Arles Luma Parc des Ateliers

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Arles, a town in the south of France, lies at the crossroads of three microclimates: the Camargue natural park, the Alpilles natural park and the Crau plain. However, the Parc des Ateliers, a derelict industrial site in the heart of the city, shows no influence of these surrounding landscapes. A major redevelopment project for this area has been under way for several years now in Arles.

The new LUMA Arles cultural centre explores relations between art, human rights and the environment. The landscaping of the site was designed by Bas Smets, who succeeded in creating from scratch the conditions needed for a verdant park to flourish, thanks to detailed knowledge of the region’s microclimates. Winds from the north were studied to model the movement of sediment on the site, which would accumulate and form a new fertile topography over time. The designers imagined how plants would grow in different depths of the earth.

Soil was brought in in large quantities, and hills were created to protect against the mistral in winter and provide shade in summer. Eighty thousand plant species – trees, shrubs, flowers and grasses – were planted, providing much-needed freshness and a more temperate, pleasant climate. The park was also equipped with an irrigation system that draws its water from a nearby canal. A pond, fed by this canal, serves as a retention basin and helps to provide comfort in summer thanks to the cooling effect of evapotranspiration. These landscape additions have brought about a change in climatic conditions, such as temperature, humidity and wind, and have allowed vegetation to conquer the site.