A new look at Garein, on the occasion of the National Architecture Days

As part of the Architecture Days, proposed by the Ministry of Culture, an architectural walk, led by Mayor Philippe Sartre and Marc Dubos, consulting architect, was organized on the afternoon of Saturday October 19. Departing from the village hall (itself from the 1930s), around a hundred people gathered to take part in this heritage journey through the village, whose diversity of buildings reads like a history book. Especially since the technical explanations responded to the reason for these constructions and their new uses, in accordance with the theme of these days dedicated to “New lives of buildings”.

Castle and Beavers

The walk began with the mansions, from the “castle” in the town center to the Sentucq house, which today houses five apartments. After a look (Route de Brocas) at the Castors type houses (low-cost housing construction cooperative) of which more than 3,000 can be seen in Mont-de-Marsan, a stop at the foot of the church allowed us to appropriate the notion of “frugal” architecture, as the walls on the stream side do not hide the fact that they were built with the materials that the builders had on hand. After walking along the Geloux, we could admire very beautiful half-timbered houses with barns and annexes placed on the airial.

The stroll then arrived at the converted industrial wasteland of the old sawmill, the future new district of the village, with homes which will be located around the three preserved and renovated wooden sheds which now house a health point (while waiting for a micro crèche ), an artist's housing studio (soon to be occupied) and, in the largest, the SLK architecture agency, now Garinoise. Lesya Kosmina and Charles-Henri Sichère showed off their project which highlights new features (such as the integration of a coworking nursery) while enhancing the original architectural heritage: a reconversion that makes a splash!