Pritzker Prize 2021 winners Anne Lacaton and Jean-Philippe Vassal are revered for their humble, exploratory take on architecture. The duo have headed Paris-based studio Lacaton & Vassal since 1987, and are critically acclaimed for their work in housing, in particular, such as their multi-family projects that display a gentle, considerate approach and sustainable architecture; they are also behind a slew of private single-family homes too. And two of these Lacaton & Vassal houses have now gone on the market in France – the 1993-built Maison Latapie in Floirac, and 1999’s Maison Floquet in Bordeaux.
Maison Latapie was among the first of just six private houses completed by the studio. Experimental and refreshing, the house ‘embodies their radically new approach to housing, based on an economy of resources pushed to the extreme', says Aurélien Vernant, director of Architecture de Collection, the real-estate specialist that is looking after the sales. Designed to be flexible, economical, and sustainable, Maison Latapie is a house that well represents Lacaton and Vassal's overall approach.
Lacaton & Vassal houses: ‘open to life’
Maison Floquet
The two architects seek to develop ‘building systems that give freedom, like in other times the Dom-Ino house or apartment buildings of Le Corbusier, the ecological houses of Frei Otto in Berlin', Vassal has said of their residential work; such elements are on display within these two homes.
Maison Floquet offers an alternative premise, being the transformation of a former cookie factory into a family home. But even with a different starting point, Lacaton & Vassal’s approach remains consistent, drawing on iconic loft spaces and reclaimed industrial sites to compose a bright home with an open, airy, light-filled central courtyard at its heart. ‘This pragmatic, ecological and inventive approach, which reinterprets “what is already there” with simplicity and finesse to maximise its uses, earned them the Equerre d'Argent award in 2011 for their rehabilitation of the Tour Bois-le-Prêtre apartment block,’ say the estate agents.
‘Good architecture is open – open to life, open to enhance the freedom of anyone, where anyone can do what they need to do,’ Lacaton said, following the pair’s 2021 Pritzker Prize win. ‘It should not be demonstrative or imposing, but it must be something familiar, useful and beautiful, with the ability to quietly support the life that will take place within it.’
These two homes certainly showcase this ethos, and are a true representation of Lacaton & Vassal's architecture of gentle dynamism and experimentation.
Maison Latapie
Maison Latapie
Maison Floquet
Maison Floquet
Maison Floquet
Maison Floquet
Maison Floquet
Maison Floquet
INFORMATION
-
Year in review: top 10 furniture launches of 2024, as selected by Wallpaper* global design director Hugo MacdonaldThe furniture launches that wowed global design director Hugo Macdonald this year
-
Unboxing beauty products from 2024, as seen on the pages of Wallpaper*Wallpaper's 2024 beauty picks included Chanel lipstick, Bottega Veneta perfume and solid soap from the likes of Aesop, Celine, Diptyque, Hermès and Sisley
-
The cosiest alpine retreats to book in EuropeBrowse the Wallpaper* edit of European alpine retreats where to fully embrace the ski season
-
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
-
At Lee Ufan Arles, tension and calm guide relationships between space and artLee Ufan Arles opens in the south of France, a collaboration between the famed Korean artist and Japanese architect Tadao Ando
-
A new era: Centre Pompidou architects discuss their bold 2030 plansPlans for the Centre Pompidou 2030 vision were recently announced, revealing a design refresh of the iconic Paris structure; we caught up with its lead architects Moreau Kusunoki to hear more
-
Remembering Alexandros Tombazis (1939-2024), and the Metabolist architecture of this 1970s eco-pioneerBack in September 2010 (W*138), we explored the legacy and history of Greek architect Alexandros Tombazis, who this month celebrates his 80th birthday.
