ANNECY – “L’avant-scène” Trésums

On the slopes of Semnoz, opposite Lake Annecy and its stunning mountain panorama, the buildings and terraces of L’Avant-Scène – Trésums will be staggered around a two-hectare public park that crosses the estate on a steep incline and benefits from four wide flat lawns fringed with rocky, planted slopes. The housing units are grouped into blocks of two or three buildings each organized around a shared private garden.
“Flowing” over the slopes, most of the buildings are composed of two main structures on an elongated base of stone concrete and an inhabited “roof” area in zinc. The views from the terraces of the residential buildings are stunning. Each apartment has long picture windows open to the sun, park, lake and mountains.

Along the avenue du Trésum, three main structures form a built front punctuated by the park entrances. The central structure of the former Hospices building has been conserved and transformed into the Hôtel des Marquisats. Between city and park, working with height differences, these assisted-living units for older people afford residents expansive views through large bow windows and from terraces.

The architect’s forms, materials and roofing are a contemporary reinterpretation of mountain architecture. With its mix of concrete, stone podiums and the zinc of its large sloping roofs, trees and lawns, urban planning sympathetic to the landscape and nuanced architecture, here the city is in harmony with nature.