THEN

To protect their rights to reside side by side, a compromise is made by seven communes in the lower Valais in the year 1803: the aim is to commonly regulate the river and work together to keep its force at bay.

The act includes a thorough investigation of the river’s current state, and the measures that need to be taken. The offensive methods that had been used until then to force the river into new paths pose threats to the villagers and to the land they all depend on. The act is clear on one point – these offensive methods are from now on banned. To regulate the river only defensive methods are allowed. With the help of spurs and embankments the river can be controlled, and complete correction is not required.

WHAT IF THE COMPROMISE OF 1803 HAD BEEN REALISED?

This project seeks to find an equilibrium between the Rhône and the inhabitants of Valais in order to sustain a more symbiotic relationship between man and the natural environment. Where the Rhône now acts as a border, would it be possible to find a scenario where this boundary starts to dissolve?

In this landscape the borders are blurred, and this forces a new dynamic among the villagers. Between the communes of Saillon and Saxon, which were heavily affected by a major flood in 1782, new communication bridges are essential according to the act of

1803. They need to share their pastureland and to jointly manage these bridges between them.

NOW

The bridges, several times built and rebuilt, are the starting point of a new connection between the two communes. Common resourcing is still in use in this enclave, Saillon and Saxon, that acts as a barricade over the valley. The two communes unify in their unwillingness to conform. Their attitude towards the river forces a new way of dealing with the landscape, what was possible if the river had been corrected need other solutions. The highway and the railroad must rise above the plains, passing the communes on pillars.

The river can only find equilibrium when it is not corrected and is allowed space, then the risk of major flooding is reduced. But where a correction would have ensured “security in the plains” this enclave co-exist with the river and with the understanding that the plains will never be theirs to fully inhabit. When the river is flooded the water spreads over the entire plains – within a matter of hours they need to be abandoned. Life in Saillon and Saxon is therefore determined by the river, but the land is lush - filled with meadows and marshlands suitable for pasture and crops. Slowly a new trace has begun to appear.

Valais is dominated by movement along the river but here a perpendicular axis is of importance in order to share the common grounds. But there is no set flow of the river. Every time the river overflows the path of the river will change, thereby forcing the people to react to the traces left behind.

The ground is sacred territory, it is the fundamental architectural element, and it is constantly eroded. When the river’s force traces new paths for the water in a powerful way, another erosion is set in motion.

Man’s repetitive walking, step by step, slowly results in a very clear but softly organic trace. Meandering through the common grounds, constantly erased and reappearing. Defined by objects of orientation.

“It is a trace, and a trace of the erasure of the trace.”

J. Derrida

VOLUPTAS, Chair Charbonnet / Heiz, Assistant Marina Montresor

Chair for the Theory of Architecture, Prof. Laurent Stalder, Assistant Davide Spina