Le Havre The Wetland Park
Landscape + Urbanism Portfolio
Chongyi Wu MA Landscape+Urbanism Kingston University London K1405335 Tutors: Assoc Prof. Pat Brown
Contents
Introduction
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Chapter One: Context
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Location and transport of Le Havre Population City district Waterway
Chapter Two: Strategy
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Site of the project The relationship between Seine estuary and project The influence of natural factors on the design Fauna of the Estuary
Chapter Three: Site analysis Introduction of the site The elements in the site The elements aound the site
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Chapter Four: Design analysis
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Design concept Master plan Section After the completion of the design's display Layers analysis Design with the surrounding environment Timeline
Chapter Five: Planting strategy
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The introduction of planting Planting master plan
Chapter Six: Material strategy
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The introduction of material Material master plan
Chapter Seven: Focus area
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Focus area one analysis: Wetland area Focus area two analysis: Share space
Chapter Eight: Future planning
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Culture road plan
Reference & bibliography
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Introduction
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Le Havre is located in the northwest of France, which is the second biggest city in this area. Its name originated from ‘port’ in French. Furthermore, because Le Havre is located in the estuary of Seine and close to the English Channel, it is famous for the function of shipping. However, most of the buildings in the city centre of Le Havre were destroyed during WWII. Studies indicate that the population in Le Havre has decreased gradually over the last 40 years. As a result,there is continuing urban planning in this city- including social, economic and environmental chan. The Seine Estuary. is designated a Nature Reserve. It is a rich habitat for wildlife and its designations ensures biodiversity of the estuary. Le Havre is a harbor city, with a close relationship with the River Seine. The Seine Estuary is an important part of the natural capital and culture of this city. During recent years, an important reason of the population outflow in Le Havre is that citizens do not have a high sense of belonging to this city. Thus it is very necessary to build more cultural landscape projects in Le Havre. Due to this, I propose an artificial wetland park which is modelled on the nature reserve in the Seine Estuary to help citizens develop a new understanding of the city and natural culture of Le Havre. This proposal aims to provide an introduction to the nature reserve in the Seine Estuary but also an opportunity for citizens to get close to the nature. Of course, this project provides a habitat for various kinds of life in the city as well. Hence, my design project is to study how to build a park where human, animals and plants can live harmoniously. This will give people an opportunity to live closely with wild animals and plants. The project of the park is to help the municipal government solve the problem of the population outflow in this city. The outflow of population makes people feel depressed about Le Havre. At present, one reason attracting people to come to the city is the beach with harbor function. But with the development of other harbor cities, the development of Le Havre’s railway and airline is not unique any more. Thus, the municipal government should encourage the local citizens not to leave for other cities. Only in this way can Le Havre be prosperous again. However, this project brings this city a brand new feeling both mentally and physically. First of all, the mental feeling about this city culture is great. Besides, the physical feeling about the nature is excellent.
Figure 1
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Chapter One: Context
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Le Havre's, Paris and London relationships
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The population of Le Havre in contrast with Portsmouth, Paris and London
In recent years, Le Havre's population decline
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The key districts of Le Havre
Le Havre consisted of city and port. Afterwards, the government had planned a unesco, thus, unesco site had become the centre of the city. In addition, there was a big forest in the city.
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Figure 2
Daily tidal range (average)
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Daily routes of ships and types of boats
Le Havre is both a gateway to Europe and a departure point for crossing the Atlantic Ocean, the last port of leaving Europe. Le Havre was the second biggest port in France (ranking only second to Marseilles), and the volume of goods in containers is the largest one in France. There are not only the cargo ships, but also passenger ships. However, investigations indicate that in recent years, passenger ships leaving Le Havre are on the decrease. The main reason for this phenomenon is that the function of Le Havre was replaced by other seaports gradually, and Le Havre i no longer the terminal port for many countries.
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Chapter Two: Strategy
The Seine Estuary Nature Reserve is important. It is designated to help support effective management and thereby to restore ecological balance in the River Seine. The reserve provides animals and plants a perfect habitat and supports the protection of the wildlife of the River Seine. Therefore, the main strategy of this project is to build an artificial wetland park (imitation and restoration) at Le Havre as the introduction area and the microcosm project in the Seine Estuary (the nature reserve). Le Havre is a working city in France and an estuary port city in the River Seine. The development of the River Seine is in close relationship with Le Havre. The aim of this project is to let the citizens in Le Havre achieve more opportunities to know their own city and experience the uniqueness brought by the whole city firsthand. Moreover, the building of the wetland park also provides citizens a great green platform and makes them have the chance to enjoy the unprecedented feeling of nature. To various kinds of animals and plants, the wetland park is an excellent habitat. One of the important aims of this project is to protect animals in Le Havre especially.
