Contemporary dialogue on reconstruction of a fortress. Fort l'Écluse Museum by Atelier PNG
19/11/2020.
[Léaz] France
metalocus, VALERIA OZUNA
metalocus, VALERIA OZUNA
The project of Atelier PNG it's based on the tourism development of Fort’Ecluse and the strong emotional bond which binds the inhabitants of the town to their fort. Through it, the necessarily visible intervention can enter into deep resonance with the rock, with the site, and with the structure.
The Fort l'Écluse was founded by the Duke of Savoy, and completed by Vauban in the reign of Louis XIV. The fort is close to the village of Collonges, Ain in Eastern France. It commands the Rhone valley and is a natural entrance into France from Switzerland between the Vuache hills and the Jura Mountains.
The Fort l'Écluse was founded by the Duke of Savoy, and completed by Vauban in the reign of Louis XIV. The fort is close to the village of Collonges, Ain in Eastern France. It commands the Rhone valley and is a natural entrance into France from Switzerland between the Vuache hills and the Jura Mountains.
Fort l'Écluse Museum by Atelier PNG. Photograph courtesy of Atelier PNG
Fort l'Écluse Museum by Atelier PNG. Photograph courtesy of Atelier PNG
Fort l'Écluse Museum by Atelier PNG. Photograph courtesy of Atelier PNG
Fort l'Écluse Museum by Atelier PNG. Photograph courtesy of Atelier PNG
Fort l'Écluse Museum by Atelier PNG. Photograph courtesy of Atelier PNG
Fort l'Écluse Museum by Atelier PNG. Photograph courtesy of Atelier PNG
Fort l'Écluse Museum by Atelier PNG. Photograph courtesy of Atelier PNG
Fort l'Écluse Museum by Atelier PNG. Photograph courtesy of Atelier PNG
Fort l'Écluse Museum by Atelier PNG. Photograph courtesy of Atelier PNG
Fort l'Écluse Museum by Atelier PNG. Photograph courtesy of Atelier PNG
Fort l'Écluse Museum by Atelier PNG. Photograph courtesy of Atelier PNG
Fort l'Écluse Museum by Atelier PNG. Photograph courtesy of Atelier PNG
Fort l'Écluse Museum by Atelier PNG. Photograph courtesy of Atelier PNG
Fort l'Écluse Museum by Atelier PNG. Photograph courtesy of Atelier PNG
Fort l'Écluse Museum by Atelier PNG. Photograph courtesy of Atelier PNG
Fort l'Écluse Museum by Atelier PNG. Photograph courtesy of Atelier PNG
Fort l'Écluse Museum by Atelier PNG. Photograph courtesy of Atelier PNG
Fort l'Écluse Museum by Atelier PNG. Photograph courtesy of Atelier PNG
Fort l'Écluse Museum by Atelier PNG. Photograph courtesy of Atelier PNG
Fort l'Écluse Museum by Atelier PNG. Photograph courtesy of Atelier PNG
Fort l'Écluse Museum by Atelier PNG. Photograph courtesy of Atelier PNG
Fort l'Écluse Museum by Atelier PNG. Photograph courtesy of Atelier PNG
Fort l'Écluse Museum by Atelier PNG. Photograph courtesy of Atelier PNG
Fort l'Écluse Museum by Atelier PNG. Photograph courtesy of Atelier PNG
Fort l'Écluse Museum by Atelier PNG. Photograph courtesy of Atelier PNG
Fort l'Écluse Museum by Atelier PNG. Photograph courtesy of Atelier PNG
Fort l'Écluse Museum by Atelier PNG. Photograph courtesy of Atelier PNG
Fort l'Écluse Museum by Atelier PNG. Photograph courtesy of Atelier PNG
Fort l'Écluse Museum by Atelier PNG. Photograph courtesy of Atelier PNG
Fort l'Écluse Museum by Atelier PNG. Photograph courtesy of Atelier PNG
Fort l'Écluse Museum by Atelier PNG. Photograph courtesy of Atelier PNG
Fort l'Écluse Museum by Atelier PNG. Photograph courtesy of Atelier PNG
Fort l'Écluse Museum by Atelier PNG. Photograph courtesy of Atelier PNG
Fort l'Écluse Museum by Atelier PNG. Photograph courtesy of Atelier PNG
Fort l'Écluse Museum by Atelier PNG. Photograph courtesy of Atelier PNG
Fort l'Écluse Museum by Atelier PNG. Photograph courtesy of Atelier PNG
Fort l'Écluse Museum by Atelier PNG. Photograph courtesy of Atelier PNG
Fort l'Écluse Museum by Atelier PNG. Photograph courtesy of Atelier PNG
Fort l'Écluse Museum by Atelier PNG. Photograph courtesy of Atelier PNG
Fort l'Écluse Museum by Atelier PNG. Photograph courtesy of Atelier PNG
Fort l'Écluse Museum by Atelier PNG. Photograph courtesy of Atelier PNG
Fort l'Écluse Museum by Atelier PNG. Photograph courtesy of Atelier PNG
Fort l'Écluse Museum by Atelier PNG. Photograph courtesy of Atelier PNG
Fort l'Écluse Museum by Atelier PNG. Photograph courtesy of Atelier PNG
Fort l'Écluse Museum by Atelier PNG. Photograph courtesy of Atelier PNG
Fort l'Écluse Museum by Atelier PNG. Photograph courtesy of Atelier PNG
