From the first, Jourda was set on using a glass envelope to create a microclimate for the buildings within, a concept she has used on a smaller scale in other projects. But Mont-Cenis marks the first time such an approach has been so thoroughly and so successfully applied in the region, and perhaps internationally. The architects, working with the University of Dortmund, Germany, spent a year using computer and physical models to analyze airflow, heat exchange, lighting, and ventilation. As a result, the interior buildings were designed without the heavy insulation, HVAC equipment, and other elements used in cold-climate construction. The buildings are arranged in two rows along a central street and canal.
Paths crisscross the landscape of concrete, gravel, and exotic plants.
But the factory metaphor blurs when the architectural details and materials are examined. The buildings are clad in rough, bleached-wood siding, while portals are found in some of the building's doors. Continuous wooden decks run outside the buildings. Without its protective glass envelope, this is an architecture that would be unthinkable in a northern climate. The hangar-like greenhouse is at once simple and sophisticated.