The village of Hauterive lies at the foot of Chaumont Mountain and has been known since ancient times for its quarries of yellow limestone (known as Hauterive stone), which was widely used in the construction of the city of Neuchâtel and was still being quarried until recently. Not far from the 15th-century Hauterive Castle, the four new residential buildings are set in a particularly sensitive historical and landscape context. In an effort to mitigate the inevitable impact of the buildings, their height was kept below that permitted by building regulations, in order to preserve the view of the old buildings and vineyards behind them as much as possible.

The three 17th-century wine-making buildings located upstream, which had already been converted for residential use, were also modernised. The front garden was