Trafic
design: Marc Sadler
Trafic
A new chapter
in the history
of pavage en bois
Marc Sadler signs a new wooden surface for Listone Giordano that reinterprets the head fibre flooring in a contemporary key. Inspired by the 19th century pavage en bois of the wooden streets of London, Paris and New York, it tells of an era of genius and radical transformation. Trafic is a tribute to a past of change, innovation and new lifestyles: a dialogue with history that invites reflection on the present, the speed of change and the need to rediscover authentic connections with our roots.
“The wood with the head fibre is full of charm and harks back to an era driven by technological innovation and to cities full of energy – St Petersburg, London, Paris, New York – where modernity was designed. Marc Sadler’s interpretation gives this surface a resolutely contemporary spirit that carries a message for the future: technology and respect for the environment must live together and progress together. On the same streets”.
Marc Sadler
Rochamp – 1955
Le Corbusier
Colours
Learn more about Trafic
Pavage en bois.
The origin of road paving made of wood blocks with head fibre seems to date back to the 14th century in Russia. However, it is in the 19th century that the use of this technique is documented with certainty in St Petersburg. Evidence of the use of wood as a road surface also comes from other Nordic countries, including Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Iceland.
Londra
The first small-scale experimentation with wood block road paving with head fibre was performed and described by John Finlayson d’Ayr in an article published in March 1825. The first large-scale applications are dated 1836, but the most significant impetus for the research and development of this paving came from David Stead, who filed a patent for the hexagonal block on 19 May 1838. This was followed by the inclined prism system with a rectangular cross-section, presented under the curious name of ‘Stereotomy of the Cube’, invented by Jacques Le Fever (Count of Lisle) and filed by Richard Hodgson on 27 June 1839, which later found wide application, even in Paris.
In 1839, one of the first important realisations with the Stead system was recorded on the road running alongside Old Bailey, the street leading to the Central Criminal Court, the historic building housing the Crown Court, and near the Banqueting House in Whitehall, in the heart of Westminster, a stone’s throw from Parliament.
In 1843, there were already 85,000 square metres of wooden flooring laid in London and over thirty patents registered. In 1871, wood flooring was still present in areas such as Mincing Lane, Gracechurch Street, Bartholomew Lane, Cornhill, Lombard Street, Lothbury, and a portion of Old Bailey. Meanwhile, new systems began to be introduced under the trade names Carey, Stone, Mowlem and Ligno Mineral Company.
By 1884, as much as 85 kilometres of wooden roads had been paved in London, compared to just 21 kilometres of asphalted streets. However, the primacy in terms of extension still belonged to the traditional cobblestones (1269 km), macadam (923 km) and granite pavé (451 km).
Alexr B. Blackie – 1842
Parigi
In Paris, there are records of the first applications of wooden paving from 1842 onwards, in places such as Rue Croix-des-Petits-Champs, Rue Richelieu (in front of the Théâtre Français), Quai de l’Horloge and in a small part of Boulevard Saint-Michel, near the homonymous fountain.
« Les conducteurs dormaient, invisibles ; les chevaux marchaient d’un pas égal, suivant la voiture précédente, sans bruit, sur le pavé de bois. Devant chaque lumière du trottoir, les carottes s’éclairaient en rouge, les navets s’éclairaient en blanc, les choux s’éclairaient en vert… »
« The coachmen slept, unseen; the horses walked at a steady pace, following the previous carriage, noiselessly on the wooden pavement. In front of every light on the sidewalk, carrots glowed red, turnips glowed white, cabbages glowed green… »
Guy de Maupassant, La Nuit, 1887
Rue de Cévennes – 15th century
In 1886, the prestigious English ‘Improved Wood Pavement Company’ constructed large portions of wooden flooring in the new Marbeuf district, followed by significant applications in Rue Montmartre, Rue du Faubourg-Poissonnière, Place Beauvau, Avenue Marigny, Place de l’Opéra, Rue Royale and a portion of Avenue des Champs-Élysées.
Still in 1886, in response to the growing use of the material, the municipal ‘pavage en bois’ factory was founded, located between Quai de Javel, Rue des Cévennes, Rue Gutenberg and Rue Cauchy.
New York
In New York, the first experimental applications of cobblestones date back to 1835, when 100 yards of hexagonal blocks were laid on Broadway. Later, between 1836 and 1837, paving was extended to William Street and Mill Street. Similar applications were also made in Philadelphia during the same period.
Portions of headwood paving, particularly those of the so-called ‘Pavé Nicolson’ (1854 patent), can still be seen in some important American cities, including:
Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania (Rosylyn Place);
Philadelphia in Pennsylvania (Camac Street);
Saint-Louis in Missouri (10th Street between Olive Street and Locust Street);
Chicago, Illinois (Wooden Alley), an installation from the 1850s (many parts burned in the great fire of 1871);
Cleveland, Ohio (Hessler Court).
Choosing wood flooring is an important step in the process of decorating your home. The Listone Giordano Guide came about to handle all your questions, and many others you didn’t even know you had. Simply and clearly.
