Results of the “Loire passive house” competition

Design the heritage of tomorrow

Listed as a World Heritage site by UNESCO, the Loire Valley is blessed with a natural, cultural and architectural heritage that is known and renowned. This major strength should not blind the authorities to asking questions about the future of architecture that responds to current concerns: energy efficiency, low space utilisation, social diversity, urban integration... 

Without coming into conflict with contemporary and traditional architecture, energy-efficient buildings can sit comfortably beside traditional Loire domestic architecture to create the heritage of tomorrow, while responding to the demands and requirements of today's society. It is this challenge that the regional nature park threw down in the “Loire passive house” competition. 

More than 100 entries, 6 short-listed candidates, 3 winners

Six projects were singled out by a jury mainly made up of architects, local councillors and energy specialists, one for each of the proposed sites: Blou, Candes-Saint-Martin, Bourgueil, Gizeux, Turquant and Saint-Clément-des-Levées. Each one was the subject of a Dynamic Thermal Simulation (DTS) to examine the appropriateness of the proposed solutions to satisfy the required energy performance. 

On the 16th February last, the six finalists made presentations to the jury, describing their projects and the choices they had made. Following discussion and examination three winners were selected: 

1. 1^st prize - Bourgueil: Florine Wallyn (Lille - Nord) had successfully addressed all the aspects of the design competition. The Bourgueil design was the solution that best satisfied the four design criteria of the competition.
2. 2^nd prize - Gizeux: The jury praised the approach chosen by: Xavier Begel, Remi Bonet, Mathieu Chartier, Galdric Fleury, Matthieu Labardin, and Hervé Samin (Courbevoie – Hauts-de-Seine) 
3. 3^rd prize - Saint-Clément–des-Levées: Vincent Gourvil from the O2 architecture company, working with Caroline Lepoutere, interior architect from the Didome thermal engineering consultancy (St Grégoire – Ile-et-Villaine).

An exhibition, a book, a documentary

An exhibition, open until 29 May, will show the work of the architects who took part in the design competition. On show at the Maison du Parc at Montsoreau. 

Some thoughts on the competition will appear in a book due to be published in November. This will revisit some architectural projects undertaken by local communes, highlighting the key aspects of each.  They will be contrasted with comments from local councillors and members of the jury. The book will be distributed mainly to those communes which are Park members and institutional partners. 

Finally, to raise some more general questions about the Loire’s built heritage and its identity, the Park will produce a documentary to accompany the publication of the book. 

On the internet:

• The Loire-Anjou-Touraine Regional Nature Park