House of biodiversity Comtes

Below the hilltop church that watches over the village of Comtes, CCArchitecte's House of Biodiversity made the competition shortlist. The outer walls are built from the material excavated on site and act as planters for the surrounding flora, gradually pulling local vegetation up the façade and folding the building back into its landscape. The section reads in two registers: a stone ground floor, an extension of the soil it sits on, houses a small museum of local fauna and flora. Above, a timber upper floor holds classrooms, planters and a wide solarium where children encounter the region's biodiversity firsthand.