Whilst working in Flaine (in the French Alps) recently creating virtual tours we had a bit of time off to go and explore. The resort is in the Haute Savoie region of the French Alps, and is a part of the linked Grand Massif domain. Flaine is linked by ski runs, lifts and road to other local ski resorts Samoëns, Morillon, Les Carroz and Sixt-Fer-à-Cheval. There are a total of 267km of pistes in ski this area.

I’ve been to many ski resorts in France, but Flaine is, in my opinion, the most beautiful. The site was ‘discovered’ in 1959 by the geophysicist Eric Boissonnas and the Swiss architect Gérard Chervaz, who decided they wanted to create a purpose-built resort where aesthetics and respect for the environment would take precident over profits. Eric and Syvie Boissonnas were wealthy and well-known modern art patrons who joined forces with the Bauhouse master Marcel Breuer to design the resort. Breuer was already very famous in architectural circles for designing building like the the Unesco Headquarters in Paris, and the Whitney Museum in New-York, along with the classic ‘Wassily’ tubular chair. To this day, Flaine is regarded as being a cultural landmark in France

As you can imagine, for a photographer, it’s a beautiful location to spend some time. We were there primarily to create virtual tours in Flaine, photography in Flaine, and drone film. This activity provides great Flaine business marketing and allows local Flaine business to attract customers. We can’t include the work we did in this page, however, here are a few phone shots and a panorama

When we approach a building from a point located at a certain distance, our attention gradually shifts from the
whole to the detail. The closer we get, the more important the detail. We are still imbued with the essence of the
design, we still remember the architecture, the shape of the silhouette, modulation of the structure, we are still
guided by the general orientation of the building, but little by little we see, we touch, we take account of the details.

Marcel Breuer, Architectural Record, December 1963, in M. Moncéré Ibid