Bandol - Les Katikias residence and Le Bosquet hotel residence
- department: Var
- common: Bandol
- naming: Les Katikias and hotel residence The Grove
- address : 121 chemin de l'Escourche
- author: Jean DUBUISSON (architect)
- date: 1965-1977: first phase of work; 1979: second phase of work
- protection: unprotected building
- label patrimoine XXe: Commission régionale du patrimoine et des sites (CRPS) du 3 July 2012
As a private initiative, the Katikias residence is one of the most successful collective vacation housing developments in the 30 Glorious period. It is the result of the fruitful collaboration between the architect Jean Dubuisson and the company SETIMEG as well as the Athéna Port residence (Bandol, 1969) certified in 2000.
Its aesthetic and modern characteristics contribute to its interest, as well as the response it provides in terms of site integration and adaptation to constraints: interpretation of the view, distribution of housing and traffic spaces. The dense and untouched structure manages to preserve the intimacy of each dwelling thanks to its stepped architecture and offers optimal sunshine and views.
Before the Second World War, the town of Bandol, traditionally known for its wine trade, experienced a certain tourist development linked to its beaches, its casino and the attendance of celebrities from the literary and entertainment world. In the early 1960s, Setimeg, a subsidiary of a large mixed-economy real estate company specializing in luxury housing, Launched in the promotion of large tourist complexes under the impulse of the State which wishes to strengthen the infrastructure of reception of the Riviera. Already engaged in the project of the Domaine des Engraviers (Athena) in Bandol, the developer acquires a plot of land on top of a hill overlooking the town and the port, previously ravaged by a fire. Offering an exceptional landscape, the site bordered by horticultural greenhouses quickly finds its new tourist vocation.
The company naturally entrusted the studies to its privileged architect, Jean Dubuisson. Drawing on his experience on the Athena residence project, the architect and his team are experimenting with a totally innovative typology with a strong affinity for the landscape.
As for the Athéna residence (Bandol), the Dubuisson-Setimeg duo is once again embarking on the adventure of a large-scale leisure residence. The developer and the architect decide to build a new program of housing in strip following the contour of the hill, Inspired by the Obus de le Corbusier plan for Algiers also taken up in the 1950s by Italian and Brazilian architects in Genoa and Rio de Janeiro. Dubuisson was able to materialize his dream of an ancient village in restanques leaning against a hill whose order fascinates him since his collaboration with the French school of archaeology in Athens during his stay at the academy of France in Rome.
The operation includes two separate programmes: the Bosquet, a hotel residence and the Katikias, a co-ownership of traditional dwellings with garages. A club house and a swimming pool are common to both entities. The residence is built from a reinforced concrete structure (crane path technique) and covered with prefabricated concrete facades all covered with a smooth coating animated by dark bands. The exterior floors are terracotta.
The particularity of this program is its total suitability to the site, the constructions follow the slope and are oriented along the hill. The white horizontal surrounded by thin black bands is still there, but in this project, it curves, rises and seems to float like a flag. A path winds between the constructions, and allows access to the garages in the lower part and the dwellings in the upper part. These reinvented streets are punctuated with doors of color, louvers and stairs in a row crossing perpendicular the constructions, which give framed views of the bay of Bandol.
From the surroundings one can appreciate the elegance of these buildings very stretched and of low height underlined by deep loggias that stand between the clean lines of a base and attic.
The residence has 428 units ranging from T2 to T3 offering 6 different combinations of accommodation all with a garage and patio. A specific furniture was designed by the interior architect Pierre Guariche. The 3-storey stepped architecture allows to preserve the independence of each housing unit despite the superposition and to offer the best view of the bay of Bandol. This unique orientation towards the south ensures maximum sunshine, while always keeping a shade area in the patio. The project was the subject of studies and cited as an example in the context of the construction of New Cities.
The residence underwent modifications of colouring of facade, originally white surrounded by a black band, it was then beige surrounded by a brown band and now finds its whiteness with a navy blue band this time. However it remains well preserved despite the changes of wooden garage doors. Loggia closures have altered the balance of the facades of the condominium. Many patios have been covered.
- Editor: Pascale Bartoli, 2010
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