Chateau de Crèvecoeur | on going, Alice Wijnen, France

Architects: R architecture (Alice Wijnen & Guillaume Relier)
Lead Architect: R architecture (Alice Wijnen & Guillaume Relier)
Client: Schlumberger Foundation
Photographer: R architecture , Asty Studio

Located between Caen and Lisieux, the 10-century-old Château de Crèvecœur is a rare example of a small seigneury miraculously preserved. This tourist site required a new reception structure. After analyzing historical maps and documents, the architects discovered that the original entrance to the site was exactly on the opposite side, coherently with its topography and history.

To set the historical castle in the right position within the estate and its original access, it was necessary to persuade the castle owner to acquire the land of a neighboring hamlet, which partially disappeared, to create the new reception structure. Besides the construction of new buildings for the reception structure, the project involves the rehabilitation of medieval half-timbered houses to develop a contemporary architecture entirely in wood, from the structure and the roof to wood tile façades. For the 15th-century buildings, the project becomes a hands-on learning site for traditional half-timbered house-building techniques.