Remembrance Place in Glacis Park

designed by Ateliers 2/3/4/ /

Location: Besançon / France / Type: Cemeteries and Memorials / Built: 2013 /
Show on Google Maps / Published on June 10, 2014

Faubourg 2/3/4/: A new organization of the main station has involved the demolition of the existing memorial. The city of Besançon has wanted to create a “place of remembrance” that would incorporate elements of the ancient monument and could also welcome all commemorations of Remembrance. The chosen location in front the station train is located in the heart of the Glacis Park, within a fortification of Vauban. Settled up as a clearing in the middle of the park, the esplanade notches the topography by a clean cut, rappelling trenches of first world war but also the ramparts of Vauban. The design of Corten steel walls which enclose the esplanade, recall to mind the military geometries and, also is part of the continuity of the angular design of the fortifications. Epitaphs, whose lettering is cut into the plate Corten, form silhouettes of soldiers on a human scale.

The layout of the place is offered as a large rectangle with corners and straight deformed into a complex geometry, such as “exploded”. After being moved, some pieces of the original monument have been retained. They are now positioned in the new remembrance place, on pedestals low rise, thus initiating another look, nearest to these sculptures. A strong sculpture of Ousmane Sow, “Man and Child” complements the existing monument, highlighting the passage between the tribute we have to for the missing people and the hope which must focus on future. Crossed by a very frequented footpath between central train station of Besançon and city center, this evocative space preserves the History of all erosions, time like the collective memory.

Landscape Architecture: Faubourg 2/3/4/
Location: Besançon, France
Area: 2 500 m2
Cost: 850 000 € HT
Client: CityofBesançon(EastofFrance) Completed: June 2013
Image credits : © Nicolas Waltefaugle

Product Galleries

See all