Lessons from the Luberon by: Charles Brewer, June, 2010 Gordes The towns, houses, and landscape of the Luberon region of Provence are famously appealing. There are a dozen or so "perched villages" in and around the valley of the Luberon. The whole region is much in demand as a touristic and second home destination. In addition to the towns, there are many old farmhouses that have been renovated into desirable vacation homes. Markham Smith and I did a cycling tour of some of these villages, and here are some lessons for Las Catalinas and some images.
1. Even in full-blown hilltown environments like Gordes, it can be very good to allow for less density and more extensive gardens. - Sometimes it just works better with the topography. Sometimes it is the best way to make sure the houses have great views. Here I am talking about what is back behind the garden walls - though plants out in the public realm are very important too (see next note). This is an enormous garden that goes with a large, recently built or renovated house in the lower part of Gordes.
Gordes again - notice what an unobstructed view all the windows in this picture have.
This complexly terraced garden is way down low in Gordes. No view at all, but still very attractive.
This shows some of the gardens of Gordes from above.
2. Effective use of plants in the public realm - In many cases I found myself thinking that the plants in public spaces were as important in making them attractive, functional spaces as the buildings that framed them. We found a lot of great "one tree plazas". Plants in pots are often very important. Climbing vines are often very important. This is a particularly attractive house entry in Montbrun.
The little town of Goult, near Gordes, had a different feel than most of the other towns in the area. To us it felt more "English".
Here some small planters adjacent to the building make a big difference in how this space feels.
This entry in Montbrun-le-Bains has grape vines making shade over the doors and windows.
This is a square in Gordes. One big tree and some plants in pots - not an uncommon formula in the area.
Here is another great one-tree plaza, this one in Saignon.
This photo doesn't do it justice, but this was a great two-tree plaza in Bonnieux. Really great! It is formed by pushing one building along the street essentially back into the cliff - the building is mainly in a cave!
3. Natural materials - the buildings of the Luberon are exclusively made of natural materials. The retaining walls appear to be 100% true gravity walls made of local stone. In both cases I think this is very important to the feel of the places. The one place that synthetic materials shows up sometimes is in the paving materials, where there is lots of stone and also some some manufactured pavers, some concrete, and some plain asphalt, and it all seemed rather OK. Typical stone pavers in Gordes plus stone and stucco buildings.
In Roussillon lots of exposed aggregate concrete in streets.
Roussillon again, but mortared stone pavers here and colored stucco walls.
Plain asphalt used here in Lacoste.
Exposed aggregate concrete in Oppede le Vieux.
4. Shaping spaces well - most of the public spaces in these towns - and there are many - are relatively small. Many are pictured elsewhere in this document, here are a few more. Roussillon
Same plaza in Roussillon.
Oppede le Vieux
Montbrun
Same plaza as previous picture.
5. It is often OK to have a house well below the street. Sometimes with minimal expose or engagement of the street. This doesn't work on a main plaza, of course, but for houses on the more purely residential part of town it can be fine and improve views from the street and the uphill side of the street. Outside of the center of Gordes, this house is set well down below the street.
And here is the door to the same house. 6. Paving patterns are not that important and should be kept simple. I think this is well illustrated by the photos under "natural materials", but I wanted to make the point separately as well. In these towns I perceived the paving materials to be simple, repetitive, and a wide range of them seemed perfectly acceptable. Perhaps we have been obsessing about this a bit too much?
7. Drainage channels can be in the middle of the street or to the sides. Either is fine and both are common. If to side use little stoops or grates to get over side drainage channels into doorways.
8. Public light fixtures were very consistent nearly everywhere we went. This is basically "the" public light fixture. Simple.
9. Building shapes really should have things that aren't right angles. Frequently. It just makes them fit in better to the spaces of a hilltown.
10. Windows in sloping areas are often improbably low to the street - and it seems OK, or at least forgivable.
11. Use little steps in middle of steep streets, with non-step places for vehicle treads outside of that.
12. Color in a hilltown can be awfully nice. Roussillon is the demonstration of this. On the other hand Gordes and some of the other towns are exceptionally mono-chromatic. Both have their appeal, but on balance I prefer the color. A prominent building on the main square of Roussillon.
13. On sitting height wall what matters is the top. It should be smooth enough to provide a comfortable seat. Other than that what matters are good natural materials. In Roussillon
Montbrun
14. In answer to our question about whether the house wall is also the retaining wall - there are plenty of examples of both - but most commonly the house wall also functions as the retaining wall for the street.
15. Fountains - should be VERY simple most of the time, and with big tanks sometimes. Fountains show up on many of the other pictures here as well. Here are a couple more. Montbrun
16. A simple shed roof against a retaining wall can be a great addition to garden space for houses on downhill side of the street. Looking out from street over shed roof in garden. Montbrun.