The third train

Gilles BRUSSET talks about his project “The third train”, a place of contemplation, meditation and celebration of life

The Armistice glade, in the Forest of Compiègne, is one of the most significant sites of the World War One. The Armistice was signed there, on the 11th of november 1918, in a rail coach, today worldwide known.

The garden of the third train, designed by the landscaper Marc Blume, the artist Gilles Brusset and the architect Francesca Liggieri, is a Franco-German project taking place around the allee joining the parking to the glade, making it a memorable walk before discovering the location of the Armistice.

El tercer tren
Photography: Pierre-Yves Brunaud

Inside the undergrowth, the three designers thought about a symbolic and plastic parallel between the trails of the trenches of the Great War and the shapes drawn by the filaments of the mycelium network. Following this pattern, the paths of the garden make their way windingly through the foliage, creating rounded and planted areas where different essences of the forest can be seen. Adding itself to this maze leading to the discovery of the undergrowth, an elongated bench crosses the garden and invites contemplation.

Space for contemplation
Photography: Pierre-Yves Brunaud

The garden of the third train is an undergrowth garden which embraces the vastness of humus. It takes on the perception of the visitors through their movement in space and encourage the discovery of a peacefull place by offering new, wringely and random paths. He takes place like a third component between the trees and the people: a link that associates contemplation, meditation and celebration of life.

El tercer tren
Photography: Pierre -Yves Brunaud