Floating Cassocks
The soil engineer has been and gone, leaving the site with three 10 metre deep bore holes. We have to wait till Wednesday for his official report. The day after the drilling he called to announce the good news as if it was the birth of a healthy baby.
The house is not sitting above a municipal tip or mine workings or a gravel exploitation or quicksand! He did however announce the 'good floor' at a depth of 2 metres or thereabouts. This does seem to be a bit deeper than anticipated. The question needs further investigation.
It would have been extremely surprising if we had been above mine workings because the area where the site sits, is below the level of the nearby river. Twice in the last century the river burst its banks and spilled over into our neighbourhood. The local church bears witness with a line engraved in the stone façade indicating the highest level reached by the floodwaters.
An image springs to mind of the local priest, waiting patiently as the waters rose, with a hammer and chisel, cassock floating in the current.
Until 2000, the floods were just events in history. The impending millennium awoke French politicians with apocalyptic visions of globally warmed catastrophes. A law was passed restricting and controlling construction in flood plains. The law was called a Plan for Prevention of Flooding Risk. This is not as one would imagine, a plan to protect the citizen from imminent disaster with the construction of flood barriers or sophisticated computer generated simulations showing the impact of urban development on the potential risk of a major flood. More loosely translated it is a plan for preventing the risk of any politician being blamed for loss of life or property damage.
The Maison Camy will be part of a new generation of buildings conceived under the flood code. In her code compliant house The Client will be safe from the rising waters like Noah in his ark.
She still has not been to site yet. She hasn't even visited the blog yet. It is now 11 days since the demolition.
The house is not sitting above a municipal tip or mine workings or a gravel exploitation or quicksand! He did however announce the 'good floor' at a depth of 2 metres or thereabouts. This does seem to be a bit deeper than anticipated. The question needs further investigation.
It would have been extremely surprising if we had been above mine workings because the area where the site sits, is below the level of the nearby river. Twice in the last century the river burst its banks and spilled over into our neighbourhood. The local church bears witness with a line engraved in the stone façade indicating the highest level reached by the floodwaters.
An image springs to mind of the local priest, waiting patiently as the waters rose, with a hammer and chisel, cassock floating in the current.
Until 2000, the floods were just events in history. The impending millennium awoke French politicians with apocalyptic visions of globally warmed catastrophes. A law was passed restricting and controlling construction in flood plains. The law was called a Plan for Prevention of Flooding Risk. This is not as one would imagine, a plan to protect the citizen from imminent disaster with the construction of flood barriers or sophisticated computer generated simulations showing the impact of urban development on the potential risk of a major flood. More loosely translated it is a plan for preventing the risk of any politician being blamed for loss of life or property damage.
The Maison Camy will be part of a new generation of buildings conceived under the flood code. In her code compliant house The Client will be safe from the rising waters like Noah in his ark.
She still has not been to site yet. She hasn't even visited the blog yet. It is now 11 days since the demolition.
Le projet, dan sa volumétrie, est une réponse simple et économique à l’évolution des réglementations multiples et contraignantes d’urbanisme dans une zone inondable.
L’hétérogénéité architecturale du quartier pavillonnaire permet une esthétique unique exprimée par le choix des matériaux pour les façades et la composition informelle des baies.
La maison consiste en un volume rectangulaire implanté entre les deux limites séparatives. Le volume est
divisé en trois éléments principaux:
1 comment:
God, it must be hard to demolish such an old lady. But I'm sure that the new house worths it. Could you post a view of the future "baby" ?
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