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Sea side facade in 1929
(private collection) |
The
most spectacular facade of the building is the one facing the sea
designed in "step-like manner ". It was certainly inspired
to Marcel Oudin by buildings designed by the architect Henri Sauvage,
one of his famous contemporary. Sauvage, used for the first time the
“step-like manner” design in 1912 in the construction of a
building located in Paris, 26 rue Vavin. In 1922, he achieved the
most complete example of this pattern using it in building a social
housing complex in Paris 18th arrondissement.
Sauvage an “hygienist” architect, was primarily concerned by sanitary matters. This type of architecture in “step-like manner” allow both air and sun light to enter within flats in a time when tuberculosis was a major concern and exposition to fresh air and sun where the only known cure. Sauvage works had a significant influence on Le Corbusier, when designing "La cite radieuse” housing complex in Marseille and Nantes.
Sauvage an “hygienist” architect, was primarily concerned by sanitary matters. This type of architecture in “step-like manner” allow both air and sun light to enter within flats in a time when tuberculosis was a major concern and exposition to fresh air and sun where the only known cure. Sauvage works had a significant influence on Le Corbusier, when designing "La cite radieuse” housing complex in Marseille and Nantes.
This
"hygienist" architectural language was perfectly suited to
a design in a seaside resort where sea bathing at that time still had
a strong therapeutic connotation.
It
is primarily due to his son’s poor health that Pablo Picasso and
his wife Olga spent three summers in Dinard, and stayed one week at
the Gallic Hotel both in July 1928 and August 1929.
Although it’s facing north, this “step-like manner” structure allows the first floors rooms, the largest and most expensive ones, to have their terrace in the sun light until noon. It work the other way around at dusk for the more “modest” rooms on the 6th floor. A straight structure would have made it impossible to have accessed to the sun light, a source of health and well-being according to the medical precepts of the time.
Although it’s facing north, this “step-like manner” structure allows the first floors rooms, the largest and most expensive ones, to have their terrace in the sun light until noon. It work the other way around at dusk for the more “modest” rooms on the 6th floor. A straight structure would have made it impossible to have accessed to the sun light, a source of health and well-being according to the medical precepts of the time.
A
rotunda will be added to the facade in 1928, used as a restaurant in
addition to the dining room reserved for guests. Because of the great
reputation the cuisine at the Gallic Hotel acquired during its first
season, building this extension became quickly necessary. This
rotunda was probably designed by Alexis Daniel , one of Oudin’s
assistants.
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