Design of the Cabanes de l'Orvanne with the AW² agency

At the edge of the Fontainebleau forest, where the water gently meanders and where silence resumes its rights, a new Coucoo Cabanes estate is about to be created. Les Cabanes de l'Orvanne will open in June 2026, but their story was written long before the first travelers arrived. It starts with an obvious encounter with the architecture agency AW², a partner in the design of the huts, and by the same conviction: a place is not built in nature, but with it.

AW2, an architecture guided by context

For over 30 years, The AW² agency, founded by Reda Amalou and Stéphanie Ledoux, develops a unique architectural approach, deeply rooted in the context of the places. Here, no formal signature repeated from one project to another, but a method: observe, understand, feel. Climate, topography, uses, local resources, biodiversity... each project is designed as a tailor-made response to a given territory.

This detailed reading of the site is the basis of the collaboration between AW² and Coucoo Cabanes. Together, they share a shared vision : create places to stay capable of offering an authentic experience, while respecting existing natural balances.

Les Cabanes de l'Oranne: a site to be revealed, to be preserved

Located in Moret-sur-Loing, the domain of Cabanes de l'Orvanne extends over nearly 95 hectares, between ponds, marshes, meadows and varied woodlands. Long weakened by abandonment and siltation, this site classified as a landscape has a major ecological wealth, closely linked to the Orvanne River that crosses it.

Even before imagining the shape of the huts, AW² worked hand in hand with Coucoo Cabanes, ecologists and design offices to conduct a sensitive reading of the place. Four-season studies, identifying the most fragile areas, understanding wildlife movements: everything has been designed to locate the huts in the least sensitive part of the site, in the north of the estate, while allowing a diversity of experiences for future guests.

Designing huts like inhabited capsules

At Les Cabanes de l'Orvanne, AW² has revisited the architectural language of the cabin. The constructions take the form of wooden capsules, composed of light structures and slightly inclined sides, evoking a cluster of branches placed in the landscape. Some huts are installed high up, away from the wet ground of the ponds, others cantilever on the hillside, always under the tree line.

This precise location makes it possible to preserve the soil, respect natural cycles and offer travelers total immersion. From the terrace or behind the bay window, the gaze falls on the water, the foliage, the clearings. The stay becomes a break in the countryside, a return to the essentials.

A bioclimatic approach designed from the start

One of the strengths of AW²'s work lies in its bioclimatic approach, integrated very early in the project. Independent of any fixed specifications, this approach makes it possible to define the optimal location of the huts, the intelligence of the envelope, the management of natural light inputs and energy sobriety.

At Les Cabanes de l'Orvanne, this reflection is also reflected in a Exemplary construction choice. Wooden structures are mostly prefabricated in the workshop, in the form of modules, in order to limit construction time on site, travel and the impact on local biodiversity. The materials are carefully selected and sourced as close as possible to the territories concerned.

Interiors inspired by the territory

The experience doesn't end with the exterior architecture. Inside, AW² imagined spaces in resonance with the history and the atmosphere of Moret-sur-Loing, a village associated with impressionist painters. The color palettes evolve according to the environments - swamp, forest or meadow - and play with the natural light that filters through the foliage and is reflected on the water.

Each cabin thus becomes a comfortable cocoon, conducive to rest, well-being and reconnection to oneself and to nature.

An architecture at the service of the experience

With the Cabins de l'Orvanne, AW² and Coucoo Cabanes sign a new stage in their collaboration. After an initial successful experience in other fields, this design pushes the relationship between the built, the landscape and the human even further. Architecture is at the service of the lived experience: a quiet night, an escape to disconnect, a timeless break.

The opening in June 2026 will mark the culmination of several years of reflection and collective work. But as of today, the foundations have been laid: those of a place designed to last, to be anchored in its territory and to offer deeply rejuvenating stays, faithful to the Coucoo Cabanes spirit.