Jardin des Plantes in Paris by LAN Architecture
A brief escape to the Jardin des Plantes in Paris before we return to architecture in its purest and hardest form. Opened on 2 June 2010 after five years of works, the garden has regained its tropical plants around this building, restructured by the practice LAN Architecture.
The route runs through several greenhouses with contrasting landscapes; unlike in a museum, the greenhouse allows visitors to come face to face with the plants. Close to Jussieu metro station, the photographer Julien Lanoo wandered through this garden, commissioned by the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle.
The project is divided into four greenhouses. The first takes us into the rainforests to discover a Monstera deliciosa vine or a Bermuda banana tree, before we cross arid environments modelled on the deserts of the United States. In the former Mexican greenhouse, visitors will find the museum's new acquisitions devoted to the flora of New Caledonia. The last greenhouse is devoted to the history of plants.
Unlike the works of art that are usually displayed to you, here the architects wanted to minimise the impact of the architecture. “Wandering over the earth, feeling in the midst of this vegetation, free of any signage, order or architecture, was a very powerful sensory experience”, recall Benoît Jallon and Umberto Napolitano, the directors of the practice, of their first visit to the site.
The paths are all made from a single concrete, but used in four different variations. In the tropical greenhouse, for example, four precast, grooved modules measuring 0.45 and 0.67 m² make up the paths. The inauguration took place on 2 June, with as guests Chantal Jouanno, Secretary of State for Ecology, reporting to the Minister of State, Minister for Ecology, Energy, Sustainable Development and the Sea; Frédéric Mitterrand, Minister for Culture and Communication; and Valérie Pécresse, Minister for Higher Education and Research.
Gallery
8 images
- © Julien Lanoo
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