• Project name: Bussigny Côté Gare

• Location town/canton: Bussigny, canton of Vaud

• Type of project: Urban piece

• Project start date: 2015

• Delivery date: Inauguration 2024

• Area of ​​the AMEX project: 22,600m2

• AIS Stages: 21 - 41

• Client: HRS

• Mandatory architects: CCHE Lausanne SA, Favre & Guth SA, jbmn architectes

✔️ Support the transformation of a former industrial wasteland into a mixed residential area integrated into its environment.

✔️ Create quality public spaces for users in a plot with high construction density.

✔️ Plant a neighborhood of homes and shops to create the Bussigny of tomorrow.

Côté Gare, as its name suggests, is directly connected to Bussigny station, near the outskirts of Lausanne. This project is the first urban piece to initiate the new urbanism of the southern part of the city, with the downgrading of industrial and craft areas into mixed areas.

Composed of 6 buildings, the district combines housing, offices, shops and services. The site, in direct proximity to the station, is part of a territorial desire for soft mobility, with an emphasis on rail, cyclist and pedestrian traffic.

The concept of this district is to integrate nature areas on all floors. Green roofs, hanging plants, planted containers, green waterfalls… The idea, in the long term, is to allow vegetation to colonize the building wherever possible.

We have conceptualized different spaces, all open to the public and freely accessible. In the interior courtyards of the buildings, the hearts of blocks offer areas of grassland, indigenous trees with great development to provide shade and various urban amenities.

The square to the east, in connection with the station, continues with a wide pedestrian walkway that leads to the activity area. It is extended by a set of footbridges which connect all the buildings to each other.

The great challenge of this project is to design quality outdoor facilities in a plot with a reduced footprint. That's why, in collaboration with the architects, we decided to make the most of the height to create a suspended public promenade that crosses the neighborhood.

Located on the roof of the car park, the activity platform represents the core of the landscaping, activities and uses of the project. Accessible to the public and with an unobstructed view, this planted garden offers relaxation areas, grassy areas, games for children, shared vegetable gardens and private terraces.

The plant palette on this upper part is made up of perennials, flowering shrubs, trees with small and medium growths. Despite a high load-bearing capacity (1000 kg/m2), we had to resort to distribution slabs, lightened earth and a strategic distribution of more massive trees on the pillars of the car park to meet the complex technical constraints of a park on slab .

• Project name: Notre-Dame du Lac

• Location: Cologny, canton of Geneva

• Type of project: Urban piece

• Project start date: October 2006

• Delivery date: September 2022

• Project area: 7,000 m2 (AMEX project)

• SIA stages: 31 to 53

• Mandatory architect: Atelier K architectes sa

• Partners: Martin Paysage sa 

✔️ Carry out the common and private landscaping of seven luxury villas located on a steep plot overlooking Lake Geneva.

✔️ Guarantee the integration of the entire residence into the protected landscape of the Cologny hillside.

✔️ Maintain the panorama of Lake Geneva while respecting the easements of view and preserving intimacy with the neighborhood.

✔️ Secure, preserve and enhance the aging tree heritage of the old estate.

A former wine estate of unequaled richness in the canton of Geneva, the Notre-Dame du Lac site now houses the prestigious International Institute of the same name. Our mission focused on the plot adjacent to the school. Covering an area of ​​approximately 7,000m2, this meadow embankment, a former orchard, has given rise to seven contemporary high-end villas.

Our team of landscape architects and our designers have designed all the landscaping of the plot by thwarting the constraints imposed by its topography and its location. From the creation of intimate gardens to the design of shared spaces, our team has been able to develop a project that magnifies the identity of the place.

In the past, an orchard imbued with bucolism and an aging wooded grove sported this embankment, offering an enlarged play area to the students of the Notre-Dame du Lac Institute.

After an in-depth study of the existing vegetation, we were able to highlight its qualities and determine the trees to be preserved for a respectful installation project.

