A collaboration between ECT and A. Grumbach, artist, architect and urban planner. Grumbach, artist, architect and urban planner
How did the collaboration between ECT and AG Territoires come about? From the meeting between Laurent Mogno, President of ECT, and Antoine Grumbach. And fundamentally, from a strong shared conviction:“The earth is not just a spoil heap, but a formidable resource”.
This conviction has given rise to a long-term project: the “Belvédères du Grand Paris”. These Belvederes represent a unique artistic, tourist and leisure project on a grand landscape scale. The first of these will be “Yeux du Ciel“, a work of metropolitan Land Art on the ECT site in
Villeneuve-sous-Dammartin (77)
.
What makes them special? A location in the Paris region, on the border between urbanization and nature. Their objective: to reconcile the reclamation of excavated soil (operated by ECT) with an artistic Land Art project (designed by A. Grumbach).
“Les Yeux du ciel”: land art and leisure activities
Antoine Grumbach’s Land Art work represents two eyes, each 400 meters long. “Les Yeux du Ciel” are drawn and modeled on the ground at ECT’s Villeneuve-sous-Dammartin site. As a result, 70 million passengers will be able to discover this work of “aerial art” during take-offs and landings from Roissy CDG airport. The ECT site covers an area of 130 hectares and is 30 m high. ECT has used all the excavated soil that makes up the site. This site offers an absolutely original space for this monumental work.
More precisely, as A. Grumbach, its creator: “the eye is designed with 3 rows of trees, for a total of almost 1,200 trees. To this must be added the 12,0000 m² of embankments planted around it. In the center of one eye, there will be a plant maze and a belvedere, while the second iris will house an exhibition space”.
A project emblematic of ECT’s sustainable, concerted and self-financed developments in the Paris region.
Les Yeux du Ciel” will be open to the public, and will become a family-friendly venue. The project aims to provide local residents with cultural and leisure activities, including walks, exhibitions and concerts.
That’s why this innovative project is the subject of a development agreement between the Préfecture de la Région Île-de-France, the Communauté d’agglomération de Roissy-Pays-de-France and the 2 neighboring communes of Villeneuve-sous-Dammartin and Le Mesnil-Amelot.
In this way, “Les Yeux du Ciel” illustrates ECT’s ambition to be a major player in the circular economy of soil from construction sites in the Paris region. They symbolize the virtuous circle of reusing inert soil to create new cultural and leisure sites.
Discover the emblematic “Les Yeux du Ciel” project in Villeneuve-sous-Dammartin, by clicking here
“Les belvédères du Grand Paris”: artistic, landscape and circular action
The collaboration between ECT and Antoine Grumbach is expanding with further projects, as part of the ambitious “Belvédères du Grand Paris” project.
These Belvederes will continue to celebrate the diversity of landscapes in the Paris basin. They propose the implementation and shaping of new “manufactured hills”. Together, these hills around Paris will form an archipelago of metropolitan land art.
Antoine Grumbach: “The volume of inert soil generated by construction sites in the Ile-de-France region is around 10 million m3 per year. That’s equivalent to four Cheops pyramids (2.5 million m3). However, to date, this reality has not given rise to any artistic or cultural achievements commensurate with this state of affairs.”
Each hill will take the form of a garden walk, with a lookout point and orientation table at the top. Amenities and facilities include amphitheatres, rest areas, walking and reading areas, gazebos, hanging gardens and open-air museums. Visitor facilities will be specially designed for coaches, cars and bicycles. Residents and tourists alike will be able to take advantage of these new opportunities to stroll, enjoy leisure activities and discover the panoramic views of the Paris region.
The total number of artificial hills to be created is not yet definitive: nine, ten or twelve. They will be located within a 30 km radius of central Paris. These sites are either derelict, sensitive land, industrial wasteland or inaccessible former quarries. These Belvederes will therefore be located at the boundary between the urban area and the agricultural and forest landscapes.
Antoine Grumbach: “This multiple work of Land Art will thus highlight, on the scale of the Île-de-France region, the spectacle of the edge of urbanization at the beginning of the 21st century.”
The Belvédères promenade: an invitation to take in the scenery.
A. Grumbach: In the 19th century, Haussmann and Alphand created “Les Promenades de Paris”. At the start of the 21st century, the Belvedere promenades will embody the discovery of the variety of surprising landscapes, combining city and nature, on the outskirts of the Paris conurbation.
All visitors will find something to suit their sporting or cultural interests. A major metropolitan trail will link all the Belvederes along a 200-kilometre route. This walk is an invitation to measure the transformation of territories and the fragility of their boundaries.
Last but not least, the climb up these hills leads to the discovery of a wide variety of architectural structures. For example, a gloriette, a tempietto or a hut… and the orientation tables will indicate the origin of the land.
The Belvédères project reconciles the landscape art of Land Art with the dynamic reclamation of excavated soil. It will celebrate a form of metropolitan identity for the 21st century, combining circular industry, ecology and cultural identity.
In his book “La terre comme matériau”, A. Grumbach retraces the intellectual, sensitive and artistic path that led him to consider excavated earth as a material, that of the Belvédères du Grand Paris.
