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September 2015
Demountable riverside shelter sprouts in Loire Valley

Demountable riverside shelter sprouts in Loire Valley

September 9 2015

Baillie Baillie Architecture, a competition design collaborative from Glasgow, has completed an innovative shelter on the banks of the Loire River at Chouze-sur-Loire, France, after winning a design competition for the scheme last year.

Positioned to maximise views the shelter features a high level opening to draw in light whilst maintaining privacy on a busy riverside footpath.

Clad in cement fibre board panels the demountable structure can be stored out of season and quickly erected in the summer months when the area comes alive during an annual wine festival.

Commenting on the scheme project designer Colin Baillie said: “The project was constructed by students at the technical college in Tours, forming part of their curriculum and allowing the benefit of the enterprise to be shared locally. Although securing funding for the construction was clearly challenging, there was a real drive to make it happen. Despite some compromises having to be made, it's great to see the shelter now being enjoyed by the many visitors and local people using the Loire riverside path.”

Baillie’s winning design saw off competition from 273 entries from around the world.

The design is based on traditional grape pickers shelters

The shelter offers both privacy and a contemplative space for walkers to admire the view

6 Comments

#1 Posted by David on 9 Sep 2015 at 13:36 PM

Best thing I've seen in a while. Less is more.

#2 Posted by Rem Koolbag on 10 Sep 2015 at 12:42 PM

UR - a point of clarification: 'architect' is a legally protected title and should only be used by those registered with the ARB. UR should be aware of this and fact check stories before publishing.

The work in question here however looks very good.

#3 Posted by A Local Pleb on 10 Sep 2015 at 13:16 PM

Not the best thing I've seen in a while, on occasions less can be more but here...nope, can't get excited by something that resembles kids wooden building blocks. But then hey aesthetic taste is subjective!

#4 Posted by Kieran on 10 Sep 2015 at 13:28 PM

@ #2 - A simple check will tell you his brother (presumably the other 'Baillie' in the name) is registered as an architect. Perhaps this was just a simple mistake in the article?

#5 Posted by Rem Koolbag on 10 Sep 2015 at 14:05 PM

A simple check did tell me this. The article specifically mentions Colin Baillie as project architect, however.