to France, in the Rhône-Alpes region, he soon joined the Archigroup architecture agency. As he has a penchant for transversality in the architectural projects he is involved in, he strives to provide a comprehensive vision of them, creative, pragmatic and mindful of their environmental impact. This collegial vision shared by all the agency’s associates culminated in the creation of Grand Air, an entity that provides coherent, all-encompassing project management: Architect, Construction engineering and Implementation. For over a year now, the agency has been developing a Landscape Division, headed by Aymeric Dufour, which aims to put landscaping concerns at the very heart of design, right from the first pencil stroke.

Aymeric Dufour is a landscape designer with a degree from the Lille National Higher School of Architecture and Landscape. After gaining experience working with project management agencies, he is now busy developing the Landscape Division at Archigroup. As a native of the Bresse Plain in the département of Ain, his childhood made him particularly responsive to the wide open spaces and imposing landscapes that surrounded him. In order to cultivate and explore this responsiveness yet further, he set off to acquaint himself with other regions of France, Europe and the World, including the Yosemite National Park in California, which has been one of his greatest inspirations. For the young landscaper, it’s more than necessary to combine two of his other passions, climbing and art, so as to better understand and appreciate landscape: climbing in order to survey and experience it more intensely, and art in order to understand humankind’s appetite for whatever relates to beauty. In the image of the garden he is providing for this 2021 edition, this committed landscaper likes to merge “Ecology” and “Usage”, two strong concepts for (re)thinking the spaces of tomorrow’s world. In complement to the “Re-architecture” philosophy advocated by his agency, he also seeks to encourage reuse of materials in his projects, with a view to preserving the past of a site and revealing its “genius loci”. Grenade is a response to the theme of the ideal garden: it provides a summary of the Archigroup agency’s knowhow by combining poetry and technically sophisticated implementation while highlighting an age-old irrigation system, and its commitment to the need for frugality in the management of water as a natural resource.