Greenhouses of the Jardin botanique de la Bastide

Bordeaux's botanical garden dates in principle from 1629, but only took a lasting form in the eighteenth century, when it was re-established in 1726 in the Arnaud Guiraud enclosure, before a series of moves. It settled in the Jardin Public around the middle of the nineteenth century (1855 or 1858, depending on the official pages consulted). The nurserymen Louis-Bernard Fischer and Jean Escarpit laid out a teaching garden there, separated from the landscaped park by large tropical greenhouses: the central pavilion rose to 17.50 m and they ranked among the largest in Europe. Judged too dilapidated, they were demolished in 1931.

Around 2000 the City of Bordeaux decided to create a new botanical garden on the right bank, in the Bastide district, on a former green corridor. Catherine Mosbach and Françoise-Hélène Jourda were selected in November 1999. A first phase (2001-2003) covered the garden, opened on 23 May 2003; a second (2005-2007) delivered the museum and greenhouses. The garden received the European Rosa Barba landscape prize in December 2003 and featured in the 2005 reopening exhibition at MoMA. Since 2022 it has worked with the Muséum de Bordeaux on joint exhibitions.

Françoise-Hélène Jourda's scheme rests on three figures: the greenhouses, the boxes and the stones. The museum's offices and exhibition rooms are gathered in rectangular volumes with timber frames and cladding; reception, restaurant, conference room and technical rooms sit in rounded forms, the "stones", made of concrete sprayed onto metal mesh and coated with a granite-based resin. The greenhouses, seven in number according to documentation from a sustainable-construction resource centre, form the third component.

Their structure is a large timber frame made of whole tree trunks. The architects explain that the simple volumes of the greenhouses answer the scale and volume that plants need in each climate zone. A broad canopy of photovoltaic panels covers them. The built complex covers about 2,375 m² at a cost of around 4.5 million euros (2006 value) according to that documentation; the practice itself gives 2,900 m² of usable floor area, which shows that figures vary with the source and the perimeter chosen.

According to the tourist presentation consulted, the Bastide greenhouses hold vegetation of Mediterranean and austral type, that is plants of mild temperate climates and of the southern hemisphere rather than equatorial forest species. This sets them apart from the former greenhouses of the Jardin Public, where palms, date palms and an orchid section were grown.

The greenhouses belong to a wider botanical ensemble: Bordeaux's botanical garden claims about 3,000 species spread between the Jardin Public and the Bastide. Outdoors, the Bastide site stages landscapes typical of Aquitaine habitats, an arboretum, grain fields, a vine alley and, according to Wikipedia, a 1,250 m² water garden. Precise lists of the species grown under glass do not appear in the sources read and are therefore not detailed here.

The greenhouses and exhibition rooms stand within the Bastide garden, which is free to enter; the greenhouses keep a separate schedule from the park, so it is worth checking before the visit. Allow about an hour for the museum and greenhouses, longer if the outdoor landscapes are included. Free guided tours of the garden and greenhouses are offered regularly on Sunday afternoons according to the tourist page consulted.

The visit pairs naturally with the Jardin Public on the left bank, where the historic part of the botanical garden survives (about half a hectare and nearly 1,500 annual and perennial species), and with a walk along the Garonne, close to the Bastide district.