Until 15 November, Annecy is hosting the 9th edition of its Festival of cabins, created in 2016 by Philippe Burguet (director of the social and cultural centre La Soierie in Faverges) and David Hamerman (architect and co-founder of the Montpellier Hamerman Rouby Architectes).

Fifteen cabins were selected from entries submitted by architects, builders and students from all over the world. For a few months, they took up residence in the landscape and explored human's relationship with nature and the impact it has on it. Among the winners, Pierre Kraft, Gaspard Lévêque and Lancelot Senlis, architects and builders of the 'Capter le temps' [Catching Time] cabin, addressed the issues of water and the relationship with the landscape through their work on the structure.

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Yên Bui

Located in a meadow in the commune of Faverges-Seythenex, at the bottom of the church overlooking the Faverges valley, the cabin is made of a cantilevered footbridge with a mesh canvas, stretched over the entire length of it, stopping just before the structure stretches into the void, revealing a breathtaking view of the valley.

‘At the entrance to the site, there’s a sign saying: “Caution. The well is not working because of water scarcity”,’ explains Pierre Kraft, member of the winning team with Gaspard Lévêque and Lancelot Senlis. Aware of the increasing scarcity of water in mountain areas where the water supply depends on snowmelt, the architects wanted to add a technical function to the cabin. The mesh canvas, stretched across the structure, works as a ‘fog catcher’. Originated from Latin America, and particularly used in the Atacama Desert, Chile, a fog catcher allows fog to condensate into droplets of water and flow down toward a trough into a barrel or bucket.

The meadow, owned by a farmer who has lent some of his land for the duration of the festival, is home to a herd of cows every morning, which leave the site at nightfall. ‘In Faverges, the clouds usually form over Lake Annecy and rise towards the mountains. We had the advantage of being upwind. It’s these air currents that move and project the morning fog onto the site’, adds Kraft. The water, collected by condensation in the fibres of the fabric, then flows into a trough at the bottom of the structure, where the cows can come and drink.

The structure of the hut is made up of twelve 1.20 metre wide porticos. These support a platform measuring 60 cm wide and 15 metres long. To ensure the inertia of the columns without thickening the timber sections, the architects opted for pre-cast structural elements, which were prefabricated directly in the church car park before being moved to the site.

‘During the construction site, the people of Faverges came by to give us their opinions and to question us about the structure. It was great to talk to them and get to explain the project. In some cases, we were even able to change their minds about a design that they didn’t like at first sight.’ One of the festival’s aims is to forge links between architecture, architects and local residents. Back in 2020, in an interview published in AA’s special edition dedicated to the festival, Philippe Burguet said: ‘Like so many of us, I feel there should be less distance between the public and architecture. Which is why I am so happy to see it abolished while the cabins are being built.’ (read the full interview on our website). Once again, the festival has been eagerly awaited in the region. The cabins, which will be on display until 15 November 2024, will then be dismantled and reused locally.

Watercolour sketches, by Gaspard Lévêque

Since 2022, the winners of the Festival of cabins in Annecy have the opportunity to take part in the Villa Medici Cabin Festival, which will take place from May to October 2025 in the historic gardens of Villa Medici in Rome.

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Capter le temps, site No.12, Faverges-Seythenex, France

Programme : Design and construction of a cantilever bridge and fog catcher
Conception : Pierre Kraft, Gaspard Lévêque, Lancelot Senlis
Construction : Clara Chaumerliac, Pauline Boulogne, Paulin Darcissac, Joseph Leloup et Nicolas Wielgosik
Photographies : David Foessel

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Festival of cabins, Annecy, until 15 novembre 2024
Discover the other cabins and find out more about the festival at www.lefestivaldescabanes.com

In 2022, AA dedicated a special edition to the Festival of cabins. A victim of its own success, it is now out of stock in our online shop, but is still available in certain specialist bookshops and online.