Battle of the Landscapes : Berges de Seine Paris vs Rhone River Bank Lyon

Article by Aybige Tek – We take two great landscape designs and pit them up against one another to see how they compare side by side. Which one do you think is better? What is a great way to learn some topics? How about we start comparing some of the world’s best landscape and urban projects? We learn a lot of new information when we compare similar projects or products. Let us take two riverside projects for example, both from France. These two projects both have rivers next to them. Now we can compare them according to a couple of qualities each development project requires, such as functionality, aesthetics, planting, and materiality.

Berges de Seine Paris vs Rhone River Bank Lyon

Functionality

Berges De Seine is a world heritage project. The site covers a lot of functions for residents and visitors of the city, such as walking, sitting, chilling, playing, performing, drinking, talking, renting bicycles, etc. These activities are done at game tables and floors with games printed on them, at certain sunny terraces, on floating gardens, at beer bars, at athletic tracks, on gigantic steps, at kid’s playgrounds, and at rock climbing areas.

The views from the project frame the surrounding French architecture and urban historical architecture. The project provides bike rentals, the use of which decreases air pollution and creates opportunities for eco_friendly transportation, which therefore makes the city more sustainable for the future. One can easily define this project as functioning as a “total encouragement” for biodiversity. The Rhone River Banks development also links the parks of the city and forms a flowing, continuous running and cycling road path. Walking, sitting, relaxing on grass, biking, and running functions take place in this project. Sport activities by this river in Lyon is done by users instead of seeing cars and traffic, so now the health of the people is promoted. The carpark area has been turned into a sustainable project for the city, with exercise and mobile transportations. Car-free developments, access management, inclusive design, livable communities, and 5km of pedestrian facilities have been achieved throughout this riverbank development. Some of the activies held here are; concerts, parades, screenings, fireworks, and even the passing of the Tour de France. You can click on this link for details. Two parks that are linked are the Tête d’Or to the North and the Gerland Park to the South. The Rhone River Banks project succeeds at connecting different zones in the city.

Aesthetics

Berges De Seine People that visit this area can have views of historic architecture, bridges, and monuments. There is a flow of its urban spaces which is soothing for the user. Benches, bars, gardens, and playgrounds with floor designs for people and kids to play games create a visually-pleasing project. This urban development was so successful that one director has worked on a 5-minute movie about this project and director Georges Le Piouffle mentioned this. “We had to reconstitute a realistic vegetative scenery as envisioned by the landscape architect. Specific trees had to be used, not only for their aesthetic quality but for their scents, colors and shade,” said D.Pesic. ”

Of couse all the plants were not available. But we were able to use the existing plants to reconstitute what the landscape architect had outlined by tweaking the leaves, the trunks and textures for example.” You can check this link for more information on this aesthetic film here. The Rhone River Banks 5km-long flowing project with views of nine bridges creates a natural look with symmetry, too. The riverside has two levels. The upper level is maintained for runners and the lower level for pedestrians, creating a movement of aesthetics. Movement also creates beauty because it shows the project that has been completed is working and full of life. The colorful umbrellas and tents at concerts are also manmade beauty proving the good life along the river of Lyon.

Planting

The Berges De Seine planting is completed with native plants, including shrubs, grasses, vines and willow trees, green bushes, and daisies. The coup de grace at this park is an 1800-square-meter floating garden with five separate islands connected by bridges. There are small islands that were designed by landscape artists to grow semi-aquatic plants and grasses on them. There is a plan for Paris which is called “Biodiversity Plan for Paris”. Throughout this program, kids and adults are educated with workshops and observations of wildlife plants and animals to how everything interacts with each other. This plan includes the banks of Seine River.

There are also some steel/metal platforms with plants planted on them that reach to the riverside for people to observe. All these give Parisians or any visitors access to 2,000 species of wild plants and fungi, plus 174 bird species, as well as more than 30 fish species in the city according to this link. All planting has been done by professionals in Berges de Seine to help future plans of Paris’s health and its neighbor cities’ sustainability. The Rhone River Banks trees and flowering meadows bring flying animals such as butterflies, bees, and wildlife birds. Ornamental planting is used in its landscape design with grass and flowers. These create a pleasing sight for people who want to freshen up at the riverside. Trees follow the natural geometry (curve) of the river. The plants are hair grass, local tree species, etc. Riparian trees (trees by the river’s edge) are in line while viewed from the bike path along the side. Willows, poplars, and alders give shadows to the project in landscape design. Colorful flowers create variety and cheer along the riverside. Recreational grass is suitable for people to sit and relax. There is a rocky area for texture in the project and also a water mirror is designed, enhancing the natural atmosphere.

Materials

Berges De Seine. Wood-framed architectural elements and seats with wood palettes are used in the landscape. Rattan furniture can be seen at Faust Terrace. People sit at wood decks & enter into cloth tepee tents. Used container boxes function as architectural units along the project site. Due to the use of recycled materials, this project is sustainable.

The Rhone River Banks High steel and wood are the materials for urban furniture at this site. The bicycle lane is concrete material. There is a wooden pontoon for pedestrians. The custom-built architecture uses wood and steel. The retaining walls that separate two levels at some parts of this project is stone. The battle of the Berges De Seine and Rhone River Banks landscape urban development projects is even, because they both are really serving the sustainable future of France. Their designs and feelings that are caused by each project may differ, however they both succeed in cutting car transportation a little bit more and making people run, walk or bike! Both projects are creating biodiversity and ecological awareness. So what other projects would you like us to put in a battle for your next readings? Let us know in the comments below please.

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Recommended Reading:

• Royal Horticultural Society Small Garden Handbook: Making the Most of Your Outdoor Space by Firefly Books
• Small Space Garden Ideas by DK

Article by Aybige Tek

Published in Blog