At the scale of large enclosed areas
EMS La Colline, Chexbres / LVPH architectes © Joël Tettamanti
As part of its section dedicated to recent buildings, the journal TRACES invited Clément Cattin, doctoral assistant at the Laboratory of architecture and sustainable technologies (LAST), to analyze the renovation and extension project for the nursing home La Colline, on the outskirts of the village of Chexbres. Reflections on this complex, set on a sloping site, echo the "Reliefs urbains" academic project.
When the open competition for the renovation and extension of La Colline nursing home was launched in 2016, the existing building appeared to be a large, layered construction that needed to be better integrated into the exceptional UNESCO World Heritage vineyard site. The solution proposed by LVPH architects was to articulate the existing building mass within its site, by constructing a large plinth, where residents could live.
These issues of slope constraints resonate with the "Reliefs urbains" research and teaching project, which explores, through a variety of complementary investigations, the multiple challenges and potentialities associated with the transition of polarities set into the slope and located close to decarbonized public transport.