Garden in memory of Paris attacks on the 13th November 2015
photos : yann Monel
Located in the heart of Paris, the November 13 Garden brings together, within a single space, a spatial synthesis of the six sites struck on that night.
The garden carries the memory of the event and bears witness to the experience of a north-eastern Paris deeply affected at its core. The outlines of the six attack sites, inspired by the city’s urban geography, structure the composition of the garden. From a fragmented, scarred and wounded ground, a calm and open space emerges, inviting contemplation and remembrance.
Everyday places — cafés, concert halls and streets — take on a new dimension here, as if frozen at the moment of their rupture. The garden thus becomes a space for reflection and shared memory.
While it is a place of remembrance, it is also a place of life. Visitors can walk, pause, play or observe. After rainfall, birds gather in small basins carved into the stone. The garden holds the silence of memory, while also welcoming the presence of everyday life as it continues.
Vegetation plays a central role in this landscape. Rock garden plants emerge from the granite chaos of the ground, evoking a form of rebirth, a living presence rising after the attack.
As night falls, small points of light appear, forming a constellation inspired by the sky of November 13. Time moves on, carrying out its slow work of healing, yet it also remains suspended, held within the memory of that night.
CLIENT Ville de Paris – Paris City Council
TEAM PROJECT Wagon Landscaping (leader),Gilles Clément,SOJA architecture,AREP – technics and structure,JM Dreyfus Historian specialist on memory,Pratiques Urbaines, urbanist,Monono, socilogist,Biotope, environment engineers,Cronos City Lab, Security and Surety
SURFACE
3 500 m²