Les Arcs, a 1960s ski resort in France designed by a collective of architects led by Charlotte Perriand, is celebrating its half centenary. Here are the architecture highlights of the modernist resort.
Part of the Paradiski area, Les Arcs today is formed of four villages named for their altitude, Arc 1600, Arc 1800, Arc 2000 and Arc 1950. The first villages were built first and under Perriand, and are significant examples of 20th century Alpine architecture.
Perriand aimed to push the boundaries of prefabrication to make producing high-quality mass housing possible in the short summer building seasons. Les Arcs was built on a greenfield site, with lifts and new buildings added each year as the resort expanded. The architects also carefully preserved the existing cowherd huts that dot the slopes. The architect, then her 60s, was at the peak of her career in 1967 when she was brought on board to lead a team of young architects tasked with turning a plot of virgin alpine pasture into a ski resort.
At Les Arcs she oversaw a group of young architects that included Gaston Regairaz, Guy Rey-Millet, Robert Rebutato, Bernard Taillefer, Alain Taves, and Pierre Faucheux.
Charlotte Perriand designed numerous modernist apartment blocks at Les Arcs
With the post war French government promoting the mountains as a holiday destination and paid annual leave legally upped to four weeks a year, developer Roger Godino and ski guide Robert Blanc created the ski area to take advantage of the ne...