Cabanes des grand escape

A series of seemingly indigenous wooden cabins have been developed for natural locations including an eco-hotel in Châteauneuf-du-Pape, France. The exterior belies the sophisticated yet pared back interiors designed to promote calm for hotel guests. The individual suites

float on the water like rafts or are built on pilots like palafittes. Vertical wooden screens of varying densities enshrine each hut to ensure privacy for guests and protection from the sun and wind. "Building on a lake surrounded by vineyards in the south of France is a challenge. In a magical and untouched place like the Mediterranean.I maquis, nature is the only protagonist of the scene," says architect Marco Lavit of Atelier LAVIT. The brief was for huts that were "simple but sophisticated" to sit symbiotically amongst the reeds and promote a sustainable lifestyle. "The architecture of the lodges dialogues perfectly with the lake reeds, taking up the vertical and elegant upward momentum and then rationalising their arrangement, much more geometric, regular and repetitive. In this way the hut remains hidden by a wooden filter." The change of the seasons and the hours of the day constantly transform the presence and the dynamics of the hut within the landscape. "In summer the architecture integrates with the landscape in a perfect camouflage. In winter the vertical lines of the battens are reflected on the water. During the day, the experience inside the suite is a play of light and shadow with the sun projecting motifs through the screens and always moving on the floor. After sunset the effect is reversed, immersed in darkness and illuminated only by the moon, the hut evokes a lantern, radiating the internal golden light between the wooden slats." The project was largely prefabricated in a wood workshop with components numbered, dismantled and rebuilt on site in three months, impacting the landscape as little as possible.

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