‘Revolutionary architecture’: a look back at the creation of Les Arcs, a modern laboratory in the heart of the mountains

Bourg Saint Maurice - Les Arcs - In the 1960s, France embarked on a frantic race to build modern ski resorts in response to the boom in winter sports. Many of these resorts were based on classic urban models, with roads and car parks galore and buildings scattered around the mountains. In Les Arcs, a different path was opened up.

The developer of the site entrusted the project to an avant-garde architect: Charlotte Perriand, a collaborator of Le Corbusier and a leading figure in modern architecture.

Working with a team of architects, landscape architects and town planners, she came up with an original concept: "Creating an art of living adapted to the mountains", explains Jean-Marie Chevronnet, guide and lecturer for Les Arcs Bourg Saint Maurice Tourism.

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The buildings are set into the slope, their horizontal lines following the curve of the mountains. Car parks and car traffic are relegated to the outside: inside, the space is almost entirely pedestrian.

"It was revolutionary: here, nature is preserved and the ski slopes are integrated into the architecture itself". continues the guide.

Charlotte Perriand, a visionary at the top

Building in the mountains imposes one major constraint: snow. "At the time, we had to build everything between May and December. This led architects to resort to prefabrication, with modules assembled quickly but solidly". says Jean-Marie Chevronnet.

This technique not only allows us to meet deadlines, but also to offer affordable flats, thereby broadening the customer base for winter sports.

Sixty years later, the results are still impressive. The resort has now been awarded the Remarkable contemporary architecture by the Ministry of Culture and sets the standard.

• READ MORE: "It's a huge hit, especially with foreign guests": in Arc 1800, the resort's oldest hotel has found a winning formula.

"Schools of architecture are coming to study this site, because it marked a break with the past: we can see a landscape and social approach that was rare at the time". emphasises Jean-Marie Chevronnet.

Originally conceived as a ski resort, Les Arcs has become a veritable laboratory for mountain urban planning. A place which, beyond its slopes and its panorama, embodies a vision: that of a mountain inhabited differently, more respectfully and more functionally.