Pellegari in St Pierre du Mont, France by Agence Bernard Bühler

Article source: Agence Bernard Bühler

You might say there was nothing original about an estate made up of small timber-clad houses in the heart of the Landes. And yet the road that leads to it is strewn with fragments of the so-called “built environment”:unfinished estates that seem to begin and end nowhere, streets that are too wide, roundabouts, and low-lying houses whose walls are rendered in colours that beggar definition.

Image Courtesy © Vincent Monthiers

• Architects: Agence Bernard Bühler
• Project: Pellegari
• Location: St Pierre du Mont, France
• Photography: Vincent Monthiers
• Program: 80 logements PLS à destination des familles des agents du ministère de la justice – construction en bois avec ,  démarche HQE
• Client: COMMUNAUTE D’AGGLOMERATION DU MARSAN
• Project management team: Agence Bernard Bühler
• Consulting engineers: ITH
• Energy performance of building: RT 2005 -20%
• Design: Avril 2007 / Novembre 2008
• Delivery: Octobre 2009
• Net plan area: 5270 m² SHAB
• Total building cost: (€ HT) 5 800 000 € HT hors VRD et espaces verts
• Software used: Autocad

Image Courtesy © Vincent Monthiers

Against this backdrop, the Saint Pierre du Mont project is like an oasis in the desert. Beside the modern architectural design, what is immediately striking when you enter the estate is the tension that has been created between the units by making the gaps between them smaller that you would usually be expected.

Image Courtesy © Vincent Monthiers

This radical approach borders on overcrowding. Streets, gardens and parking areas are kept to a minimum. A single access road wraps round the estate, with narrow lanes leading off and winding between the housing units. With a little imagination, one might almost think the estate had been cut out of a single block of wood.

Image Courtesy © Vincent Monthiers

The housing, ranging from studio apartments to 5-bedrooms flats, forms small interblocking units that are similar, and yet always different. This random distribution brings a sense of formal organisation and prevents monotony. Isn’t belonging to an constituated, homogeneous whole while remaining unique and different the necessary condition for any human settlement?

Image Courtesy © Vincent Monthiers

Image Courtesy © Vincent Monthiers

Image Courtesy © Vincent Monthiers

Image Courtesy © Agence Bernard Bühler

Image Courtesy © Agence Bernard Bühler

Image Courtesy © Agence Bernard Bühler

Tags: France, St PIERRE DU MONT

Categories: Autocad, House

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