Paysalia: Ducerf is supporting Etienne Bourdon in the “Carré des Jardiniers” contest
During the Paysalia Lyon exhibition from 5 until 7 December, the Ducerf Group will be participating in the “Carré des Jardiniers” contest by supplying the wood required to create the finalist Etienne Bourdon’s garden. This is a wonderful challenge, as the innovative landscape architect intends to use the garden to treat Alzheimer’s disease...
Following our first attendance as an exhibitor in 2015, the 2017 Paysalia event is a new adventure for the Ducerf Group as we are going to be the “Carré des Jardiniers” official supplier for the first time. Created in 2011, this contest awards a landscaping designer or entrepreneur who has designed and created an outstanding garden in keeping with the core values of the art of landscaping: authenticity, talent, daring, creativity, sustainability and sharing.
As a manufacturer and representative of the French hardwood industry, it was only natural for Ducerf to participate in this event, especially as the 2017 theme, “The Good Care of Doctor Garden”, is particularly topical due to its social focus on health and well-being.
Ducerf is supporting the landscaper and postdoc Etienne Bourdon
Of the 4 finalists, we were charmed by Etienne Bourdon’s extremely touching project and the significance of wood in his approach. This is why we have chosen to support this unusual landscape architect, whose expertise combines both landscaping and health research. He has particularly been conducting research into active materials which can be added to gardens to help geriatric syndromes, as well as addiction psychology. He has designed an evaluation protocol that he conducted as part of his PhD with Prof. Joël Belmin.
With his company O Ubi Campi, a landscaping business network, Etienne Bourdon has been following a multidisciplinary partnership approach with health care professionals, industrialists and patient organizations to establish a measurable scale used to assess patients. He has used this expertise to create over eighty gardens in French medical and social institutions.
Visiting gardens regularly can improve patients’ lives
His project for the “Carré des Jardiniers” contest is called “Living happily with Alzheimer’s”. Its title is intentionally provocative and hopeful in an attempt to change the way we look at the disease.
The garden is structured around three aspects: creating, revisiting and designing. It proposes new ways of envisaging gardens, of adapting them to patients’ conditions and proving that gardens are ideal places to develop therapeutic approaches. According to his studies, visiting a garden freely and regularly, at least 4 times per week, significantly improves patients’ lives.
12 workshops conducted by Etienne Bourdon over recent years will take place in the space. These workshops address:
- sensory stimulation,
- the loss of functional autonomy,
- cognitive disorders,
- behavioural problems (agitation and aggression).
Ducerf is supplying the high-temperature treated hardwood used in the project
“The idea of this garden is to create an inviting, landscaped enclosure by using a natural approach and constructing the space perfectly”, explained the landscaper. “We have chosen the plants meticulously to distribute colours in a way that is as coherent as possible to facilitate visual perception and spatial location for disorientated people.” To ensure that it is safe and ergonomic, and involves ongoing initiative and minimal upkeep, the garden uses various surface coatings whereby wood is plentiful. The Ducerf Group has therefore supplied THT (high-temperature treated) ash decking for the Serenity Space and Convivial Space. All vertical components used in the Serenity Space are also in THT ash, and the benches will be made from Ducerf’s THT poplar wood.
The finished result will surely live up to the ambitions of the project, which could very well make headlines if it is pronounced the winner. The winner will be announced at Paysalia in the evening of Wednesday 6th December. So let’s cross our fingers for Etienne Bourdon and his team!
