Minimaousse 8 Aquabane

MINIMAOUSSE: IN SITU LOIRE VALLEY*

Location: Loire riverside (Nevers)

*Organised by the Cité de l’Architecture & du Patrimoine (Architecture and Heritage City of Paris), the 2020 Mini Maousse competition is set in an environmental context and proposes a collective reflection for the defence of nature, starting from the issue of water. Each candidate has to design the Aquabane, a floating cabin between two banks (river, stream, lake, bay) with architecture that respects the environment and its uses on an island of under 50 m2.

A microarchitecture project is forming in the terrain between the beach of Nevers and the tern island: a pontoon designed as a blend of forces in movement and contemplation. A smooth transition between volumes, circulations, and views of the landscape was desired throughout the design stage. The notion of variation of heights and framings was kept in order to maximize the possibilities of the location. The idea comprises a spherical observatory with a pontoon in the middle surrounded by a place of exchange and crossroads (of ideas, books, meditation, conviviality, culture…), a poetic micro-architecture bearing ecological values. Regarding the ecology of the project, i have taken into account the aspects of sustainability mainly with regard to the choice of materials and the possibility of a modular structure which can also be prefabricated.

Sectional detail of floating system