Les Ganivelles

123, Boulevard de la Dune, Soorts-Hossegor, France

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Les Ganivelles

123, Boulevard de la Dune, Soorts-Hossegor, France

Firm

Type

Hospitality + Sport ›

YEAR

2010

SIZE

25,000 sqft - 100,000 sqft

BUDGET

$1M - 5M

“
‘Ganivelles’ are the open fences made of wire and thin batons of chestnut wood
which are used by the sea to protect sand dunes from the wind, from people, and
to enclose the fragile plant life growing there (honeysuckle, clematis,
beachgrass…). In their shelter the soil can re-establish and a community of plants
take root, each contributing something; there are no ‘weeds’ here! The tough,
the ephemeral, the prolific, from hardy to tender, large and small, the pretty
and the not so pretty, together, they let life take hold.” Michel Pomarède and
Odile Reboul

As you
travel along the Atlantic coast, you often see these dense alignments of
elongated wooden posts planted vertically in the ground. These devices are
frequently parallel to the beaches or the sea. They constitute a vocabulary, an
identity for the place that they protect. The lines of ‘ganivelle’ fence are
the props in a fragile dunescape, which act as windbreak and anchor the sand
allowing plant life to establish itself; the props that check the deterioration
of the landscape. As they mark the landscape, they become the landscape. Here, beach fences on a Cyclopean scale
structure a building, and protect enclosed spaces resembling petrified
sandcastles, their roofs planted with beach grass.

The timbers
of the project are made of chestnut, like the beach fences that run through the
dunes. This wood, from sustainable sources, is left unfinished and untreated.
The timbers’ dimensions and the spacing between them have been calculated to
reproduce the visual effect of the dune fencing and to allow a clear view of
the sea from the building’s interior. Seen from the beach, with the effect of
perspective, the building blends with the landscape. In addition to this visual
concern, the timbers enclose the outdoor terraces, provide structural support
for the retractable sun-shading and act as a windbreak set into the sand. They
create both protecting and protective exterior spaces.

The main
body of the building, all at ground floor level, is set into the sand to limit
the visual impact of a construction on a vista of horizons (the beach, the
promenade, the ocean). The walls are body tintedconcrete,
finished with sand when still wet to give them the texture and colour of the
beach.

From the
road, a passage crosses the site separating and identifying the two programmes
specified by the client (the building for the French Surfing Federation and the
new gastronomic restaurant for local chef Jean Coussau), whilst maintaining the
coherence and continuity of the project. This crossing is a public space giving
access to the beach and creates a place to meet. The two entrances are also
located here, which open directly onto the internal circulation of each
building.
This
circulation runs parallel with the beach along a glazed axis punctuated on one
side by a patio for the Surfing Federation and on the other, a glazed roof for
the restaurant. This spatial organization allows constant views outside. It
also promotes natural daylight, ventilation and emphasizes the closeness of the
surrounding landscape inside the building. The presence of the outside inside
is accentuated by the use of materials, the fencing and the coloured and
sand-finished concrete in the circulation spaces, the latter also contributing
to the thermal mass of the building.

The project
highlights a type of architecture of which the appearance, the materials and
the function stem directly from the local vernacular. The atmosphere is calm
and bathed in light. The colour palette is natural, informed by the sand, the
wood and fabrics of beige and ochre.
The general
design, to its advantage, has more in common with the natural horizon than a
building in the classic sense of the word. It blurs and erases the defined
envelope of the project, promoting instead a functional continuity, creating
both conceptual and formal relationships with the site. It is a project that
merges with its context, ultimately constituting a genuine “landscape-building”

Paul-Emmanuel LOIRET
Serge JOLY
2010

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Les Ganivelles

123, Boulevard de la Dune, Soorts-Hossegor, France

Les Ganivelles

123, Boulevard de la Dune, Soorts-Hossegor, France

Product Spec Sheet

Collaborating Firms

Team