Chaumont town centreChaumont (52)

Chaumont stands at the tip of the Langres plateau, between the Marne valley and the lower Suize valley. From its streets, the eye escapes towards the wider landscape. Around the old centre, squares, promenades and a wooded valley form a green belt; at its heart, the town is made of stone. The project starts from this double character: a mineral hill and its planted setting.

The town’s very name comes from its geology. The limestone beneath the town inspires the material of the new ground surfaces: light stone, beige granite paving and Comblanchien slabs, in keeping with the tones already found on the Place des Arts, the Place de la Gare and the Place de la Concorde. Existing paving stones are reused wherever possible.

The project seeks a feeling of nature at the heart of the stone. Some fifty trees punctuate the streets of the western entrance, in lines or in groves: oaks, hornbeams, wild service trees and rowans. At the foot of the façades, plantings led with residents and the Vieux Chaumont association find their place. Rainwater, collected right from the downpipes, becomes part of the design of the streets.

Rue de Verdun, rue Toupot de Beveaux, rue Laloy, rue Félix Bablon: pavements widen, crossings are simplified, shop fronts and ground floors gain space. The Place de la Résistance opens up around its great preserved tree and becomes a free space, open to new uses.

Around the basilica of Saint-Jean-Baptiste, a large pedestrian plateau spreads out at the foot of the building. It hosts the accessible entrance designed with the heritage architect, bicycle parking and a few trees bringing shade and coolness to rue Saint-Jean and rue Monseigneur Desprez.