Description
A shell workshop designed by Häusermann on a large landscaped site
In the Rhône valley, the Palègre ceramics studio, designed by the famous architectural duo Pascal Häusermann and Claude Costy, dominates the landscape of the river and the Ardèche hills.
Nestling on the heights of a 3,767 sqm plot of landscaped land with planning permission for a wide variety of projects, the workshop has a floor area of around 130 sqm .
It houses a large multi-purpose space that can be used as a workshop, storage room, exhibition and sales area. Entirely open-plan, this evolving space offers great potential for a variety of uses (residential, events or artistic).
The building opens out onto the countryside through large, rounded bay windows all around the structure. On the south façade, three glass spheres offer panoramic views of the landscape. They are used as workspaces, each housing a potter’s wheel. Some of the equipment and furnishings, such as a fireplace, shelves, a platform and a sink, are sculpted directly into the concrete and integrated into the architecture.
To the north, a wide canopy extends the roof and houses two access doors, one oblong and one circular on a pivot, made in resin by ceramists Jean-Paul and Suzy Brunet. The smooth surface of the single white shell is punctuated by four chimneys rising from the roof, and by Plexiglas globes with blue frames.
On the heights of the commune of Ponsas, the studio overlooks the Rhône river, in harmony with the surrounding nature.
The site is at the heart of the Rhône Valley, famous for its wines (Saint Joseph, Croze l’Hermitage and nearby Cornas, Condrieu, Saint Peray…) and Valrhona chocolate. It is close to the region’s cultural attractions and events – 20km from the Palais Idéal du Facteur Cheval in Hauterives and 45km from the Gallo-Roman city of Vienne and its jazz festival.
To the south, the city of Valence and the Valence TGV station are a 30-minute drive away.
Concrete, a laboratory for formal renewal
A far cry from the traditional house, the formwork-less concrete wall frees walls, floors and ceilings from right angles and allows a variety of shapes to be created. Appreciated for its low cost, concrete is sprayed onto a metal mesh, creating a light, self-supporting envelope without excess material. Reduced to its simplest form, the concrete, incorporated into the mesh, takes on the shape of a shell, in an attempt to create a biomorphic effect. Considered a means of expressing “sculptural architecture”, the concrete veil combines the fluidity of organic forms with geometric rigour.
Concrete veil technique, 1970, archive image, rights reserved.
Final state of the structure, 1970, archive image, rights reserved.
« Architecture-sculpture »
It was Michel Ragon, the famous art and architecture critic who died in 2020, who coined the term “architecture-sculpture” in 1963 in his book Où vivrons-nous demain? Against the austerity and functionalism of Reconstruction, many artists and architects were campaigning for a new synthesis of the arts and for a plastic and inspired approach to housing. The aim was to reaffirm the place of the human in the domestic space, in total continuity with nature and the spirit. The development of new techniques, such as shotcrete on steel reinforcement, will make this liberation of form possible.
Plan of the west facade, Häusermann-Costy architectes, 1970, archive image, rights reserved.
Floor plan, Häusermann-Costy architectes, 1970, archive image, rights reserved.
The Pascal and Claude Häusermann architectural duo
Pascal Häusermann
One of the leading architects of the 60s and 70s, Swiss-born Pascal Häusermann (1936-2011) was the first to experiment with the technique of a concrete veil projected onto a metal frame, and to make it his signature. A graduate in architecture from the University of Geneva, he quickly came to the forefront of the architectural scene. He became a member of the GIAP (Groupe Internationale d’Architecture Prospective) in 1966 and co-founded the “Habitat Evolutif” association in 1971, along with Jean-Louis Chanéac and Antti Lovag. It was with his partner Claude Costy, with whom he formed a couple, that he asserted the renewal of forms in an alternative, organic and modular architectural language. Together, they designed and co-designed a number of detached houses in shotcrete, including the Le Balcon de Belledonne alpine leisure centre (Isère), Club Tekky (Paris) and the Motel l’Eau Vivre (Vosges).
Claude Costy et Pascal Häusermann, s.l n.d
© maison bulle minzier 2019 – 2022.
Claude Häusermann-Costy
Born in 1931, Claude Costy studied architecture with Maurice Novarina, a friend of her parents. After studying at the Geneva School of Architecture and Town Planning, she travelled to the United States and discovered the work of Frank Lloyd Wright and Paolo Soleri, which had a lasting influence on her. Between 1966 and 1973, she and Pascal Häusermann formed a partnership – both in the studio and in the city. Together, they invented an alternative architectural language, full of curves, and built many detached houses using shotcrete. Among her personal projects, the École enfantine de Douvaine (Haute-Savoie), the Maison Cavy (Essonne) and the Maison Unal (Ardèche) are outstanding examples of this experimental architecture. Since the late 1990s, she has been working as a ceramist-potter in her home in Minzier, Haute-Savoie.
Technical elements
Price : 650 000 €
Fees payable by the vendor.
Freehold.
Land tax:
Gas heating
ECD VIERGE