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Site of the project
Project site 10
The positional relationship between Le Havre and the Seine estuary
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Management of the ChĂŠrine Reserve is a national frame of reference for managing ponds to foster biodiversity (habitat 3150, species habitats). The observations of and experiments done by its manager (for the last fifteen years), the ChĂŠrine Management Association, have made it possible to identify the principles and precise techniques to encourage wild fauna and flora in ponds while maintaining fish production capacity.
Seine Estuary Nature Reserve from the air A very severe period of high water in January 1910 produced extensive flooding throughout the city. The Seine again rose to threatening levels in 1924, 1955, 1982 and 1999–2000. After a first-level flood alert in 2003, about 100,000 works of art were moved out of Paris, the largest relocation of art since World War II. Much of the art in Paris is kept in underground storage rooms that would have been flooded. A 2002 report by the French government stated the worst-case Seine flood scenario would cost 10 billion euros and cut telephone service for a million Parisians, leaving 200,000 without electricity and 100,000 without gas.
Restoration of the outer edge of a pond for birds Aerial monitoring of mechanical reed bed cutting in the Seine estuary 12
The flow of seawater
Sun light direction
Wind direction
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These animals may appear in this Seine Estuary habitat:
Pelodytes punctatus
Rana esculenta
Myocastor coypus
Bufo calamita
Ondatra zibethicus
Podiceps cristatus
Northern pintail drake
Anas strepera
Tadorna tadorna
Coenagrion mercuriale
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Cuculus canorus
Botaurus stellaris
Crex crex
Circus aeruginosus
Platalea leucorodia
Egretta garzetta
Alcedo atthis
Acrocephalus schoenobaenus
Emberiza schoeniclus
Recurvirostra avosetta
Ciconia ciconia
Luscinia svecica
Homarus gammarus
Gobius niger
Atherina presbyter
Galathea squamifera Hemigrapsus sanguineus Dicentrarchus labra
Crepidula fornicata
Anguilla anguilla
Cerastoderma edule
Mya arenaria
Trisopterus luscus
Mytilus edulis
Littorina littorea
Balanus crenatus
Pleuronectes platessa
Mugil sp.
Carcinus maenas
Eperlan poisson
Gasterosteus aculeatus
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Chapter Three: Site analysis
This place is located between UNESCO and the seaside. It was once a place used to park and fix houseboats. Now it is gradually replaced by the area beside the beach. Therefore, it tends to be wasted at present. The main reason of choosing this place to build the park is an ambition to build an artificial eco-park in the city center of Le Havre to make citizens feel a stronger sense of belonging to this city. This place is exactly the right place because it is surrounded by the harbor. Although faced with the sea, this place is very suitable to build an artificial seaside wetland since the sea waves will not be very fierce in the harbor. Besides, it is between the museum and the beach (which is the city center of Le Havre). Of course, there are platforms of the tram, which is quite convenient.
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Before World War Two
After World War Two
Project site in satellite image 1964
Project site in satellite image 1973 We can see from the two satellite images, changes between 1964 and 1973. The location of my project is outside the UNESCO site . It is quite close to UNESCO but not inside it. The place was built from the year 1964 to 1973. Since 1973, this had always been a parking place for houseboats and once had provided the houseboats’ maintenance service for citizens. However, this parking place is currently left wasted, turning out to be an empty area. Sometimes copper and iron rubbish are stored here. Some citizens park their cars here, which is illegal. Figure 3 18
The outline of the site
The greening of the site
The route around the site
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The water around the site
The section of the site
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Important locations around the project site
Ride the tram - how to get to the project site 21
1 Beach
2 Tram station
3 Mairie du Havre
4 Library
5 Yacht port
6 Saint-Joseph Church
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8 Museum and Meteo France
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Chapter Four: Design analysis
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Proposed functions
Shared space development Detailed functions
Link grass playground and museum
Pathway 24
Relationship between tides and site (Low tide)
Relationship between tides and site (Medium tide)
Relationship between tides and site (High tide)
Bridge construction rationale
The special part of this wetland park is that the wetland park will become different with the change of the tide. When the tide is high, the wetland park will become very small. On the other hand, when the tide is low, the wetland park will become rather big. However, when the tide is very high, it is quite difficult for citizens to cross the wetland park to achieve the other side. Thus it is of great importance to build a foot bridge in between.
