SPPG of Saint-Laurent-Nouan

> The order

The community of communes of the Great Chambord wishes to achieve a specialized squad for the protection of the gendarmerie intended the the NPP’s gendarmes in Saint-Laurent-Nouan and their families. The program includes the construction of 38 housing units, a building for office use, a service local as well as specific technical areas. The land of 7,500 sqm bordered on the north by an EDF allotment takes place on the outskirts of the town, along the road to Blois (RD 951).

> The answer

Our desire was to make this set of 38 units, with an office building, a neighborhood in continuity with its environment, in opposition to a barracks within four walls. Even though, according to the program, the PSPG remains inside a continuous fence which is doubled inside its perimeter with a five meters wide non-built and non-planted area.

The general direction slightly tilted allows to optimize sunlight to buildings and preserve the housing from direct overlooked. The semi-collective dwellings are grouped into small units of life composed of two blocks of three superimposed houses.

The project is composed around a central axis that plays both a functional role of vehicular and pedestrian traffic and the role of a widely planted breathing. The plant is a strong element of continuity in the project and accompanies the different scales: from the private garden to the kindergarten square, going through the pathway circuit. A network of alleyways connects gardens and accommodations in a single path that crosses buildings and gardens to get to the central space as well as two pedestrian access to the SPPG, on the homes and offices’ side.