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Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Parc André Citröen: Loved & Loathed


A Paris park polarizes opinions. What say vous?


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35-acres of controversy: Paris’s Parc Citröen

Photo: Mairie de Paris

So which is it?

Brilliant? “An exercise in post-modernist geometry.” Or abominable? “Barely more hospitable than the car factory it replaced.”

Our friends Corrie MacLaggan and Oliver Bernstein were in Paris not long ago and, being adventurous types, metroed out to visit one of the city’s newest and most debated public spaces: Parc André Citröen. It covers 35 acres along the Seine in the 15th arrondissement, on the same site where Citröen once built his bug-eyed cars. The factory closed in the 1970s and some twenty years later, after the auto plant was razed, Alain Provost and Gilles Clément won the competition to design a park here.

The description below—a rarity—idles calmly in neutral. It says that the Parc Citroen includes

“four themes (artifice, architecture, movement and nature) with an overall transition from urban to rural.” We can’t quite picture rurality in the 15th, but, to continue…“The use of water and clipped plants carry a distant echo of the French Baroque. A White Garden and a Black Garden are set into the urban fabric and lead on to the park’s central feature – a vast rectangular lawn sliced through by a diagonal path. Two glasshouse pavilions, separated by a pavement of dancing fountains, stand at the urban end of the lawn. The River Seine flows at the far end. One flank of the lawn is bounded by a monumental canal and the other by two sets of small gardens: the six Serial Gardens and a wild Garden in Movement.”

Okay, “dancing fountains” pirouettes toward praise. But it’s nothing like this encomium from two fervent urban planners at MIT.  Here is a clear case of park envy:

“If Boston were to adopt a park development approach for the Central Artery exemplified by Parc Citroen,” they write, “the required capital and leadership would dwarf anything so far considered.” We think that means “It ain’t gonna happen in Bean Town” but we trust that any park has dwarf potential. “Parc Citroen represents a level of design, construction finish, and maintenance that exceeds Boston standards. As Robert Campbell of the Globe has pointed out, Paris spends as much as eight times more per park than other French cities. Boston won’t do this. There are too many competing political constituencies whose influence exceeds that of public open space advocates. Also, Citroen—for better or for worse—represents high-concept triumphant over public participation. The American style of review that imposes constraints on the creative process has not yet reached Paris. Whatever else can be said, Citroen is not an example of lowest common denominator design.”

Vive l’autorite! Nothing like that grand modernist tradition of ignoring the local citizenry for achieving “best design” (whether architectural or genetic).

For a radically different assessment, check out the Project for Public Space. This group elects Parc Citroen to its “Hall of Shame.”  Why? The PPS jury says the park is “indifferent to users’ needs.” It finds the four themes “a series of fussy little design vignettes.” Further, the park, says PPS, “lack(s) even the most basic supporting amenities, such as seating or picnic tables” and did we forget to mention “the entrances, playgrounds, seating, and activity areas are complete failures” ?

Please DO look over the Hall of Shame, as a very lively discussion ensues. Many visitors protest, saying they consider it “a real jewel.” And, what seems to us a conclusive testimonial, in the park’s favor, one writes:  “Having spent many more days in Parc André Citroën than the five-time observers, I have to disagree. I’ve slept on the lawn, in the shade and in the sun, on both hot and cool days and used the steps and ramps of the jewel-box accesses to recline while reading or napping.”

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Deep purple iris in the garden at Parc André Citröen, June 2007

Photo: Corrie MacLaggan and Oliver Bernstein



Corrie and Oliver appear to have maintained full consciousness during their visit, and their sense of equanimity as well. Corrie said nothing about “jewels” but did very much like the park’s gorgeous stand of deep purple iris. As do we!

To reach Parc André Citröen, take the Metro to Balard or Javel. Thank you, Corrie and Oliver.

 



Posted by Julie on 09/19 at 08:18 PM
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