Sustainable use of the landscape: La Roche d'Oëtre

True to its motto Innovation, Création & Architecture, the studio has created an architectural project that helps preserve the beautiful landscape through specific measures inside and outside the building and visitor services explaining the site’s history and unique features.

The centre's integration into the environment is accompanied by energy-saving design based on bioclimatic principles to reduce the impact of the complex and improve users’ comfort.

The deciduous trees growing around the structure offer shade in summer and heat the interiors naturally in winter. The heating system, with low temperature radiating panels, is fuelled by a boiler burning local wood chips and a spare boiler running on natural gas.
Climate control is provided through natural ventilation, promoted by the building’s orientation on the basis of the prevalent winds. Water is heated by solar energy.

The materials used in the construction are a reference to the natural materials on the site. Use of Douglas fir, the only type of wood in the construction, underlines its link with the forest and establishes the pavilion’s formal unity. The rough concrete parts recall the rocks in the river bed, and their colour has been adapted to the site using local inert materials.

And so the visitor pavilion of the Roche d'Oëtre site in what is known as the “Switzerland of Normandy” fits harmoniously into its context and offers breathtaking views of the falaises of the Rouvre, a tributary of the Orne, and the forests around it.

Design: INCA (Innovation, Création & Architecture), Grenoble, http://www.inca-architectes.com/
Partners: Alpes Structures BET structures, Thermibel BET fluids, André Potvin GRAP bioclimatic engineer, Michel Forgue economist, Philippe Hutinet lighting design, Renaud Scapin graphic design, Antonio Cammuri multimedia engineer, Nathalie Renaud Altitude cultural engineering
Location: Roche d'Oëtre, Normandy, France
Photographs: © Pierre BOURDIN, Courtesy of INCA
Related links: A living room in the forest, http://www.floornature.it/blog/un-andldquosalone-nella-forestaandrdquo-centro-eco-tourismo-a-fontainebleau-7713/

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