Espace ver{t}s

“Inside, it’s you.

Outside, it’s still you.

Wide, down to the smallest leaf”

Kathleen Lor

At the root of this project, an urban daydream: what if abandoned shop windows could be transformed into green spaces (ESPACE VER{T}S) …? Could the transforming city, deeply fragmented, traversed by faults and empty interstices, welcome within its walls an additional soul that could revitalize it?

Is it wise to dream of “greener” cities? Should they be scattered with more “green spaces”? A resolutely modern expression in its formulation, the green space is lived on a plan much more than in 3D. Integral part of our current vocabulary, it evokes the perfection and neatness of a well-defined painted surface, and ultimately recalls very little of the profusion and generosity that are specific to biodiversity. The word “greening”, also used in the field of area planning, goes well with it. Together they are valuable teammates of urban mineralization, an elegant manner to speak of tarmac and concrete covers.

To regenerate the term “vert”*, we experiment a cross with its cousin “vers”**. Vert + vers would make ver{t}s. A espace ver{t}s could trigger doubt in the head of the person who reads and connects both words. Is this a typo? The associated brackets seem to indicate the opposite… The expression itself gains in ambiguity and openness in terms of interpretation. Here it is more overflowing than ever, less polished, without a doubt.

A true fruitful risk-taking hides perhaps behind this whimsical idea: opening the heart of the city to espaces ver{t}s also means accepting a part located beyond the agreed limits, an unplanned and unsecured part, a resolutely mysterious and lively part…

* the french word “vert” means green