Glossary entry (derived from question below)
French term or phrase:
pleine-terre
English translation:
at ground level (no crawl space)
- The asker opted for community grading. The question was closed on 2009-09-21 13:54:12 based on peer agreement (or, if there were too few peer comments, asker preference.)
Sep 18, 2009 11:03
14 yrs ago
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French term
France
Rapide - Ponctuel - Efficace
Native in: English 
Works in: French to English, English to French
pleine-terre
French to English
Tech/Engineering
Architecture
The document to translate details the conversion of a retirement home in Cannes consisting of 2 buildings, A and B, into 30 luxury dwellings.
In the description of building B I have "R+2 en pleine-terre" which I translated as "ground floor plus 2 floors, no basement". But elsewhere the document refers to "caves" in both buildings, and the architect's drawing of the existing buildings clearly shows a basement in building B. Confusingly in a table of the SHON the basement in building B does not appear, but that of building A does.
Building A is described as "R+2 sur sous-sol". What is the exact meaning of "pleine-terre" here? Any help gratefully received.
In the description of building B I have "R+2 en pleine-terre" which I translated as "ground floor plus 2 floors, no basement". But elsewhere the document refers to "caves" in both buildings, and the architect's drawing of the existing buildings clearly shows a basement in building B. Confusingly in a table of the SHON the basement in building B does not appear, but that of building A does.
Building A is described as "R+2 sur sous-sol". What is the exact meaning of "pleine-terre" here? Any help gratefully received.
Proposed translations
(English)
| 3 | at ground level (no crawl space) |
Bourth (X)
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Proposed translations
1 hr
Selected
at ground level (no crawl space)
Probably a confusion of:
- en pleine masse : un terrassement est dit en pleine masse s'il est pratiqué dans un sol homogène, ferme, et non rocailleux, and
- en terre-plein : Une construction est dite en terre-plein lorsque son plancher inférieur repose à même le sol, sans vide sanitaire.
[Dicobat]
This does not mean there cannot be a below-ground-level cellar, even if it is only partial, simply that the ground floor is not raised above ground level, as will be the case with more modern houses built on foundation blocks providing the vide sanitaire or "crawl space".
Re. the SHON tables, it may be because the headroom in the cellar not featuring is less than 1.8m (that figure should probably be increased these days, given that the French are taller than they used to be).
- en pleine masse : un terrassement est dit en pleine masse s'il est pratiqué dans un sol homogène, ferme, et non rocailleux, and
- en terre-plein : Une construction est dite en terre-plein lorsque son plancher inférieur repose à même le sol, sans vide sanitaire.
[Dicobat]
This does not mean there cannot be a below-ground-level cellar, even if it is only partial, simply that the ground floor is not raised above ground level, as will be the case with more modern houses built on foundation blocks providing the vide sanitaire or "crawl space".
Re. the SHON tables, it may be because the headroom in the cellar not featuring is less than 1.8m (that figure should probably be increased these days, given that the French are taller than they used to be).
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "Thanks very much, I think this is the most likely explanation. Emma Paulay also had the same idea, so maybe you should share the points with her?!"
Discussion
This may explain why Building B does not have a basement. It is "en pleine terre", i.e. complying with the rule below.
"Privilégier la perméabilité des sols pour reconstituer les nappes phréatiques.
Un espace est de pleine terre (*) lorsqu’il n’y a pas d’ouvrage dans les sous-sols.Ainsi, à titre d’exemple, un parking réalisé en sous-sol et dépassant la surface de la construction, fait perdre la qualité de pleine terre au sol resté libre en surface. L’objectif de la pleine terre est d’éviter une trop forte imperméabilisation du sol, donc de limiter les ruissellements des eaux de pluie et de reconstituer les nappes phréatiques. Afin de répondre à cet objectif, le P.L.U. propose une surface minimum réservée (30 % de la surface des terrains située en dehors de la bande de constructibilité). "