In the heart of the «vieux Lyon» quarter, on the banks of the Saône, the Saint-Georges quarter has the singular aspect of an urban fabric make of strips, since Renaissance (listed on the UNESCO World Heritage List).
Within this regular fabric, the place Valensio appeared like a hollow tooth jammed at the foot of the balme, result of collapses and demolitions for twenty years.
We proposed to reactivate this space by reestablishing in particular a transverse path stretched between the Saône and the «colline de Fourvière», by the constitution of a long metal staircase (in Corten steel). This route gives access to the upper level of the existing retaining wall and allows to clear a balcony terrace on the space of the square. This terrace rests on a Prun stone retaining wall. In the ground of the square, we redesigned the layout of the old plots in «piano touch» in the manner of an urban anatomy board (concrete and stabilized sands).
The open floor allows to host neighborhood events (film screenings, concerts, banquets, carnival).
Some children’s games, trampolines, armchairs and benches are arranged under the canopy of the mulberry trees evoking the textile past of this quarter and the breeding of silkworms.
At the foot of the two large blind gabled walls, large bamboos were planted. At the edge of the street, tables of carved boxwood draw the edge of this garden square that meets the scale of the neighborhood.
