Vegetable gardens in High Schools – Clermont > Rémi Algis (Atelier Rémi Algis) & Claire Vigé Hélie, 2020 – 2021

Vegetable gardens in High Schools – Clermont > Rémi Algis (Atelier Rémi Algis) & Claire Vigé Hélie, 2020 – 2021

” Permaculture offers a set of ethical and conceptual principles that are accessible, intuitive and full of common sens, inviting us to build sustainable human societies. The creation of this permacultural vegetable garden will be part of the continuity and complementarity of the environmental awareness initiatives in place in the host high school. This approach will provide a time and space for discussion and learning about the issues facing our modern societies. It will allow, based on the conceptual principles of permaculture, to create and experiment with small-scale solutions to relearn how to live with the land. This garden will be adapted to its site as well as to the needs and expectations of high school users. The team noted that this garden should be designed to minimize maintenance, with harvest periods adapted to the school year …
The permacultural approach is built with the knowledge and know-how of each person. It will require each of the participants to combine intuition and analysis, the main qualities for understanding a complex system, even on a small scale, in its entirety. It will also require daring and creativity, qualities that everyone can develop ! As part of the workshops, we will also provide high school students with the keys to understanding the design of this permacultural design, such as conceptual principles, the basis of a permacultural approach, simple and full of common sense, transposable to the garden, in high school or at home; more specific principles of planning a permacultural garden; lights into the elements to be taken into account in the design : what ntaure teaches us, living soil, the services provided by nature, influences outside the garden, the trees in the garden, the adaptation of the garden to its gardeners, etc.
The different sequences of co-creation and mediation will be organized in order to awaken the critical sense, the creativity and the practical sense of each participant, in particular by favoring the alternation of working time in group, sub-group and individual, favorable the expression of each participant, the development of their autonomy and their sense of cooperation; by using playful and educational modes of animation, favoring the setting in situation and the discovery by the participants : use of Lego bricks to represent a space and its uses, representation of a desired future through a “postcard”, creation collective of a model, discovery of the tools of the permacultural garden in advance of the work site, etc. ; and by promoting a benevolent framework for the participation of all : proposal of some rules favoring expression, such as the “angel’s lawyer” technique aimed at identifying the strengths of each person’s proposals.
This design will be approached as a collaborative and horizontal exercise, involving the team of Art & jardins | Hauts-de-France, the high school teaching team as well as the high school students. It will be approached in a spirit of reciprocity and openness, both of the place and of its multiple occupants (humans, fauna, flora). People from the establishment not directly involved in the design, as well as families, may be invited at certain key moments : presentation of the process (as an introduction to the workshop on the definition of the vision), presentation of the finalized design, work site visit, and other suggestions.”

Project by Rémi Algis (Atelier Rémi Algis) & Claire Vigé Hélie