A public garden in the Hardines of Voyennes

Voyennes (80), FRANCE

Client : Pays Santerre Haute Somme
Team : sensomoto + Rémi Damiens (sculpteur)
Mission : Design, build + community workshops
Date : 2012
Size : 850 m2

Festival Program – pdf

> The Upper Somme Valley is marked by water. Historically, the land was shaped with subsistence farming and fishing. As these practices declined, the landscape gradually fell into neglect. To reinvigorate its natural and cultural heritage, the Pays Santerre Haute Somme initiated the festival “Arts aux Jardins”. The 2012 edition celebrates context and connection through a local mythological figure: la Fée Anguille / the Fairy Eel.

Our intervention consisted of constructing a public garden on an island in the marshes of Voyennes. The project was built in a series of five participatory workshops with the residents. A winding path guides people through the narrow island, defined with grasses, native vegetation and vines. The character of the eel continues to appear and disappear in custom combinations of steel, rebar, wood and tile – emerging as a bridge, a bench, an arch, a handrail and a majestic sculpture that stands five meters high.