Le Plantier

In the village of Châteauneuf-de-Grasse, Southern France, Heams et Michel studio designed a building that take advantage of a natural slope to manage the programmatic mix.

Le Plantier is located on a parking lot at the entrance of the village of Châteauneuf-de-Grasse, a few km away from the French Riviera, near an elementary school and sports fields. Its topography shows a slight slope: it is bordered by the intersection of two roads in the upper part and tennis courts in the lower part. The municipality wanted to build a sports pole near the tennis courts as well as a collective kitchen and a school canteen in relation to the local school.

The project has an “L” shape and is aligned with the existing roads. Heams et Michel took advantage of the land’s natural slope to manage the programmatic mix. The kitchen and school canteen as well as the clubhouse are located in the lower part of the volume and form the subbasement of the project. It forms a stone wall and hangs the project on the ground, in the continuity of stone retaining walls that characterize the local landscape.

The roof of the clubhouse generates a front entrance for the program of the floor related to sports activities (dojo and dance hall). This white volume has very few windows. Cantilevered over the subbasement in stone, it operates a game of contrast while emphasizing the contemporary aspect of the project.