Familistère de Guise : Garden
Park
Filtration gardens
Natural zone
Flood zone
River banks
Natural swimming pool
Client :
Syndicat Mixte
du Familistère Godin
BASE – Team representative
+ Atelier Lab architecte
Guise / Aisne
Budget / 1,5 M€
Surface / 9 ha
Completed / 2007
The project creates comfort and ease in the outside environment, paying homage to Jean Baptiste Godin (1817-1888)
Located on an old island, 9 hectares covered in poplar groves, this garden is often flooded by the Oise river. 30 000 m3 of earthwork was necessary to fill in this back water of the Oise, to soften the river banks and to establish a continuous path along the water edge. The garden is divided into 400 triangular parcels ranging from 100 to 700 m2 and treated in one of four ways; coppicing, shrubbery, grassland or lawn.
A sponsorship program allowed the locals to help plant the garden. A 6000 m2 corridor of plants which filter the water helps purify the water taken from the Oise which is then fed into a basin with pebbles and some small surfaces of white concrete. This natural basin is one of the first of its type used in France for bathing and swimming. Wooden jetties allow visitors to walk around the garden all year round.
