atelier faber stacks reeds over luxembourg sandstone to revive soil porosity on old well site

"Atelier Faber presents Solum, a spatial and landscaped installation set on the site of an old well in Luxembourg City that highlights the gradual recovery of soil porosity, an often-overlooked ecological process. Through a stark composition of reeds and local sandstone, the project, presented at LUGA, Luxembourg's international exhibition of urban gardens, traces how inert, compacted earth is reclaimed by living organisms, restoring the permeability needed to buffer droughts, absorb rainfall, and stabilize the urban water cycle."

"The architects layer the materials, tied directly to the hydrological history of the region, vertically and horizontally. A dense, linear band of reeds, used as an allegory of wetlands, hovers above pillars of Luxembourg sandstone, the geological foundation responsible for forming the country's largest aquifer. This juxtaposition forms a deliberately archaic, almost primeval landscape that foregrounds the slow climatic intelligence of natural systems."

"Luca Antognoli and Gabriel Pontoizeau of Atelier Faber ground Solum in the site's own post-industrial ecology. With human activity long withdrawn from the former well, the land has restarted its biological clock. Vegetation has re-established itself without irrigation, intervention, or curation, and the resulting flora, resilient by necessity, are precisely the species most adapted to the soil and microclimate. The design team responds to this spontaneous ecosystem by reinforcing it."

Solum is a spatial and landscaped installation sited on an old well in Luxembourg City that highlights the gradual recovery of soil porosity. The composition uses reeds and local Luxembourg sandstone to trace how compacted earth is reclaimed by living organisms, restoring permeability that buffers droughts, absorbs rainfall, and stabilizes the urban water cycle. Materials are layered vertically and horizontally to reflect the region's hydrological history. A dense band of reeds hovers above sandstone pillars, evoking wetlands and the geological foundation of a major aquifer. The design reinforces spontaneous post-industrial vegetation by increasing shrub density, adding ruderal perennials, and complementing dry zones with hardy grasses.

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