A holiday house designed both as an escape for a family of five, and a retreat to receive up to 16 guests to socialise and entertain in larger groups, this new house in Gerardmer, northeast France, is the brainchild of Strasbourg based Atelier Ordinaire. Composed of three interlocking volumes, the 200 sq m building is an experimentation in both typologies and material use, as per the studio's ongoing fascinations.
‘As this is a second home, it presented an opportunity for us: to question the "holiday home" programme,' say the architects. ‘We wanted to give it a very specific scale, between the small hotel, the refuge and the hut. We also wanted to make it possible to work in groups around large tables, as well as working alone in small rooms with views of the landscape. There are very few objects needed to live in this house, no decoration. We wanted space and emptiness to dominate so that everyone can use the house freely.'
One volume contains the entrance hall, a sauna, a kitchen and auxiliary spaces; the second one includes the main living areas, offering long, green views through large openings; while the third is where six generous bedroom suites are located. Of course, functionality and the clients' brief played a key role in the design solution, but the project was equally inspired by the Vosges area's farms in terms of its use of simple forms and materials. There is a steel roof, grey larch cladding and an interior made mostly of spruce wood and CLT panel construction.
RELATED STORY
‘As is often the case, our references come from rural typologies, such as the farm, the shed, the shelter...' explain the architects. ‘These references serve as a guide, but we do feel more and more free in our design. Our position as architects is to question the ordinary. In this project we wanted to suspend a part of the house to create passages and limit the impact on the ground. This is not common, there are no references to lead us to this choice, it is only our feeling in relation to the context. Atelier Ordinaire seeks this duality between the evidence of a context and the liberty to dare to question it.'
The interior was elevated by incorporating built-in, bespoke elements, created in collaboration with Stattmann Furniture – as a result, anything from storage units to beds and benches are integrated smoothly into the design to present a holistically designed, complete concept.
Wallpaper* Architects Directory
INFORMATION
-
Step inside this Upper East Side jewel box apartmentThis radiant Lexington Avenue home is a harbinger of good things for the Upper East Side, and the latest focus of The Inside Story, our series spotlighting intriguing and innovative interior design
-
A new hilltop California home is rooted in the landscape and celebrates views of natureWOJR's California home House of Horns is a meticulously planned modern villa that seeps into its surrounding landscape through a series of sculptural courtyards
-
Is a tiny tattoo the best holiday souvenir? Kimpton Hotels think soIn partnership with Tiny Zaps, Kimpton Hotels is bringing city-inspired tattoo pop-ups to five U.S. locations
-
Stay in a Parisian apartment which artfully balances minimalism and warmthTour this pied-a-terre in the 7th arrondissement, designed by Valeriane Lazard
-
Marta Pan and André Wogenscky's legacy is alive through their modernist home in FranceFondation Marta Pan – André Wogenscky: how a creative couple’s sculptural masterpiece in France keeps its authors’ legacy alive
-
Paris’ architecturally fascinating Villejuif-Gustave Roussy metro station is now openVillejuif-Gustave Roussy is part of the new Grand Paris Express, a transport network that will raise the architectural profile of the Paris suburbs
-
Explore wood architecture, Paris' new timber tower and how to make sustainable construction look ‘iconic’A new timber tower brings wood architecture into sharp focus in Paris and highlights ways to craft buildings that are both sustainable and look great: we spoke to project architects LAN, and explore the genre through further examples
-
A transformed chalet by Studio Razavi redesigns an existing structure into a well-crafted Alpine retreatThis overhauled chalet in the French Alps blends traditional forms with a highly bespoke interior
-
La Grande Motte: touring the 20th-century modernist dream of a French paradise resortLa Grande Motte and its utopian modernist dreams, as seen through the lens of photographers Laurent Kronental and Charly Broyez, who spectacularly captured the 20th-century resort community in the south of France
-
Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain unveils plans for new Jean Nouvel buildingFondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain has plans for a new building in Paris, working with architect Jean Nouvel
-
Discover Tempe à Pailla, a lesser-known Eileen Gray gem nestled in the French RivieraTempe à Pailla is a modernist villa in the French Riviera brimming with history, originally designed by architect Eileen Gray and extended by late British painter Graham Sutherland
