Philosophy
Rooted, sensitive, and conscious architecture
Architectural practice
Project management & economics
ARCAD-studio was founded as a single-member limited liability company in 2024 by Romain COUGNAUD.
Located in the heart of the upper Arve valley in Haute-Savoie (74), it is at the foot of Mont Blanc, in Sallanches, that the innovative dynamic of this studio was born, which aims to be much more oriented towards a craft-based and horizontal approach to architecture.
Out of respect for the existing, for the place, for its eminently evident fragility when one lives there, the objective of this practice is to build, but above all to renovate, rehabilitate as much as possible in order to minimize the growth of anthropological impact on the environment.
To include in this approach a more humble, more equitable and less pyramidal perspective with the idea of reconnecting with local know-how and perpetuating experiences and knowledge acquired through exchanges with craftsmen and contractors who have worked here, sometimes for several generations, in respect of local architecture.
Committed architecture
at the heart of the territory
The Arve valley and more broadly Haute-Savoie, through its unique situation, its attractiveness and its social, economic and environmental challenges, represents a stimulating and demanding framework for an emerging agency like ARCAD-studio. The key values of a plural architecture are reflected in several elements:
- The desire to actively contribute to the harmonious development of the territory, in connection with the needs of its permanent and seasonal residents
- The desire to be part of a collective, collaborative and concerted project approach, in close connection with craftsmen, developers, local stakeholders and public services;
- The opportunity to express a sensitive architecture, both functional and human, serving a shared living environment.
Architecture, use and responsibility
Restoring architecture's social mission
After significant experience on private projects (housing, commercial, interior design), often marked by strong economic constraints and rapid optimization logic, the need arose to reinvest architecture in its primary mission: building for society, for users, for territories.
Arcad Studio:
Building with consciousness
The creation of ARCAD-studio is therefore as much an entrepreneurial venture as a personal and professional commitment: working towards a contextualized, sustainable architecture, respectful of places and people.
Working with the existing
Each project is born from a careful reading of its context. The territory, the landscape, the climate, the existing built environment and uses constitute the starting point of all reflection.
Building, renovating or rehabilitating implies a responsibility: not to impose a form, but to work with what is already there, respecting its fragility and its history.
Building in a living environment
Architecture is not an isolated object. It is part of a living environment, inhabited, sometimes constrained, always unique.
It is in this attention to place that a just, sustainable and coherent architecture is built.