« Fenêtres dans le temps au Château de la Huardière » – Sully sur Loire, France

The story of
Windows through Time on Huardière Domain

The story of our project could come down to several simple steps: we received the task, we studied it thoroughly, after a while we found a solution, we delivered the project – and that’s it! But the story isn’t nevertheless as simple as that.
Looking back, we hardly remember the time when, dog tired and exhausted, all we wanted to do was to get to the end. Now we feel only the joy and confidence of having found the best solution. Our hearts are light.

Everything started with the challenge to find an answer for Huardière Domain, surrounded by the overwhelming cultural context of the Loire Valley.
The task was advertised at the university, and everybody kept asking scores of questions. We were all eager to comprehend the style and the history of the castle, as well as the requirements of the task. We therefore started a thorough study of the history of the French Garden, of the clime and soil features of the area, of everything that could provided us with as many information as possible about the site, especially as we lacked a direct experience with the domain.

When you are a student in the fourth year, right before the graduation exams, responsibility should prevail over day-dreaming. For us, at the beginning of our professional endeavor, any project is a serious challenge, and Huardière Domain, more than anything, was such a challenge. But answering it wasn’t easy at all. We felt we were obliged to the site. We have been conquered by the Castle, by the elegance and delicacy of its style, as well as the forest around and by the entire natural frame, the Loire Vally. Everything radiates poetry and beauty, tranquility and equilibrium, and our duty was to bring something that should complete this environment, without corrupting anything. We took the solemn commitment that our project should bring a homage to the French Garden. But how would one be supposed to attain such a great purpose?

Our team is made of three very distinct personalities – Iulia, Livia and Alina – each with her own vision, and each supporting and completing the whole. We have been working together for a long time and we know each other very well, therefore we all trust the decisions each of us makes. We are also working together for our graduation project. Each came with her own ideas and, following the guidance of Violeta, our Composition, Design and Restoration teacher, and the coordinator of our graduation projects, we managed to merge our ideas in a harmonious whole. Our teacher’s involvement helped us immensely, and she impressed us with her openness and spontaneity. In the end, we realized that such was her commitment to this competition, that she was actually a part of the team. Therefore we decided that it is only right to mention her name among ours … and not as a supervisor.

We started a labor that wound end late at night, running at the last possible moment to catch the last metro train, at midnight. For debates and proofs, we would meet at our places, or at the library and, sometimes, on Sundays, at a bistro next to our teacher’s place, where we used to discuss, laptops on table, on and on, for endless hours, immersed in our work, forgetting to order anything but a lemonade. The waiters started to recognize us and they would prepare us a table next to an electric plug, spoiling us with tons of honey.

Finding a concept that could conciliate the demands of the task with our vision was vital. It wasn’t easy at all. Step by step, we realized that everything could not come down to only one idea. A series of concepts were born, and we strived to assemble them all together, unable to abandon any of them. Besides, this place, with a huge potential, must be arranged as a prolongation of its symbolic inheritance… by its conservation, valorization and enrichment.

Another challenge was keeping to the premise that our project should not damage the wonderful vegetal frame on the site and its natural equilibrium. We sought and studied data on the Orleans Forest, on its biodiversity, its flora and fauna, and on the typology of its soil. The forest of Huardière Domain is a Natura 2000 site. Therefore expanding the forest is vital for the habitat of the animals, birds and insects.

We wanted Huardière to be a complex where the natural equilibrium will be preserved. We paid great attention to the forest, which we have expanded, and we have surrounded the entire domain with a new body of forest, as a protective, magical girdle (as the Girdle of Melian around Doriath). We decided that it is very important to surround the entire domain with the species living in this forest. We only added some non-invasive species, to underline and make the best use of a certain area, to generate a certain atmosphere, to create intimacy.
The presence of Loire right next to the domain fascinated us even from the very beginning. The river attracted us, with an invisible force one cannot resist. The area adjacent to Loire was emphasized as an invitation to discover the magic of water. This natural area, lacking any intervention, was dedicated to the concept of the third landscape of Gilles Clément.

Mrs. Angela Crăciun felt very well the possibilities of the site and we thought it would be our duty to meet her expectations and to concur in developing this area. The new garden was conceived in a manner that makes possible its building in several stages and each newly created area will have its distinct personality. The domain can be fully functional after the creation of the forest girdle in the first stage – the Romantic stage. The areas recalling the evolution of the French Garden will be realized in the second stage, enriching and completing the whole.

Working on this project was both gratifying and thrilling as it has been an unusual, original as it came unexpectedly and as we couldn’t have completed our undergraduate studies without testing our knowledge and creativity on a project of such nature and scale.

We congratulate Mrs. Angela Crăciun for the idea of launching and international project competition for the Landscape Architecture students and we hope that, together, we will realize a true and wonderful jardin à la francaise, in the unique atmosphere of the Huardière Domain!

We also thank Mrs. Angela Crăciun for the wonderful opportunity to dream on the banks of Loire, to know new region and, especially, for her confidence in the creativity and enthusiasm of students.

We congratulate all the participants in this competition and we are very eager to get together us and our projects!

  • English Title : Windows through Time on Huardière Domain - Sully sur Loire, France
  • University : University of Agronomical Sciences and Veterinary Medicine, RO
  • Project was done for Course Unit : Design in peisagistica ( Landscape Design )
  • Coordinates - Longitude: : 26.147460937500000000
  • Coordinates - Latitude: : 44.213709909702054000
  • Notes : The team in alphabetical order: Iulia Dobrovie, Livia Dumitru, Alina Vladu Project coordinator: PhD Violeta Raducan
  • Weblink : http://www.jardins.chateaudelahuardiere.com/content/windows-time-huardi%C3%A8re-castle-fen%C3%AAtres-dans-le-temps-au-ch%C3%A2teau-de-la-huardi%C3%A8re-1
  • Academic Year : 2009 / 10
  • City : Bucharest
  • Project Language : Romanian
  • Supervisor : Violeta Raducan, Salma El Shamali
  • Location of project : France
  • Image Title : Windows Project
  • Image Desc : .