Festival des Cabanes — Ephemeral Architecture at the Sources of Lake Annecy

An architecture festival born on the shores of Lake Annecy

In 2015, the Community of Communes of the Sources of Lake Annecy (CCSLA) launched an ambitious and unique cultural project: inviting architects to design ephemeral huts installed in the remarkable landscapes of the south of Lake Annecy. The founding idea is to create a dialogue between contemporary architecture, natural heritage, and local know-how, using exclusively wood from local sawmills.

From the very first edition, twelve huts were scattered in magical locations—on the lakefront, by rivers, in clearings and meadows, on mountain trails—among the towns of Faverges-Seythenex, Doussard, Lathuile, Chevaline, Giez, Val de Chaise, and Saint-Ferréol. The success was immediate: the concept appealed to families looking for fun outings as well as architecture and land art enthusiasts.

An international architecture competition

The Festival des Cabanes operates through an annual international competition. Each winter, a call for projects is launched to professional architects and master's students from around the world. Candidates submit models and projects that are evaluated by a professional jury composed of architects, landscape designers, and local stakeholders.

The selected projects—a dozen each year—are then built on-site in the spring, in collaboration with local craftsmen and wood construction companies from the region. This construction phase is a highlight of the festival, blending artisanal know-how and architectural creativity. The huts remain accessible to the public from July to November, for nearly five months of free and open access discovery.

Creations between childhood dreams and works of art

The festival's huts are neither functional shelters nor simple sculptures: they are at the crossroads of architecture, land art, and artistic installation. Each hut dialogues with its immediate environment—a body of water, a stream, a forest, a mountain pasture—and invites the visitor to a sensory and poetic experience. You can enter them, climb them, hide in them, contemplate the landscape from a new angle.

Over the years, the festival has hosted projects from France, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Switzerland, Japan, and many other countries. This international dimension enriches the architectural dialogue and offers surprising and varied proposals each year, from minimalist shelters to bold geometric structures, from treehouses to immersive architecture.

An event that promotes the region

With over 30,000 visitors each year, the Festival des Cabanes has become a major tourist and cultural driver for the south of Lake Annecy. The hut discovery trail, accessible on foot, by bike, or by car, invites exploration of often-unfamiliar landscapes: the wild shores at the end of the lake, the Doussard plain, the banks of the Eau Morte river, the foothills of the Sambuy mountain, and the Seythenex pastures.

The festival is supported by the Department of Haute-Savoie, the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Region, the Ministry of Culture, and numerous local partners. It is part of a broader initiative to promote natural and architectural heritage led by the CCSLA and the Lake Annecy Sources Tourist Office.