The Sound of Wood
Winning project of the 2026 Festival des Cabanes
Nestled in the hollow of the valley, the village seems held within the mountains that embrace it, as if sheltered from the bustle of the world. The air feels denser, filled with a constant freshness that the sun seems to preserve with pleasure, hidden behind the peaks. Here, the landscape is something to be observed, to be listened to. When winter smothers it beneath its snow in a soothing silence, summer sets its slopes vibrating with a cautious, continuous hum. Everything seems close, yet distant, when, one morning, the sound of wood singing at full volume can be heard in the distance, stirred by the first rising breeze.
Then the combes emerge, dressed in this new horizontal layer of chimes. The first rays of sunlight catch them, illuminating an interface. The valley becomes an instrument, and Man a playground. We pick up a stick and begin to play.
In this unexpected dialogue, the gaze changes and the body acts. As an actor, arms stretched forward, we cross the wall as it unfolds musically around the gesture. The wave propagates, and with it the notes evolve as the cut wooden batten shortens. While the slender section of wood gives no hint of the undulating sail of the structure, the chimes of the timber framing hold together through a simple logic: a horizontal gesture transcending the topography.
This single section, a 4 cm wooden batten at the heart of the cabin, regulates, dimensions, supports, braces and, above all, instruments the wind through its movement. The subtle buckling induced by this slender, elongated profile creates a slight sway at its highest point. An experience of vertigo emerges at the heart of this seemingly calm and serene landscape, quickly secured by the handrail running along the elevated walkway.
The asymmetry of the structure, extending beyond the floor to reach for the visitor’s hand to the north, establishes a hierarchy between the different façades. These interfaces engage the body from the moment the site is approached, bringing the visitor face to face with the vastness of the landscape. Within the hollow of the cabin, between the oscillating sails, a chime-filled grotto preserves a sense of intimacy, as a reward for the more adventurous visitors who venture through the project’s walls.
The geometry of machined timber holds the territory in its horizontality, the forest in its verticality and the body in its depth. The regular rhythm of the structure, playfully responding to the irregularity of the ground, offers a multiplicity of uses, sensations and framed views. This rhythm escapes in a given direction, towards a landscape, a view, projecting the body into this bucolic flight forward.
The Sound of Wood makes the valley resonate.
