Client: The town of Saint-Bon Tarentaise
Design team: Kengo Kuma (lead architect), MIKAN (architect), Dollé-Labbé (architect), D PAYSAGE (landscape architects), Silène (water engineer)
My role: Design of the general master plan and the exterior spaces
Location: Courchevel, France
Date: 2007-2008
Surface area: 120,000m²
Budget: 71M € Excl. VAT
The Grandes Combes site is part of the prestigious ski resort of Courchevel. The project’s programm consists of a large sports complex including a water sports centre, playing fields, an indoor sports hall, a conference centre and several outdoor sports fields including the rehabilitation of the site. Our approach was to remove the existing land fill to reveal the natural banks of the stream, in order to reconstitute the original stream bed and to reinstate the landscape on the Eastern slope. The buildings (sports, media and conference centres) are integrated into the valley site and their green roof structures blend into the sides of the mountain becoming an extension of the slope. The landscape design reinforces and confirms the architectural approach of restoring the Grandes Combes site to its natural state. The plants proposed are in keeping with the existing vegetation and are composed of three categories: meadows, riparian and forest species. The meadow is alpine, in order to blend into the surrounding hillsides.