The project aims to restore one of the site’s rural structures, such as the granaries, barns or warehouses; all large shelters mainly used to store grain or machinery that tend to only have one opening facing the yard. These are anonymous and simple structures, completely utilitarian, specifically designed for storage purposes and built with locally sourced materials. That is the beauty of these structures. Their pure utility, and their radical, symbiotic and productive relationship with their environment which are essentially primitive forms of sustainability.
Studio Name: Calderon-Folch Studio
Design Team: Pilar Calderon, Marc Folch (Calderon-Folch Studio) and Gérald Lafond
Area: 994m2
Year: 2012
Location: Rue Gambetta, 4. Chauffailles – France
Photography Credits: Pol Viladoms
The original L-shape structure is kept and fully rehabilitated in order to conserve the original architectural elements such us the big wooden beams, the stone walls and the tiled roof. The original structure together with the new one, located in the old yard and made out of a locally sourced type of wood called Douglas, act as one occupying no more than the minimum required area of the site. A large door opens towards the surrounding fields.
The new structure is built in the same way the old wooden barns in La Bourgogne were built: the different facades are supported by a suspended, braced structure to sheath it. It is a dry type of construction, semi-prefabricated and dismountable, that seeks to recover the social character of the community’s rural structures.
The new centre Léonce Georges in Chauffailles is a facility designed to respond to the need for a diaphanous space to hold large community balls, weddings, receptions, gatherings and banquets. Thus the lighting, acoustics and climate of the space were specifically designed to be appropriate for those activities, using locally sourced materials that represent a close relationship with the village’s landscape, architecture and people.