Diploma.
2026
1338 - Stone in focus.
The requalification of a 19th-century military fortress
Before becoming a fortress, the mountain was home to hermits. As early as the 13th century, a community lived within the cliffs. Built between 1873 and 1879 to defend the border, the fort never saw combat. Abandoned after the war and later threatened with demolition, it was saved by a private company beginning in 1991. Today, around 20,000 visitors come each season to admire the panorama, have lunch, and make their way back down. The place is visited, but no one lives there. We wanted to change that. The isolation, the silence of the vaulted chambers, and the slow ascent are not obstacles, but the very qualities that define this place.
We propose a secular retreat, inspired by the way of life of the neighbouring Chartreux monks. Residents come in search of a quiet place to work, write, or carry out research. The casemates where soldiers once slept become individual “cells” for those who have freely chosen to retreat here. The stone, the spaces, and the silence remain unchanged, yet the meaning of the place is transformed.
A library, an auditorium, a scriptorium, a belvedere, and a temple complete the programme. The new glass volumes rest upon the existing structure, creating spaces that open through it while remaining fully reversible. Depending on their orientation, they frame views towards the mountain ranges surrounding the valley, from Belledonne to the Vercors, and across the Grenoble basin.
Site and study model of Mount Saint-Eynard, carved from aerated concrete (Siporex).
For educational reasons, we had to divide the buildings between us, one each, but all the thinking was carried out together. Building A is the one designed by myself. On the east side of the fort. The glass block rests on the former entrance. It houses a library and its archives, a scriptorium where residents come to work, and a foyer where they gather. On the ground floor, a sunken garden is carved into the limestone, sheltered from the wind.
To free the façade, the entire structure is concentrated at the center of the building. Columns form a core that supports the roof, and the floors are suspended from it by tie rods. No column interrupts the view over the valley.
A frame attached to the façade mullions stretches a fine mesh that acts as a cloud catcher. At 1,338 meters, clouds often drift across the plateau: their moisture condenses on the mesh and drips down drop by drop. This water is stored in the fort’s old cisterns, which regain their original purpose.