Les Fenestrelles du col de Port (09400)
End of construction on the 22.07.2022
The project
The context
In October 2020, the PNRs of Occitanie launched a call for projects promoting and developing the use of natural stone, with the possibility of presenting an artistic project. Inspired by this opportunity, we envisaged the construction of a monumental sculpture in dry stone, interacting with a mountain landscape. A project outline has been approved by the town hall of Saurat. Together, we made a proposal which was accepted by the jury of the PNR des Pyrénées Ariégeoises.
An inspiring landscape : from the col de Port, East and West view, in between Gascogne and Languedoc.
Steps and ideas
The project reflects first and foremost a desire to combine artistic and artisanal creation that drives our enthusiasm for dry stone walling.
The flow of ideas: landscape - curiosity - mountain - pass - silhouette - eye - gaze game - orris - haystack - emergence - walk - walk - land art - craftsmanship - granite and schist -
We were inspired by the site of the Col de Port which forms both a territorial and linguistic boundary; an open landscape and crossing place between East and West; at the same time a place of nature and busy passage.
We have imagined a gazing game for visitors to the pass. Twin figures emerge on the slope. Sculpture in dry stone and cut stone, combining landscape, space and matter. From a distance, the silhouettes evoke a building, a shelter. But the emptiness between them challenges the visitor's gaze. On approach, they will reveal themselves by their simple and massive geometry, inviting one to slip into the narrow space and discover transversal apertures which are like spotting scopes through the thickness of the construction.
Materials : granite et schist.
Reference to local architecture :
From a construction point of view, we are inspired by the remarkable hamlet of Goutets, near the Col de Port (under the western slope of the peak of “Les trois Seigneurs”). It presents a perfect example of an architectural aesthetic born from the alliance of the know-how of the builders and the characteristics of local stone, schist and granite.
Sketches
Slides of the finished work
