2022–2025

Grand Park

Since 2018, integral designers has continued its collaboration with the city of Bordeaux as part of the landscape design project for the Grand Parc, working alongside the firm Exit Paysage. The Grand Parc is an imposing and contrasting postwar neighborhood: concrete monoliths, vast planted areas, majestic trees, large parking lots, and high density. Visiting the Grand Parc means entering a sculptural landscape radically different from the picturesque image of Bordeaux and based on an orthogonal grid. integral designers designed the furniture and information system. Benches, tables, pergolas, and information kiosks interact with the neighborhood’s orthogonal grid through their placement. The modular and repetitive furniture system echoes the surrounding buildings. A color scheme distinguishes the various themed spaces (play areas, sports areas, etc.). This colorful scheme is reflected, in each zone, on the pergola’s sunshade slats, in the “handmade” lettering painted on the low walls identifying the spaces, and on the neighborhood maps drawn on the metal shells mounted on the totems at the park’s entrances. Two workshops with residents of the Grand Parc neighborhood were held to name its spaces and envision a gathering place. The scale of the neighborhood made it necessary to subdivide the spaces. Exit landscape architects and integral designers proposed that the naming process be the result of a collaborative effort with the residents.

Through a group walk, the names most commonly used by residents to refer to the areas of Grand Parc emerged. The identity of each sector was thus clarified, and the proposed layout was approved. We retained the names that facilitate orientation and identification. Located at the heart of the children’s play area and adjacent to thoroughfares frequented by neighborhood residents and occasional passersby, a space that is currently available and once housed a rocket slide was chosen to design a space for intergenerational gatherings—a “palaver tree.” Building on this iconic rocket symbol that links the site to the history of Grand Parc, integral designers, in partnership with the project office and the Grand Parc community center, invited residents to come together in workshops to collectively imagine a new rocket. The first workshop, “A Rocket for What?” focused on the purpose of this new symbol for the park. It drew on the testimonies of elders, a historical overview, and intergenerational dialogue. It culminated in a project to inscribe stories onto the rocket. The second workshop, “Draw Me a Rocket,” centered on exploring the rocket’s form and landscape design, drawing on document collection, archival research, and drawing exercises. Based on the outcomes of these workshops, integral designers is responsible for the rocket’s design through to its installation, scheduled for 2024.

Design Team — Ruedi Baur, Chantal Grossen, Benjamin Ribeau, and David Thoumazeau
Landscape Architects — Exit Paysagistes