Montgeon Forest ParkLe Havre (76)

Located in the northern part of Le Havre, Montgeon Park is a remnant of a primitive forest known as the Hallates Forest, and a vestige of a large 270-hectare park designed by René-Edouard André in 1910, which was left unfinished due to World War I. A new interpretation of the site is needed to reposition the park within its current urban and territorial context, to catalog, sort, and prioritize the traces of all the histories that have marked the area, and ultimately to define new uses for it.

Today, the park belongs to Le Havre’s green belt, connected to the city center by the tramway. This gives it a metropolitan role, while still being a park for everyday use. It also serves as a place where many memories of the territory are inscribed: that of the primary forest of Pays de Caux, that of René-Edouard André’s park (son of Édouard André, a 19th-century landscape architect who worked on places like Buttes Chaumont), and that of the Second World War, when the forest provided refuge. These memories become compositional elements of the park.

The park’s redesign is inspired by the Treatise on the Composition of Gardens by Édouard André. The method involves first working on views, then water features, followed by constructions and picturesque objects, pathways, and finally the planting of tree clusters and individual trees.

Organized by its pathways and edges in relation to the city, the park is punctuated by iconic spots, highlighting distant views, geography, and the memory of the place. It builds on René-Edouard André’s intentions and designs, rediscovering the typologies of vistas, paths, and forest trails. It’s a large landscape evolving slowly and steadily, from meadow to mature forest, with groves, clearings, roads, and trails in the forest framework.

The park also responds to contemporary ecological aspirations by managing water in the valley and integrating urban agriculture.