Le Paravue
"Le Festival des Cabanes. Contextual architecture". 7th edition
The natural elements contrast with the town and create a special atmosphere, offering a peaceful environment, lulled by birdsong and the sound of the river. Looking up, you glimpse the tops of the trees which bring the sky to life. These three strong elements of the landscape, the river, the forest and the sky create the boundaries of the project site and will become elements of the project itself.
According to Isozaki Arata, in Japan, the notions of time and space are brought together within the single concept, known as « Ma », which is the natural interval existing between two objects or between two actions, between an object and the object it has replaced or an action and the action which follows. This also applies to the empty space and the opening between two elements, for example the idea of absence which opposes the space within a partition to the space inside a room.
The tree young architects wanted to create an experience for the visitor, to go beyond the simple functions of shelter and contemplation. They wished to offer another relationship to the sky and to question both privacy and nature.
The cabin becomes one with the trees, challenging the river, all the while preserving the footpath on the bank of the river Aix. It launches upwards, accompanying the verticality of the forest, its stripped back structure allowing it to blend into its surroundings without the addition of any superfluous material.The volume engages with the strong elements of the site, its lower section opens onto the river, its upper section onto the sky to reveal the treetops.
A rigorous wooden structure asserts itself from first sight, different textile fabrics adorning the inner walls of the cabin. The framework marks out the volume and the fabric shows it off.
On the veiled walls, an everchanging projection of reality is seen. A troubling experience which questions our direct relationship with the outside and the relevance of the walls which we have erected between ourselves and the rest.