In anticipation of the arrival of future residents, we have pre-vegetated the bottom of the plot by erecting a native hedge creating intimacy between students and residents. To strengthen the plant environment, we have preserved and replanted major trees.

In order to respect the heritage of the site, greedy fruit trees have been reintroduced in the private gardens.

Access to the villas is revealed by a sumptuous private driveway, lined with majestic trees. It leads directly to an exclusive underground car park, clad in marble and bathed in light, located just below the residences.

For pedestrians, a generous side staircase unfolds, inviting a gentle ascent along the landscape scenography. It serves the central aisle and offers discreet access to the rear of the residences. This skillful layout favors both the privacy of the residents and the fluidity of movement through the outdoor spaces.

Between the two new rows of villas, the central alley, a veritable jewel reserved for pedestrians, meanders gracefully, erasing the rigid borders. Its wavy design creates a warm atmosphere, offering alcoves conducive to exchanges. The wooded covering harmoniously connects the entrances, cradled by organic plantations with captivating shapes. An uninterrupted curved bench, in pure white, emphasizes the layout and offers seating conducive to sharing. Rounded pebbles add a friendly touch. At the heart of this space, a fountain soothes the senses while a belvedere rises proudly offering a privileged view of the lake.

In the same spirit, the private gardens are a real invitation to wonder. Every detail has been thought out to offer the best experience: one that combines elegance and tranquility. The undulating plantations between each garden and around the private swimming pools make you forget the parcel boundaries while guaranteeing privacy between the neighbours. The varietal choice made takes into account a notion of easy upkeep. Fruit trees and selected vegetation add a refreshing and gourmet note to this harmonious picture.

A landscape scenography that blurs the limits

• Project name: Quartier Vieusseux-Villars-Franchises

• Location: Geneva

• Type of project: Urban piece

• Project start date: 2012

• Delivery date: in progress 

• SIA stages: 31 to 53

• Client: ASCHG I FLPAI

The project includes three housing estates built between the 1950s and 1970s: Vieusseux, Villars and Franchises. Located near the city center of Geneva and close to the airport, the district is bordered by two major roads, the route de Meyrin with the tram to the north and the avenue de Châtelaine to the south.

The objective is to reinvent this district by creating new housing and urban amenities integrated into the existing fabric. Started in 2012 with the realization of the PLQ, the urban and landscape rehabilitation is divided into several phases spanning a total of fifteen years.

In 2012, ARFOLIA took part in the development of the winning PLQ as a landscape architect in a consortium with the Geneva architect firm Giorgis Rodriguez Architectes.

The idea developed within the framework of the PLQ and as and when the projects of each of the rooms of the perimeter, aims at a landscape renovation project which proposes to give a park aspect on the whole site to breathe a new dynamic into this historic district in the center of Geneva. The project is spread over different phases over fifteen years. This ambitious rehabilitation project encompasses both demolitions, new developments and the construction of housing and community facilities.

Our role, as mandated landscape architect, was to draw the main lines of a harmonious landscaping between these different urban rooms. In short, ARFOLIA acts as a master of orchestra to ensure the transformation of three housing estates into a wooded urban park centered on the well-being of the inhabitants and aimed at the elimination of vehicles through the site as well as the revaluation of the various landscape components. (plantations, water management, shade, mixed use, etc.).

Once the PLQ was submitted and validated by the authorities, we obtained an additional mandate to develop a development charter and a masterplan.

These two documents make it possible to refine the main directions and begin to outline the image of the district to come. In addition, they guarantee an overall coherence between the urban parts built according to specific phasings.

Mobility has been completely redesigned to favor pedestrians. Apart from a few exceptions, motor traffic is now underground. Thanks to the existing infrastructure which is reinforced, the car enters by one side of the city and leaves by the other.

The landscape insertion allows here to manage and calm mobility to put the user back in the center. Then, zone by zone, these main directions are refined to define more precisely what is given to vehicles and what is given to pedestrians.

The nerve center, located in the heart of the block, brings together spaces for activities, relaxation and meetings. Urban amenities are then planned punctually throughout the district.  

