History of Port Grimaud: The windmills

The windmills :

One of the main concerns of François SPOERRY was the mixing of water in the canals and its renewal. In 1967, Port Grimaud was the first lake city under construction... Whether the outlet of the lake was on the Giscle or directly into the sea, the problem was the same: the water should not stagnate!

Hydrology of the future water body :

Creating a lake city required the architect to have total control over the hydrology of the future water body with an area of 13 ha approximately, consisting of several basins joined by channels of different widths.
François SPOERRY approached the "CENTRE d'ETUDES et de RECHERCHES de BIOLOGIE et d'OCEANOGRAPHIE MEDICALE" of Nice in order for this organization to make a precise study of the hydrological conditions of the future water body...

Cette étude prévoyait une alimentation artificielle du plan d'eau modérée de 30m3/h. pour éliminer les zones d'eaux mortes. Il fallait donc construire une station de pompage...

Like those of Myconos :

       The architect decided that this pumping station would be powered by windmills...

       Rhodes, Myconos, Majorca, the examples were not missing. One could even find them in some of Leonardo da Vinci's paintings...

       The sail had to be at the same time orientable to take all the winds, and removable to be dismounted in case of strong mistral...

       It was decided to build 3 mills which, like those of Myconos, would have triangular sails...
       A first pipe was built near the place des 6 Canons. It still exists today...

       During this time, a pass was dug between the first basin, parallel to the sea, and the river Giscle, so that the water could begin to circulate...

       We then noticed, quite by chance, a cyclic current at the entrance of the pass: The water entered for about half an hour and came out the next half hour without understanding why...:
       - Differences in salinity and temperature for some,
       - Action of the tides or the swells of strong amplitude, coming from the gulf of Genoa for the others...

       So the work of artificial pumping was abandoned... but also the construction of windmills...

1st model :

On the first model of the lake city, 3 mills stood proudly on the beach, behind the future Place des 6 Canons.

1st ground plan :

On the ground plan of the 6 Canons, the mills are only 2...

the work of François SPOERRY...