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Architects: meier + associés architectes
- Area: 5000 m²
- Year: 2008
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Photographs:Yves André
Text description provided by the architects. This project is situated on the Littoral Parc site, which is often criticized for having brought too many commercial activities to its strategic location on the riviera vaudoise on the banks of Lake Geneva. The goal of the master plan is to offer a scheme and landscape that create an alternative to the built-up environment of the adjacent commercial zone. The project creates a more unified and welcoming world in which architecture and nature live together.
The new retirement home is an H-shaped building, at the centre of which is an atrium, open on each of the building’s three levels, which houses the service areas and residents’ day rooms. The ground floor, on which the day rooms are located, is designed for the greatest possible transparency to provide a direct extension to the exterior, for both practical reasons and to maximize the view from the building.
The wings of the building house the bedrooms, which are arranged around a central core of bathrooms to free up the full width of the living space and to orientate it towards a bow window. The window forms a seat, from where residents can enjoy the views.
The volume of the building is slightly bowed by a few degrees, as if to welcome the surrounding landscape into the north and south external courtyards. The perforated corrugated sheet metal facades give the entire volume a feel of lightness and vibration that blends with the surroundings of the park.