Rocamadour, Cliff Promenade, France

Rocamadour, Cliff Promenade, France

The Rocamadour Cliff overlooks a canyon, 120 m above the Alzou valley, and connects the ‘Hospitalet’ chapel and the Castle that overhangs above the city. The City of Rocamadour welcomes tourists from April to October with 1.5 million visitors, and otherwise remains very quiet. The project launched in 2009 by the Mixed Federation of Rocamadour is part of the creation of a 2 km long continuous pedestrian path, and focuses on the discovery of the valley and the city in the greater landscape. The work will be completed in 2021. The ALEP-INCA architect and landscape architect group treats the trail as a ‘mise en bouche’ before visiting the historical site.

The project reveals the continuous lighting of the pedestrian promenade, with luminous points located under one’s gaze so as not to disrupt the views on the grand, sleepy landscape and the illuminated City. The most natural sequences in the garden of the castle are based on occupancy detection, in order to respect darkness when no one walks the trail. The entire trail is accessible, including at night. An exemption has allowed applying 15-lux vs. 20-lux light levels, in order to respect the site, which remains one of the sites in France that least suffers from light pollution. The design of public lighting lanterns was inspired by the candleholders that are used for offerings in the city chapels. Their bowl twinkles, reminiscent of candlelight.

PROJECT TEAM

Lighting design: Concepto
Project management: Lead Architecture INCA, Landscape designer ALEP, Technical Consulting TPFi
Contracting owner: Mixed Federation of the Grand Site of Rocamadour
Completion: between 2016 and 2021

Photo credit: Xavier BOYMOND-Comatelec, Concepto

New cliff promenade video