Cours d'eau et de fleurs

The project

Water Flower courtyard is a winner of the Festival des Architectures Vives 2019. Thanks to our generous donators, it will be realised for the 20 000 visitors of the Festival, from 11 to 16th of June 2019, and published in the book the Festival edits each year. Water flower courtyard has been selected among more than 150 submissions. http://festivaldesarchitecturesvives.com

Water Flower Courtyard sets up a spatial relationship to nature, in a courtyard :

a garden usually blooms from the ground, but we suggest raising the flowers

As a result, two gardens, a water garden at our feet and a flower garden just above eye-level.

Arriving at the courtyard, on the water at your feet, sky reflects and flower petals float; from first floor, through the windows and from walkways, views of flowers floating in the air.

Modules are laid out on a regular grid, creating a light space and suggesting places to play, walk and sit under the flowers at water level.

Who are we ? 

KUMA & ELSA is an international architecture and urbanism practice established in 2018, led by Shohei Kuma, a Japanese architect, and Elsa Escobedo, a French Spanish urban designer. They collaborate on international projects from their bases in France and Japan. Their first project has recently been published on Muuuz, architecture and design magazine https://www.muuuz.com/magazine/rubriques/architecture/49739-kuma-elsa%20-hut-of-silver.html

Kuma graduated in architecture from the Politecnico di Milano (Italy) and Kyushu University (Japan), and has worked for several years as a chief architect in the Tokyo based architecture office Mount Fuji Architects Studio.

Elsa graduated in urbanism and design from Université Panthéon-Sorbonne (France) and École Boulle (France). She has worked as an urban designer at the London based office What if : projects, and as a consultant at La Condition Urbaine and at the Agence Ter in Paris.

In 2018, KUMA & ELSA was selected to create a pavilion in the Chartreuse Natural Regional Park. Their current projects include an art facility, a research centre and a private residence (Japan), a weekend house (France) and an artist atelier (Spain).

Illustration Les toits de Paris by Elsa