Abbaye d'Hautvillers
Epernay, Champagne
for Moet et Chandon, 2003

The creation of a blend of fantasy and reality in the grounds of the Abbaye where Dom Perignon invented champagne. Working with Opera director Robert Carsen to create a private 'lost domain' where LMVH, the Moet parent group can entertain and meditate, the proposals include land art; a rill carrying water from the spring in the lime woodlands on the hillside above the abbey, down through the site in a series of channels, steps and staircases to a flooded grotto; a grass amphitheatre; sinuous vineyards; a repaved gatehouse square and two new lime-walk lined garden cloisters. The new heart of the estate will be three sides of a green colonnade to re-create the original stone cloister around a still, reflecting pool.