description

A simple programme for a young couple should have a lounge/dining room, kitchen, two single rooms, an adjoining office with a common bathroom and a master bedroom; in the basement, garage and storage space. The surrounding countryside has narrow, twisty roads, small groups of buildings, large woods and a lot of farmland. The plot of land was quite modest, 526 m². It was bounded to the north and to the west by farmland and two public pathways to the east and to the south. It was obvious that land had to be cleared to expand the house outwards. Occupying the centre and getting four fringes of garden around the outside was not a solution. The house sat in the extreme north/east of the plot limited by the Municipal Master Plan that did not allow buildings of over 4 metres in height on the neighbouring plots and spread towards the sun and the countryside. The progressive shape of the volume reflects the spatial interior organisation of the house, establishing a promenade  from the lower level – the street – along a short flight of stairs to the higher and more intimate point in the house, the client's painting studio. In the middle of the ground floor, there is a flight of stairs to the upper floor, illuminated by a large skylight that separates the couple's bedroom from the other bedrooms.
The budget was tight, €140,000 for 450 m²  of interior area.

We chose four materials:
– plaster (stucco in the interior and a thin skim of reinforced plaster over the external insulation):
– terrazzo in all the damp areas;
– wood;
– light.