Stacked timber pallets create a shelter by Jakob+MacFarlane
Designed by Jakob + MacFarlaneA Sanctuary for Peace is a temporary installation located on the exposed promontory of Cap Carteret in Normandy, Franceoverlooking the English Channel. Commissioned by Nadine Gandy of Gandy Gallery as part of the Common Shelters initiative, the work explores the concept of shelter through reuse of the recovered wooden palettes, examining the relationship between architecture, landscape and contemplation.
Responding to the site’s exposed coastal conditions, the design reinterprets the shelter as both a place of protection and a framework for contact with the environment. Constructed from stacked recycled pallets, the installation develops a multi-layered architectural system in which wooden elements form walls that also function as built-in living room. The layout frames views towards the offshore islands while creating an enclosed space oriented towards the sky, creating different relationships between the interior, the landscape and the horizon.
all images © Jakob+MacFarlane
Reversible construction enhances the shelter’s timeliness
Positioned between architecture, landscape installation and public space, A Shelter for Peace functions as both a natural refuge and a place for quiet observation. Its simple material palette and reversible construction emphasize reuse while demonstrating how recycled building materials can be adapted to a spatial structure with minimal intervention.
The facility, developed by architects Jakob+MacFarlane is part of Common Shelters, an annual program at Cap Carteret through which Gandy Gallery invites a European designer or architect to create a contemporary interpretation of the shelter. The initiative explores the refuge as a place of refuge, social interaction and contemplation through ecological, cultural and landscape-based approaches. A Shelter for Peace will remain in place until the end of September 2026.
Recycled wooden pallets define the structure
the facility meets the exposed shoreline
