PETITE SAUSSAIE (VITRY-SUR-SEINE, FRANCE)
The Petite Saussaie spring resurgence project is restructuring the former Blondeaux park in Vitry-sur-Seine. The purpose of the project is to enhance the descent of spring water as an urban design element.
Therefore the descent of the water in the Seine valley is the subject of a sculpture-fountain: an aerial aqueduct, which forms the framework of two new public spaces. On an area with an average inclination of 12%, the flat surface is essential for sharing spaces (landings, terraces, plateaus) and urbanity.
The places created by the project, previously undifferentiated, now have a singular identity evocative of their historical and geographical dimension. The water remains horizontal as often and as long as possible and, conducted by the aqueduct, leaves the ground of the hill several times. It adopts the rhythm of the overflows, sings at the foot of the gargoyles before falling in a rustle into a basin or resurfacing in gurgling in the middle of a table of water. Descending the hillside, the water transports the landscapes of dozens of willows, wet gardens, aquatic plants, elongated basins or pebble shores.
The resurgence of the spring of the Petite Saussaie, buried more than 90 years ago, reinstalls the public space in an obvious relationship to the history of Vitry-sur-Seine. “Saussaie” is a land planted with willows, which were once used to produce baskets
Design: Paysarchitectures
Photo: Pierre-Yves Brunaud
