Mur à Pêches

“…the huge florescence of vegetables – red bouquets of carrots, white bouquets of turnips, and the overflowing greeneries of peas and cabbages. And all along the road, and along the neighbouring roads […] the distant rumbling of vehicles told of the presence of similar contingents of the great caravan which was traveling onward through the gloom and slumber of that matutinal hour, lulling the dark city to continued repose with its echoes of passing food.” (Emile Zola, The Belly of Paris, 1873)

In the novel The Belly of Paris, Zola tells, among other things, of Les Halles, the large centralized market in Paris, where every morning vast amounts of fresh produce from the city’s belt of gardens was brought by endless lines of carriages, at the break of dawn. These market gardens in the periphery of Paris were specialized in the cultivation of individual products. The production of peaches for the entire city was concentrated in Montreuil, about ten kilometers east of the city center, where an extensive network of fruit walls made it possible to cultivate the frost-sensitive plants. In 1930s, the cultivation area covered around 500 hectares, today the structure of the fruit walls is still preserved on 38 hectares. The walls of the Montreuil “Murs à Pêches” are masterful structures of ecology, microclimate, and economy. For this studio we’ll focus on this compelling site by exploring the wall in various ways–the enclosure as an architectural large form, the wall as a proto-architecture, as the simplest and cheapest form of greenhouse, as a machine to create climate, as an ecological system of production, and more. The studio is organized around an initial cartographic site exploration during an excursion to Paris and Montreuil (08.04 – 12.04) with guided visits. The architectural project and program will result from the understanding of this specific site and the question of how to learn from and contribute to the Montreuil Murs à Pêches.

Excursion: 08.04. – 12.04.2024 to Paris and Montreuil

First meeting and introduction: 21st march 2024, 1:00 pm, room N221