JARDIN CLAIR-OBSCUR

Located within the former Abbey of Saint-Hilaire de la Celle in Poitiers, the Canopée network of the French Ministry of Education is set in a heritage site structured around two historic cloisters. The redevelopment project reinterprets the cloister as a spatial figure through its fundamental principles: an enclosed garden, bordered by circulation galleries and organised around a regular central space.

This shared framework unfolds into two gardens with contrasting atmospheres, directly shaped by sunlight exposure and existing site conditions. The Light Garden, largely open to the sun, establishes a nurturing relationship with the soil. It hosts ancient, medicinal and edible plants once cultivated by the monks. Reinterpreted in a contemporary form, this garden reconnects with practices related to cultivation, plant virtues and seasonal cycles, within a clear and restrained composition attentive to the passage of time.

By contrast, the Dark Garden develops within a denser, more shaded atmosphere. It brings together plants from elsewhere, selected for their distinctive foliage, unusual forms or unexpected fruiting. This garden cultivates a sense of mystery and exoticism, inviting a more introspective experience, where vegetation is revealed gradually, through filtered light.

Together, the two gardens form a contrasted interior landscape. The light / dark duality offers two complementary garden experiences, oscillating between historical grounding and the exploration of distant horizons.