international competition

promoted by

YAC Competitions

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what

tree house

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who

Matteo Armenante, Marta Mion, Lucrezia Rossi

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when
june 2020

 

where

Vibrac, Mothe Chandeniers, Ebaupinay

Loire, France

47°05'34.5"N 0°01'53.3"E

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The treehouse project settles in the suggestive rural land of West-France, embracing the abandoned ruins of majestic gothic castles.
By combining the core values of a slow and sustainable tourism, the hotel modules are arranged to become silent viewers to the bucolic spectacle of nature taking over architecture and to offer a new present surrounding to the remaining memory of knights and fairy ladies.

Faithful to the Gothic nature of the sites and the later Romantic appropriation, the treehouses develop around simple universal/timeless principles: a natural and harmonious interdependence between architectural elements, a daring and dynamic impetus,​ and a design fascination for technological truth.

Therefore, the modules act as catalysts for their unique surrounding and turn the staying into a ​sublime​ experience: from reaching the house, ascending a suspended staircase crossing the supporting pilings, to entering the light living room framing the medieval ruins, or sleeping sheltered in the trees’ canopy.

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A generative force soars towards the trees’ canopy and challenges the gothic spires of the the nearby castles, shaping the first pyramid-like module. The design of the 65 m3 treehouse develops for a height of 7 meters, on three storeys, allowing the guests to shelter inside the safe and suggestive tree crowns.

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The 100 m3 module leaves the aid of the trees to be located in strategic locations, as well as in the water, and to enhance the dynamism of the overall design: without any outer support, the slim columns are placed one over the other and finally stabilized by the staircase.