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Design thinking process of the project
Since the base is between the houseboat harbor and the museum, it was divided into three parts during division. Two sides of it are coordinated with a harbor and a museum respectively. The middle part is mainly designed as a wetland park. The most special point of this design is the shared space, which locates at the upper side of the wetland park and intersects with the roads. When we remove all boundaries of the roads, a shared space appears. Moreover, a resting area and an exhibition area about the nature reserve in the Seine Estuary are set up here.
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Master plan (low tide) 28
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Master plan (medium tide) 30
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Master plan (high tide) 32
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Section 1
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Section 2
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Section 3
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Section 4
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The layers of project 44
The design of Port Square needs to be cooperated with a new Yacht port structure. Now, there is no square for people using the area to the southwest of the Yacht port. Thus, the establishment of Port square can enrich the southwest part of the Yacht port, and it can also make a perfect connection of the project and the Yacht port.
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Figure 4-9 The function of the grass playground is to provide a leisure place for people. Moreover, the design of the grass playground is to cooperate with the museum, which is on the opposite side of grass playground, thus, the grass is not only a leisure place or exercise place for people, but also can be used as a place for some large artwork exhibition, which can be used as a good place for entertainment.
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Timeline of the project The project consists of three parts. Firstly, the shared space will be built in the first year. It contains the introduction area of the Seine Estuary’s nature reserve, the roadssharing area and the resting area near the wetland. The wetland park will be built in the second year. It is the key area of the whole project. The grass playground and the port square on both sides of the wetland are planned to be built in the third and fourth year respectively. They are designed to fit the surrounding environment.
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Chapter Five: Planting strategy
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The plant engineering of this project consists of water part and land part. The planting in the water part is mainly wetland planting; the planting in the land part is mainly grassland. Because this project exists as a recommendation of the Seine estuary, the components of Wetland are salt water and fresh water and this project is proceeding near the sea, therefore, the water is salt water. If the Seine estuary needs to be transplanted, thus, the plants in the site of this project will be living adaptively in the salt water. And the plants have to be Salt marsh plants. Furthermore, the plants in grassland are mainly transplanted from Le Havre, and these plants are used for preventing violent sea breeze.
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Planting master plan
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Spartina alterniflora
Limonium spp
Aster tenuifolius
Baccharis halimifolia
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Japanese willow
Melampsora rust
Calamagrostis x acutiflora
Stipa tenuissima
Brachyglottis greyi
Erica carnea
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Pinus nigra
Geranium pratense
Carpetgrass 52
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Symbol
Latin name
Pot size
CA
Calamagrostis x acutiflora
1200mm
JW
Japanese willow
450mm
MR
Melampsora rust
100mm
Symbol
Latin name
Pot size
PN
Pinus nigra
20000mm
GP
Geranium pratense
Symbol
Latin name
ST
Stipa tenuissima
BG
Brachyglottis greyi
EC
Erica carnea
120mm Pot size 800mm 1500mm 100mm
Planting plan focus (NO.2)
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Chapter Six: Materials strategy
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The materials of this project are mainly reflected in ground materials of the site, especially the shared space. Because the shared space is covered by curved decorative pattern, therefore, different ground materials are needed to distinguish the difference of road types. Moreover, wooden materials must be waterproof.
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1
2
American Douglas fir preservative wood 2000X100X40
Light gray polymer fiber concrete permeable brick 250X125X60
Material master plan
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4
Black asphalt
Green asphalt 58
Chapter Seven: Focus area
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Bird's eye view of the project model There are two focus areas of this design. The first is the wetland and the second is the shared space.
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Wetland area
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Plan of wetland area
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The structure of the concave terrain (sketch)
The path of the wetland area is composed of curve because the path curve can give tourists more opportunities to get close to every single part of the wetland and watch them. In the middle of the path, there is a rather big activity area. There are also some resting areas which are close to the wetland nearby. There are two levels of the path, the upper level leads to the road and the shared space, and the lower one is near the wetland. The bridge is the only transport in the two sides of the wetland. When the tide is very high, it is also a fantastic viewing deck.