Fort l'Écluse Museum by Atelier PNG. Photograph courtesy of Atelier PNG
Fort l'Écluse Museum by Atelier PNG. Photograph courtesy of Atelier PNG
Fort l'Écluse Museum by Atelier PNG. Photograph courtesy of Atelier PNG
Fort l'Écluse Museum by Atelier PNG. Photograph courtesy of Atelier PNG
Fort l'Écluse Museum by Atelier PNG. Photograph courtesy of Atelier PNG
Site plan. Fort l'Écluse Museum by Atelier PNG
Ground floor plan. Fort l'Écluse Museum by Atelier PNG
Section. Fort l'Écluse Museum by Atelier PNG
Axonometry. Fort l'Écluse Museum by Atelier PNG
Research in military archives and dating of the construction periods of the current fort. Fort l'Écluse Museum by Atelier PNG
The installation developed by Atelier PNG use in dry masonry the very material of the site, deconstructed stones, and available rock, with the desire for harmlessness. With this, a second life for the stones and a new story for the fort its achieve thanks to built again on itself.
The operation prides itself on an unvarnished geometry, resonating with the rigor of Fort l'Ecluse, cut to withstand the harshest winters. The delicate conditions of the site, in the heart of a high hilltop fort, have led to prefabrication and the notion of a dry site being favored.
The operation prides itself on an unvarnished geometry, resonating with the rigor of Fort l'Ecluse, cut to withstand the harshest winters. The delicate conditions of the site, in the heart of a high hilltop fort, have led to prefabrication and the notion of a dry site being favored.
Description of project by Atelier PNG
This is a new story for Fort L'Ecluse, rebuilt on itself, and a second life for the stones. A strong emotional bond binds the inhabitants of the country of Gex to their fort. This living, destroyed, rebuilt, enlarged territory has often changed its use. If today it is associated with landscape and civil engineering, the gabion is also intimately linked to military architecture. Using it again, in a tourist promotion operation, is to bring this operation into resonance with the rock, the site, and the structure. To use dry masonry, the very material of the site made of deconstructed stones, is to satisfy a desire for harmlessness.
A fort rebuilt on itself
Built-in the 17th century on the borders of the country of Gex, the territory of the fort and the fort itself is alive. Their uses oscillate according to periods of war and peace, between a landscape asset and a military jewel. Atelierpng questions the nature of the structures and their dating, seizes on them to integrate as well as possible into the successive historical layers of this imposing construction, in the rock of the Jura.
A fort to see the landscape and history
Historically housed on the side of a hill, to better see the arrival of the enemy, the fort today shows an exceptional landscape: the banks of the Rhône, the massifs of the Ain, and those of Haute-Savoie. The upgrading of the fort tells the military history of the place, its architecture and materials, and its unique position anchored in the massif.
Requalify reception areas
The first intervention is the requalification of reception areas, on the ground floor of one of the casemates. Without disturbing the rigor of the skillfully cut stone that makes up the identity of the fort, the architect's choice fell on the measured installation of metallic elements that fit into the vaults and withstand particularly difficult climatic conditions.
Reinvest in the casemate
A restaurant welcomes visitors wishing to stop in the vaulted space of the casemate. This is indirectly lit to highlight the roughness of the rock.
A new vertical circulation
The new vertical circulation of the fort can be seen from the entrance to the Porte de France to the seasoned eye, while it is clearly shown from the high interior courtyard.
Frame views
The operation prides itself on an unvarnished geometry, resonating with the rigor of Fort l'Ecluse, cut to withstand the harshest winters. The loopholes negotiated between the gabions frame views towards the environment, both landscape, and military.
The gabion, an evidence
The most visible intervention, the vertical circulation is carried out in gabion chosen for its indestructible material link with the Lock fort, patiently built in the rock of the Jura. The galvanized steel cages were filled exclusively with the products of demolition linked to the intervention, in a virtuous recycling logic.
