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Bruit
du Frigo

sep 2022


The Moutonium

Rennes (35)

france

The Moutonium

Playground – playful work – public space – new district – 2018- 2022

In 2018, the Electroni-K association solicited Bruit du Frigo and Guillaumit to apply for the participatory budget of the City of Rennes.

We were selected to imagine a monumental playful work on the eco-neighborhood of La Courrouze in the Grande Prairie sector, which now houses the new Simone Veil school.

Our duo with Guillaumit is organized as follows:

Bruit du frigo is in charge of the co-design and the realization of the project and of the relationship with the contracting authority.
Guillaumit is in charge of the co-design of the project and the conception of the graphic part.

Our interlocutors are the City of Rennes (contracting authority), Electroni-K our partner in the field, Territoire Rennes (developer), Studio Paola Vigano urban architects and project management of the Courrouze district.

It is the second sketch that we submit that will be retained by our sponsor.  That of the Moutonium. It will be the subject of an exchange with the inhabitants of the district. Taking advantage of a time of consultation on the district animated by the Cuesta cooperative, our proposal was the subject of exchanges with the participants. We questioned them about the game of leapfrog, its playful dimension, the practical dimension it offers in terms of seating in public space, as well as the graphic aspect that the sheep could take on.

Between the presentation of a sheep prototype, a situation setting, a test on a scale of 1 and a drawing workshop, this dense day gave rise to a proposal for an accumulation of sheep that form a pyramid. This drawing, made by a child during this meeting, made our first intention evolve, which was to represent a flock of sheep. We integrated it into the final proposal, which we had validated with the elected officials.

Once this validation stage was over, the City of Rennes’ operations department enjoined us to apply the standards of a playground equipment in the public space to our work proposal, thus classifying Le Moutonium as a playground, a great first for Bruit du frigo. Our initial proposal was partly amputated of its sculptural ambition, to answer the safety norms that must be respected by playground equipment. In particular, the pyramid of sheep had to be reduced in height to prevent falls.

This integrated in our project, the production and realization of the Moutonium, was done in two stages.

In the first stage, we entrusted the META association with the manufacture of all the metal parts (thermo-lacquered steel bases for the sheep and the manufacture of the galvanized steel “foundation” system). We asked for a workbench to make the 70 bodies of the sheep and one wolf that make up the playground: the making of the heads, the tails, the painting of the bodies and the assembly of all the elements was done in their workshop in November 2021.

In a second phase, in September 2022, the sheep were installed on site, with the preparation of the ground taken care of by Territoires.

The official inauguration of the Moutonium in the presence of elected officials took place on October 8, 2022. Electroni-K was entrusted with the organization of the day as part of their festival Maintenant.

The playground will be accessible soon until the grass of the pasture is completely dense and green so that our herd can peacefully enjoy and welcome for its greatest pleasure children and adults who came to relax and play on the Moutonium. Bêhhééééé

 




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At the crossroads of art, territories and populations, our approach aims to promote the transition to sustainable, shared and welcoming cities, by proposing alternative ways of imagining and building our living environment and by exploring new forms of public space.