Section through wetland area
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The initial idea of the path
Path of the final model
Two layers of the path
The part of swimming pool
Rest areas in the path 67
The model of the footbridge
Entrances and exits of the footbridge
Viewing deck of the footbridge
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The new terrain height (sketch)
Land elevation model
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The depression pools model (one step)
The depression pools model (two step)
The topographic image (sketch)
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Shared space
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The focus plan in shared space
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Gabion retaining wall - keep water (sketch)
The figure of the ground in the shared space is composed of the subject lines (the curve) of the park to remind drivers and passengers to stay aware of road conditions. The south-western part of the shared space is the main entrance to the wetland park and the resting area. The eastern part is the exhibition area of the nature reserve in the Seine Estuary. The street facilities (pond lets, chairs and exhibition tablets) are designed with the idea of curve. 73
The section focuns on shared space
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The texture and the outfall in shared space (sketch)
The model of shared space
The relationship between shared space and the nearby roads (sketch)
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The model of seats and pools
The model of Gallery Monuments and pools
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Idea of the seats, the gallery monuments and the pools (sketch)
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Chapter Eight: Future planning
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How to extend the development when finishing this project? The purport of this project is to promote the culture of Le havre, make citizens feel a sense of belonging. After finishing this project, Wetland park can be conducted as the cultural centre of the city (the foothold of this project), and can be extended to inner city. Furthermore, planning road in order to connect lots of cities as an important cultural place, and for this reason establish a cultural road in the city centre. Therefore, it can make the culture of the city very impressive to citizens.
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Museum of Modern Art - Le Havre MuMa
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Wetland Park
National Le Havre Library - Le Volcan
Mayor of Le Havre
Market
Culture road plan
Middle School Raoul Dufy
Yacht Port
Saint-Joseph Church 84
Reference & bibliography Figures1-3, skyscrapercity. Available at: http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=1632699&page=10 Figures4-9, florentijnhofman. Available at: http://www.florentijnhofman.nl/dev/projects.php Aerial monitoring of mechanical reed bed cutting in the Seine estuary, Maison de l’Estuaire. Available at: Appendix 1 - Nature reserve references Restoration of the outer edge of a pond for birds, F. Desbordes. Available at: Appendix 1 - Nature reserve references Probably appearance of Seine Estuary Nature Reserve, edls-hlm. Available at: http://www.edls-hlm.fr Stipa tenuissima, provenwinners. Available at: https://www.provenwinners.com/plants/nassella-formerly-stipa/mexican-feathergrass-nassella-formerly-stipa-tenuissima Geranium pratense, wikimedia. Available at: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Geranium_pratense_(Meadow_ Cranesbill).jpg Brachyglottis greyi, twig-design. Available at: http://www.twig-design.co.uk/plants/Brachyglottis-greyi Calamagrostis x acutiflora, deelish. Available at: http://deelish.ie/products-page/grasses/calamagrostis-x-acutiflora-karl-foerster/ Pinus Nigra, suggestkeyword. Available at: http://www.suggestkeyword.com/UGludXMgTmlncmE/ Erica carnea, wikimedia. Available at: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Erica_carnea_IMG_0919.JPG Phragmites australis, wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phragmites Carpetgrass, wikipedia. Available at: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Carpet_Grass.JPG Hippophae rhamnoides, wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippophae_rhamnoides Salix species, forestpathology. Available at: http://forestpathology.cfans.umn.edu/melampsora.htm Liparis loeselii, plantlife. Available at: http://www.plantlife.org.uk/wild_plants/plant_species/fen_orchid Orchis laxiflora, pbase. Available at: http://www.pbase.com/fdt/image/43552403 American Douglas fir carbonized wood 2000X100X40, bmlink. Available at: http://www.bmlink.com/ly444777/supply-5473414. html Green asphalt, dreamstime. Available at: http://cn.dreamstime.com Cerastoderma edule, marlin. Available at: http://www.marlin.ac.uk/speciesfullreview.php?speciesID=2924 Mya