Les Echasses Eco-Lodges | patrick arotcharen agence d'architecture

Right in the heart of the Landes region of France, this hotel installation interacts with a landscaped tableau where human intervention is in dialogue with nature. The first stage of the project consists in transforming the existing lake into a landscape of dunes crowned with slender pines: the dredged sand is heaped up around the edges of the lake in order to create little bays where the bungalows lie. Built in wood, these are characterised by a notably prismatic arrangement which favours openings onto the lake whilst conserving the privacy of the occupants. The pavilion’s oblique lines, as well as the reception building’s, form a contrast with the rounded dunes and the linear canopy behind. The harmony between the constructions and the environment is not built on imitation: the architecture and the site are defined by a contrasting homology. Placed over the water that mirrors them, these small, autonomous units are a point in the landscape and allow nature to form a continuous milieu. Different pathways snake between the hills and, through the variety of perspectives on offer on the site, this feeling is confirmed.