The gabion is intimately linked to military architecture. It can be found in military treaties from the 16th century and in particular that of Vauban, the mastermind of General Haxo, builder of the Lock fort. Originally made of a woven wicker basket filled with rubble, it absorbed bullets and splinters until WWI. It was replaced by its modern version invented by the Italian boilermaker Gaetano Maccaferri, who in 1893 replaced the cage of rigid and stainless steel wires for the wicker and the rubble with pebbles with controlled grain sizes.
A dry site
The delicate conditions of the site, in the heart of a high hilltop fort, have led to prefabrication and the notion of a dry site being favored. The cuts and removals necessary for the installation of the structure were carried out in a logic of parsimony and economy of means. The stones from the deposits were sorted and crushed to obtain the raw material for the project. Two thin gabion walls were erected and filled in place with these demolition products.
The same principle of prefabrication and “dry” assembly has been proposed for the realization of floors: galvanized metal frames are filled with floor paving.
More information
Architects
Collaborators
Scenographer.- Agence nc. Museographer.- Onetwo. Graphics.- C-album. Structure.- Cetis. Fluids - Axpacaal. Demolition and Big work.- Gallia. Project management (MOA).- Pays de Gex Agglo.
Client
Developer
Pays de Gex Agglo.
Area
140 sqm (exhibition room), 100 sqm (reception).
Budget
€ 640,000 HT (phase 2).
Dates
Phase 1 - Reception, cafeteria, ticket office.- 2012 - 2016. Phase 2 - 2016 - 2019.-Elevator, access, Porte de France room. Phase 3 - Scenography.- 2019 - 2020.
Manufacturers
Metal frame.- Bonhomme Building. Joinery, locksmithing.- Amaro. Electricity.- Grandchamp. Elevator.- Orona.
Location
Geneva route, Léaz. Haut Jura Regional Nature Park, Listed site of the Lock Parade (1946).
Photography
Antoine (Pedro) Petit, Nicolas Debicki, Grichka Martinetti. Atelier PNG
Atelier PNG is an architecture firm established by Pedro, Grichka and Nicolas, architects, photographers, travellers.
Atelier PNG was created in 2007 and practices between Paris and the mountains of Isère, between the metropolis and a small town, between density and rurality. This dual location reflects their vision: they establish a continuity from the structure to the landscape, they pay a special attention to what already exists and always promote local resources.
In 2014 they received the prestigious French prize “Albums des Jeunes Architects et Paysagistes” (AJAP 2014) and the European 40 Under 40 award. In 2016 they were co-curators of the French Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale within the framework of the exhibition “New riches”.
In 2018 they were awarded with the French national prize for timber construction.
Antoine (Pedro) Petit is a certified architect. He was trained in traditional arts at Atelier Pierre Soulages, with Sylvie Abélanet, artist-engraver and Philippe Cozzolino, MOF master glassmaker. He worked with architect Shigeru Ban.
Nicolas Debicki is a dplg architect and a graduate in environmental quality from Paris-Est MLV University. He is Consulting Architect at CAUE de l'Isère with CC Coeur de Chartreuse and Tullins. He received technical and industrial training. He has worked with architects Valode & Pistre and Architecture Studio in particular.
Grichka Martinetti is a dplg architect and heritage architect trained at the Chaillot School. He is also a photographer and graphic designer. He studied notably at North London University (now CASS). He was collaborator in Ateliers Jean Nouvel.
Atelier PNG was created in 2007 and practices between Paris and the mountains of Isère, between the metropolis and a small town, between density and rurality. This dual location reflects their vision: they establish a continuity from the structure to the landscape, they pay a special attention to what already exists and always promote local resources.
In 2014 they received the prestigious French prize “Albums des Jeunes Architects et Paysagistes” (AJAP 2014) and the European 40 Under 40 award. In 2016 they were co-curators of the French Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale within the framework of the exhibition “New riches”.
In 2018 they were awarded with the French national prize for timber construction.
Antoine (Pedro) Petit is a certified architect. He was trained in traditional arts at Atelier Pierre Soulages, with Sylvie Abélanet, artist-engraver and Philippe Cozzolino, MOF master glassmaker. He worked with architect Shigeru Ban.
Nicolas Debicki is a dplg architect and a graduate in environmental quality from Paris-Est MLV University. He is Consulting Architect at CAUE de l'Isère with CC Coeur de Chartreuse and Tullins. He received technical and industrial training. He has worked with architects Valode & Pistre and Architecture Studio in particular.
Grichka Martinetti is a dplg architect and heritage architect trained at the Chaillot School. He is also a photographer and graphic designer. He studied notably at North London University (now CASS). He was collaborator in Ateliers Jean Nouvel.
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