The Voiles Blanches complex
Leucate, France
SM PROMOTION
Architect: WILMOTTE & ASSOCIÉS
Executive architect: ESPACE & CONCEPTION
Executive Project Supervisor: NOVASUD
Cost consultant: ECOTEK
Floor engineer: FONDASOL
Highways: GAXIEU
Control office: SOCOTEC
Coordinator: SPS ACFP
8 300 sqm
First phase: 2022
Second phase: 2023
Residential project within the framework of the development of the site of the former tennis courts in the Clarianelle district initiated by the municipality of Leucate, with 125 homes, shops and parking spaces.
The Voiles Blanches project meets the major urban challenges of Port Leucate, on the one hand the rehabilitation of the Clarianelle district and on the other hand the enhancement of the heritage of the architect Georges Candilis, by integrating coherently into the pedestrian mall that crosses the basins.
The new residence proposes a clear urban, architectural and landscape strategy to enhance and requalify the existing site by creating several seams with the existing buildings and the other projects. With the creation of small, high-quality collective housing units on a human scale, set up perpendicular to the property lines, the buildings are integrated into the existing site. The exposures enhance the sunshine, the protection from the Tramontane and the sea views from the terraces and loggias. Each façade is structured by a base with white concrete posts and gratings.
The residence is composed of 125 apartments, 67 of which are located in Wing A, facing the rue de l’avant-port, and 58 in Wing B, adjacent to the quay of the Bassin du Port. 400 m² of shops with a sanitary block for boaters form the base of the second wing.
The graphic play of the facades creates a diversity of housing and a natural complexity that refers to the Mediterranean culture and the architecture of Georges Candilis' Carrats.
Jean-Michel Wilmotte
architect
