Chalet GRAND PIC

APPAREIL architecture creates a chalet of traditional inspiration combining sobriety and light. Inspired by traditional forms and the surrounding nature, APPAREIL has designed a singular architecture tailored to its occupants.

The couple owner wanted a warm space, able to receive family and friends, in connection with the environment, a place breathing fresh air and healing. The chalet GRAND PIC offers, by a simplicity and a sober materiality, a unique symbiosis experience between nature and architecture.

The design of the chalet results from a sensitive reading of the magnificent forest site in which it takes place. Before even starting to imagine the project, the goal was to be guided and to take inspiration from the characteristics of the terrain. This field experience, upstream, made it possible to grasp the full potential of the different atmospheres that were there. These atmospheres guided the work of the team. Each gesture was influenced by a desire to optimize the intrinsic characteristics of the place.

Beyond the building, the team reflected on the outdoor areas upon arrival at the site. On the outskirts, the development of a parking allows to leave the car to take place at a pedestrian path, from where the cottage appears through the trees. The path turns into a cedar sidewalk that leads to the two pavilions.

The interior plan is organized around a central technical core. On the ground floor, the partitions have been minimally treated, freeing up living space. The kitchen, partially integrated into the core, benefits from a large storage space. On the second floor, the central core extends, this time in the dormitory area for the guests. Interior openings, overlooking the ground floor spaces, enhance the entrance of light and create a link between the two levels.

As opposed to the black monochrome coating, the interior is full of light through its openings, and the clarity of its materials. On the walls, the Russian cherry was honored. The omnipresence of the light wood, tints the interior light, conferring on it similar characteristics to the light present under the vegetal cover nearby. The texture of the wood on all the walls and ceilings composing the internal envelope, allows a development of the vernacular form of inspiration of the main interior volume.

The objective of designing a simple and warm space for the owners is rendered by an architecture with ease. As much by its volume, its layout as its exterior and interior coatings, the GRAND-PIC chalet offers a timeless construction of Nordic traditional inspiration.