arenaria, wikimedia. Available at: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mya_arenaria-12.jpg Homarus gammarus, .wikimedia. Available at: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Homarus_gammarus.JPG Crepidula fornicata, marlin. Available at: http://www.marlin.ac.uk/speciesinformation.php?speciesID=3086 Mytilus edulis, marlin. Available at: http://www.marlin.ac.uk/speciesfullreview.php?speciesID=3848 Galathea squamifera, natuurlijkmooi. Available at: http://www.natuurlijkmooi.net/nederland/krabben_en_kreeften/krabben_ en_kreeften.htm Balanus crenatus, marinespecies. Available at: http://www.marinespecies.org/berms/aphia.php?p=image&pic=3595 Carcinus maenas, carnivoraforum. Available at: http://carnivoraforum.com/topic/9333581/1/ Littorina littorea, marlin. Available at: http://www.marlin.ac.uk/speciesinformation.php?speciesID=3713 Atherina presbyter, wikimedia. Available at: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Atherina_presbyter.jpg Pleuronectes platessa, marlin. Available at: http://www.marlin.ac.uk/speciesinformation.php?speciesID=4144 Gobius niger, patzner. Available at: http://www.patzner.sbg.ac.at/Gobiidae/Gob_nig.htm Hemigrapsus sanguineus, wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemigrapsus_sanguineus Podiceps cristatus, wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_crested_grebe Alcedo atthis, wikimedia. Available at: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Alcedo_atthis_4_(Lukasz_Lukasik).jpg Tadorna tadorna, wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_shelduck Recurvirostra avosetta, scienceblogs. Available at: http://scienceblogs.com/grrlscientist/2009/06/22/todays-mystery-bird-foryou-to-299/ Platalea leucorodia, wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurasian_spoonbill Crex crex, lynxeds. Available at: http://ibc.lynxeds.com/photo/corncrake-crex-crex/preparing-lift-bird-has-tendency-hide-grassbecause-very-rare-see-creature Coenagrion mercuriale, wikimedia. Available at: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Coenagrion_mercuriale_ (3615997663).jpg Bufo calamita, museumkiev. Available at: http://www.museumkiev.org/zoo/cadastre/bufo_calamita_en.html Rana esculenta, wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edible_frog Circus aeruginosus, birdingbytrain. Available at: https://birdingbytrain.wordpress.com/tag/circus-aeruginosus/ Emberiza schoeniclus, lynxeds. Available at: http://ibc.lynxeds.com/photo/reed-bunting-emberiza-schoeniclus/bird-capturedinsects 85
Cuculus canorus, ichn. Available at: http://ichn.iec.cat/Bages/pinedes/cCuculus%20canorus.htm Acrocephalus schoenobaenus, .wikimedia. Available at: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Acrocephalus_ schoenobaenus_-Sweden-8_(1).jpg Luscinia svecica, lynxeds. Available at: http://ibc.lynxeds.com/photo/bluethroat-luscinia-svecica/bluethroats-male-singing-hislove-song Botaurus stellaris, naturfotografen-forum. Available at: https://naturfotografen-forum.de/o819988-Rohrdommel%20 (Botaurus%20stellaris) Ciconia ciconia, wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_stork Egretta garzetta, birding. Available at: http://www.birding.in/birds/Ciconiiformes/Ardeidae/little_egret.htm Anas strepera, wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Anas-strepera-001.jpg Ondatra zibethicus, blueanimalbio. Available at: http://blueanimalbio.com/earth/china/dongbei.htm Myocastor coypus, wikimedia. Available at: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Myocastor_coypus_qtl3.jpg Northern pintail drake, brighterfuturechallenge. Available at: http://brighterfuturechallenge.com/pintail-anas-acuta/ Mugil sp., biopix. Available at: http://www.biopix.com/european-seabass-dicentrarchus-labrax_photo-74284.aspx Eperlan poisson, afblum. Available at: http://www.afblum.be/bioafb/especes/salmonif/salmonif.htm Anguilla anguilla, greenme. Available at: http://www.greenme.it/mangiare/vegetariano-a-vegano/15222-capitone-mangiareanguilla-natale-capodanno Pelodytes punctatus, quickiwiki. Available at: http://www.quickiwiki.com/ka/%E1%83%AF%E1%83%95%E1%83%A0%E1%83%98 %E1%83%90%E1%83%9C%E1%83%90 Trisopterus luscus, habitas. Available at: http://www.habitas.org.uk/marinelife/species.asp?item=ZG2180 Gasterosteus aculeatus, flickr. Available at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/44150996@N06/4324104953 bbc, 2002. Available at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/1782691.stm nytimes, 2003. Available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/19/arts/fearing-a-big-flood-paris-moves-art.html Aster tenuifolius, Baccharis halimifolia. Available at: http://ccrm.vims.edu/wetlands/teaching_marsh/wetland_plants/high_salt_ marsh.html Spartina alterniflora. Available at: http://saltmarshlife.com/salt-marsh/plants.html Limonium spp. Available at: http://blog.wildobs.com/2011/12/23/wonderful-wildflower-encounters-in-2011/
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Kingston University London