PROVENCAL RURALISM

Located in northern Provence, Haut Cheyran settlement lies in a saddle-shaped valley not far from Simiane-la-Rotonde, which is famous for its rotunda of the medieval castle and the surrounding lavender fields. The plot enjoys an amazing 360-degree view of the landscape.In search of the unique DNA code of the traditional settlement of the region, we discovered two major threads: the spatial and the material one. The existing open space near the chapel starts the development of the village that continues into a newly-arranged street, a square with a fountain, a swimming pool with a barbecue pavilion, and a garden with a tennis court. Hopefully, these spaces will become the center of social life here.Eighteen new low-rise houses preserve the local conventional scale. They are grouped in clusters, the fireproof walls of the neighboring houses abutting each other. The material of the existing stone houses seamlessly continues into the new masonry profile of the street.