Work began in 2018 with the landscaped car park at the east entrance, and continued with the common areas between buildings A and G on the west side (park, landscaped car park, EMS reception, Route des Franchises connection, etc.). The particularity of a landscaped car park? It encompasses different notions to enhance both the visual and landscape aspect, as well as shading, lighting, tree planting and water management while offering the number of parking spaces necessary for the needs of the district. .

For these two areas, we favored pavers and porous asphalt to facilitate the infiltration of meteoric water. This is a principle that we have worked on throughout the district. In this way, a majority of rainwater is directly collected and used on site.

Water management evolves over the years and issues arise. A long-term project like this allows us to implement and test new solutions as the urban pieces are built. The next ones will include, for example, storage tanks to supply watering.

The landscape charter is an essential tool for making both an inventory of the natural heritage and defining the objectives in terms of arborisation.

Here it allowed us to draw a portrait of the tree heritage of the Vieusseux-Villars-Franchises perimeter with areas to enhance, preserve or strengthen. For example, we identified that the existing wooded cordon on the road to Meyrin had a landscape quality of its own, so we decided to preserve it and increase its density by planting new trees. The landscape charter is also a necessary element to justify the overall framework in which each of the urban parts develops. It then appears as a powerful tool in the eyes of the authorities, who thus have the guarantee that each project, despite differentiated planning, is part of a unified global reflection.

The richness of this project is also what makes it complex: the work on a large scale over a long period of time. It is in this type of evolving project that our creativity unfolds. Environmental considerations change, implying to adapt our methods for a result that meets the expectations of the inhabitants. Urban renewal through landscaping is also a means of bringing life back to the district, of changing the ratios of scale to refocus on the user, and particularly on the pedestrian.

In this project, the relationship between the human and the built is woven here thanks to the vegetation. In short, it is the paroxysm of our profession.   

• Name of the project: Quartier Concorde sector F

• Location city/canton: Geneva

• Type of project: urban piece

• Project start date: 2016

• Delivery date: 2022

• Surface area of ​​the AMEX project: 7,767m2

• SIA phases: 31 - 53

• Architect representative: ass architects associés SA

• Partner company: BEP

✔️ Support urban densification by guaranteeing the quality of life of residents.

✔️ Preserve as many existing trees as possible and a shared garden area.

✔️ Offer generous outdoor amenities for apartment residents and local residents.

This project is located in the heart of Geneva, in the rapidly changing urban Concorde district. Faced with the growing demand for housing, the HBM Émile Dupont Foundation wanted to densify its residential stock. Entirely pedestrian, the plot initially housed eight buildings built in the 1950s, accompanied by large green spaces and shared gardens.

In response to a competition, we were commissioned with ASS Architectes Associés SA to redefine this residential area. The mission had to respond to two strong wishes of the Foundation: increase the number of housing while preserving leisure spaces to guarantee the quality of life of residents.

To the north, a public square connects the housing complex with the neighborhood. This area has places for bicycles, ecopoints for waste collection, and the “fault”, a path which crosses the plot to connect Chemin des Sports to Chemin des Ouches. At the rear, along the Voie Verte bordering the CFF tracks, we have preserved the existing tree line. To the north-east, along Chemin des Sports, the pedestrian walkway, raised above street level, is punctuated by an alignment of lime trees and containers planted with perennials and grasses. On the Chemin des Ouches side, a magnificent Acer pseudoplatanus welcomes visitors. A rest area with picnic tables is installed below to take advantage of its shade.

The tree palette is mainly native around the perimeter, and becomes increasingly horticultural inside the plot. Along the residential buildings, decorative gardens planted with horticultural species and ornamental apple and plum trees serve as a buffer space between the private terraces of the housing and the public garden. Sandblasted concrete walkways and smooth white concrete furniture elements echo the architecture.

We also planned a play area for multi-age children and shared gardens raised in wooden containers. These two areas were left on hold and subsequently carried out by BEP, after consultation with the residents.