This remarkable development by Cogedim Méditerranée uses contemporary architecture to reconfigure an exceptional site charged with history: Lochabair Park in Cannes.
Integration is the key concept that guided this development. Of course that should be the case in every architectural project, but here Cogedim Méditerranée faced challenges of a different kind since the wooded site itself isn't only protected, it's historically symbolic to Cannes residents, being the Lochabair Park that for 130 years was home to the Congregation of the Sisters of the Assumption. Behind them the nuns left the school they had founded and their majestic four-storey Villa Présentines dating from 1863, a magnificent example of Belle Epoque style. The Parc Eugénie development (named for the Congregation's founder) has benefited from two architects, Marc Favaro for the buildings and François Navarro for the landscaping. The completed apartment block has been carefully sited in order to conserve the park's many remarkable trees and also preserve the original view of the historic villa. Divided into three sections, each having a rooftop villa, it has been designed to play down its overall size so that Villa Présentines's splendour can still be appreciated to the full. The architecture uses simple, ageless materials: stone for the base course, glass for the balconies, dark tiles for the roofs. The garden has been designed to evoke Cannes's wonderful gardens of the 1920s, but with a contemporary twist. The estate will comprise two apartment blocks. The first, on Avenue du Commandant-Bret, was inaugurated last month and consists of studio to three-room apartments of 25-77m²; the second, on Boulevard d’Oxford, is due to be completed in the third quarter of 2015.
By Alexandre Benoist
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