COLLECTION NAME:
Archivision Digital Research Library
Record
Title:
Les jardins des lumières: Le miroir d'eau (Garden of Lights: Water Mirror)
Title:
General view: View of the gardens, Les Jardins des Lumières, on the north side of the Water Mirror (Miroir d'eau), with the Garonne River beyond
Alternate Title:
Garden of Lights: Water Mirror
View:
General view: View of the gardens, Les Jardins des Lumières, on the north side of the Water Mirror (Miroir d'eau), with the Garonne River beyond
Creators:
landscape architect: Michel Corajoud (French landscape architect, 1937-2014); fountain designer: Jean-Max Llorca, French, born 1947
Date:
creation: 2005-2006
Style/Period:
Minimal; twenty-first century (dates CE)
Location:
site: Bordeaux (Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France, Europe)
Location Note:
Pl. de la Bourse, 33000 Bordeaux, France
Culture:
French (culture or style)
Materials:
granite (rock); herbaceous plants
Work Types:
gardens (open spaces); water features (landscaping); reflecting pools
Description:
Mairie de Bordeaux, Miroir d'eau (translated from French): Since the end of July 2006, Bordeaux has had the largest water mirror in the world (3,450 m2). Located opposite Place de la Bourse, between Quai de la Douane and Quai Louis 18, the water mirror alternates extraordinary effects of mirror and fog. Magic created by the fountain designer Jean-Max Llorca, the water mirror is the central element of the quays of Bordeaux redesigned by the landscape architect Michel Corajoud. Other cities in the world, such as Quebec, are studying the construction of similar equipment. Imagined by the Parisian fountain engineer Jean-Max Llorca, the system allows a mirror effect to appear one after the other (with 2 centimeters of stagnant water on a granite slab) and a fog effect that can reach up to 2 meters in height. The water is stored underground in an 800 m3 tank. It rises to the surface using pumps, fills around a hundred channels placed under the slab and then overflows through the joints to spread over the entire surface. After a time programmed by computer, a system of solenoid valves allows the water to go back down into the tank so that it regains its correct temperature. This is when the fog effect can be triggered: some 900 injectors placed in the middle of each slab generate this fog before the next mirror effect takes over. On either side of this water mirror, the paving still extends over approximately 2,000 m2 (the water mirror is the central part of this 5,850 m2 esplanade). The entire paving is framed by a planted garden: the garden of lights. On both sides, other cycle and pedestrian paths invite you to travel gently on the quays. / Mairie de Bordeaux, Lumières, Jardin des (translated from French): On either side of the water mirror, Place de la Bourse, two large spaces have been laid out with low plants to clear the view: the Jardin des Lumières. With its 33,000 plants, it offers a wonderful botanical spectacle all year round. Pedestrian walkways and landscaped squares make it a charming place to walk. The Garden of Lights lives with the rhythm of the seasons, evolves with the vegetation (flowering, foliage, winter wood...) and the replacement of annual bedding plants by biennials in autumn (pansies, daisies, forget-me-nots, wallflowers, primroses , cabbage, etc.). It is made up of 223 flower beds and around 33,000 plants. To save water, the soil is mulched at the foot of the plants. Five types of materials are used: straw, shavings... retaining moisture. / Atlas Obscura, Miroir d'eau: Taking up a massive square in front of the Place de la Bourse in Bordeaux, the Miroir d’eau is a one-of-a-kind reflecting pool that people can actually walk over. Built in 2006, the so-called pool, which is also known as the “Quay Mirror,” is actually made up of a field of granite slabs which are covered in two centimeters of water, creating a sort of giant mirror (Miroir d’eau translates to “Water Mirror”). The giant public feature covers over 37,000 square feet, making it less of a pool and more of a small lake. During the summer months, the shallow skin of water can be turned into a fog of mist by a mechanism hidden beneath the slabs. In a way, it is never deeper than when the square is covered in a few feet of mist. Other than this feature, the pool generally sits as a quiet, if giant, puddle. / Wikipedia [fr], Michel Corajoud (translated from French): Michel Corajoud, born July 14, 1937 in Annecy and died of cancer in Paris on October 29, 20141, is a French landscape architect. Michel Corajoud first trained at the National School of Decorative Arts. He began his career working for Bernard Rousseau, a former collaborator of Le Corbusier. Considered one of the founders of the revival of the landscaping profession, Michel Corajoud asserted himself very early on against the trend of his elder landscapers, as he himself explains: “Until the early 1970s, French landscape designers were trained in horticulture school and, as a result, their knowledge of the city and architecture was neglected. It is the idea of "nature" which most often presided over their work on urban spaces. I then affirmed the idea that the work of landscape architects on the interstitial space of cities should, on the contrary, be an introductory form of architecture, that there was a necessary continuity of intentions between buildings and outdoor spaces that they determine. » / Source: https://www.bordeau… https://www.bordeau… https://www.atlasob… https://fr.wikipedi…
Technique:
construction (assembling); landscaping
Vendor ID:
1A2-F-BOR-LJDL-A04
Archivision Set:
Archivision Module 17
Measurements:
esplanade: 5850 m2; reflecting pool: 3450 m2
Link To Source
