Deschenaux Follonier archivos - Global Spaces

Collective Housing Bel-Air

Jordi Costa — Wed, 10 May 2023 09:10:46 +0000

Architects: Deschenaux Follonier Photography: Rasmus Norlander Construction Period: 2021 Location: Villars-sur-Glâne, Switzerland

The project is located in Villars-sur-Glâne, in Fribourg’s surroundings. The quiet area is facing the countryside. Behind the road, the field is still cultivated, and the trees are still populated with birds, which give the place a feeling of the passing of time. Moreover, the site is close to the city center. This lucky situation demands an ambitious project to build apartment buildings for rental with high-quality materials and spaces while handling the budget. Architectural quality should not be reserved for the owners of their housing.

The two similar buildings are situated lengthwise, from north to south, following the need to optimize the plot. This constraint drives the whole project from the structure to the typology of the apartments, as well as the dormer window’s dimensions. Each floor is composed of two symmetrical apartments. Right after entering an apartment, you can see a long wall that stretches until the south, against which all the rooms are built up. When walking along the wall, you discover the spaces one to one, each of them with its privacy, its function, it’s opening. In the end, the dining room is immersed in light, and the loggia overlooks the trees and the nearby meadow.

The materiality of the project is driven by both a contemporary expression and traditional constructive rules. The composition is classical a base with the garage and the entrance, the main body with two floors, and a top with the attic and its shaped roof. The construction details reveal the same reference to the past. The corners are sculpted like cornerstones. The rabbets in the openings refer to the classical moldings of a stone building.

Another contrast gives richness to the project. The matter is both present and absent somehow. It is present, thanks to the concrete which expresses a heavy and sculpted mineral block. It is however absent, thanks to the openings that hollow out the matter and reveal the context rather than the construction itself. The high and textured glazing of the stairwell allows the space to be filled with the outside atmosphere, the trees and the wind are felt from the inside. The other openings reflect the surroundings and the light variations, thanks to the glass and the stainless steel. Even the roof can merge into the sky.

An ethical issue finally guides the project. Every place where a person lives should welcome the inhabitant with some charm and nobility, even a new build. Here, noble materials have been chosen, which allow for a change over time. The stainless-steel expresses fineness, and the raw oak gives warmth. The idea of nobility is especially found on the top floor, where the spaces get higher, and the elements get taller.

Doors and windows, furniture and tiles, everything help to offer the inhabitant a generous place to live. Finally, the feeling of being home begins from the entrance of the building. Thanks to the high glazing of the stairwell, the oaken doors, and the carpet made from natural vegetable fibers, the cozy atmosphere makes you want to get rid of your shoes as soon as you enter this big house.

Text provided by the architect.

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House in “La Place”

Jordi Costa — Sat, 29 Oct 2022 07:29:28 +0000

Architects: Deschenaux Follonier Photography: Rasmus Norlander Construction Period: 2019 Location: Villa, Switzerland

The house overlooks the hamlet “La Place”, in Ayent, central Valais. The project takes root in the site’s memory, by reinterpreting the atmosphere and the materialization of its vernacular architecture. Like the barns of the hamlet, the house stands in a meadow that is left blank. Thus, the project frees itself from all boundaries. The grass grows according to the seasons and the livestock can come and graze. The main terrace is on top of the house, away from prying eyes and offering a stunning view.

The materiality of the project recalls the barns’ one, with a mineral cold-looking structure and a wooden roof opened on both gable ends. The roof of the house shifted lengthwise and free from any middle supporting structure, which seems to be floating over the house, which interrogates its primary function which is to shelter a house.

The heritage of the local barns continues through the expression of the facades. They allow showing a base, the main body, and a roof, thanks to the treatments of the concrete and the wooden framework. The half levels enrich this composition by hugging the topography and by connecting the different spaces. The resulting openings adapt precisely to the needs of the interior spaces.

Text provided by the architect.

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Lù Chatarme

Jordi Costa — Tue, 03 May 2022 17:33:07 +0000

Architects: Deschenaux Follonier Photography: Joël Tettamanti Construction Period: 2020 Location: Arolla, Switzerland

The project is located in the hamlet Lù Chatarme, near the village Arolla, at the far end of the valley called Val d’Hérens. Since the origin of its construction, this traditional mountain chalet has sheltered its owner for a few months per year. He climbs up here at 1850 meters above sea level to graze his cows. The project takes root in the dialogue with the farmer, in the customs of the place, in its history. How to keep the specific features of a mountain shelter, while enhancing its hosting potential, its habitability, and its comfort?

The first idea is to preserve the main wooden room. Only a stair is created, allowing you to get to the first floor where six persons can now spend the night. The wood that is used for the first-floor construction contributes to the area’s history and even the family’s history. The wood comes indeed from a little larch forest owned by the family, whose trees have been planted in the time of the first construction of the chalet. It is as if the trees had grown next to the chalet, in order to enable it to last. It looks like a solidarity of nature towards the construction. A gift, calling for a return?

The mineral part of the chalet has been transformed in a way that expresses this return. The construction doesn’t stand up against the rock, it doesn’t destroy it to establish itself. Moreover, the mineral part of the chalet gently slips between the rock and the existing built construction. The lines of the rock guide the drawing plan, and the cross-section reveals how the construction rises against the rock without touching it. The concrete is distinct from the rock, yet they share the same mineral nature. Their unity is expressed even by the color of the iron oxide of the rock, which is recalled by the wooden window frames.

The typical atmosphere of a mountain shelter spreads through the construction and the way the spaces are heated. The timber walls are left raw, with no insulation. The spaces are low and dark, slowly heated with the original wood stove. This essential component of a mountain chalet is reflected by the new concrete fireplace that is built in the mineral part of the construction. Here, the fire is completely different: the fireplace is wide open and it gives an intense heat. A new atmosphere is created, thanks to the visibility of the fire, revealed and contrasted by the cold-looking concrete. We can share a swiss Raclette or a local Ruschia while gazing at the flames and hearing their crackling.

Text provided by the architect.

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