Grimaud - Port-Grimaud

• department: Var
• commune: Grimaud
• naming: Port-Grimaud
• address : lake city on RN 98
• author: François SPOERRY (architect)
• date: 1966-1972
• protection: unprotected building
• label patrimoine XXe: Commission régionale du patrimoine et des sites du 28 November 2000

Built from scratch on old swamps at the bottom of the Gulf of Saint-Tropez, Port Grimaud is a lakeside city of 2500 houses organized along 14 km of canals, built between 1966 and 1972 by François Spoerry (1912-1999). 

Each resident has a boat site next to their home. Between interior streets and canals, the dwellings form a built continuity punctuated by the entrance doors. The architectural language is openly inspired by the Mediterranean and Venetian vocabulary, integrating elements of the traditional village such as the market square, the church, the post office... This artificial city dedicated to holidaymakers was willingly posed as an alternative to the urban utopia of the Modern Movement and its undeniable success favored the emergence of similar designs but less carefully studied.

• Source: Bertrand Lemoine, Guide d'architecture France 20th century, Picard, Paris, 2000, pp.270–71.