The Notre-Dame-en-Vaux Collegiate Church, a Unesco World Heritage building, owes its reputation to its central position, its charm, and its formal qualities. At the foot of the edifice, this project treats the rue de Vaux like a raised plateau, its outline and paving materials influencing the perception of users. The site is a hinge space for the articulation of the town center and the East neighborhoods of the city and the project will reinforce its status as a public space, by enlarging the pavements, planting trees, linking bike paths and integrating car parks.
The project offers to create a true historic heart around the collegiate, in which the cloister garden takes a central place. A new garden takes its place. Several trees, planted in espalier, call back to the rhythm of the old cloister gallery and its fabulous statue columns which once surrounded the heart of the garden. The existing fountain loses its “roundabout” character and, as a water mirror, plays a new role in the public space.