Vertical extension of a townhouse near Paris
The project involves a wooden extension of a townhouse on the outskirts of Paris.
From the outside, the silent and modest architecture blends into its environment while presenting a singularity that asserts its contemporaneity.
Inside, the intervention questions the traditional program of the house made of the day/night distinction to offer a fun, friendly, generous, evolving and responsible place. The idea is to work in volume rather than in floors, by engaging in a reflection on the decompartmentalization and visual porosities, in order to stimulate, intensify or even invent uses and improve the quality of life of the inhabitants.
Here, a skylight becomes a reading hammock or a projection room, the staircase landing becomes a laundry room and games room, the living room appears as an extension of the master bedroom…
Structure and furniture then merge to constitute the architectural device. The materiality responds to these versatility of uses. Through an economy of means, it assumes what is necessary and transforms it into an event. In an ecological approach, the challenge is to exploit the properties of materials to the maximum to limit their superposition. A slab becomes a covering, a waterproofing becomes a finish, the structure becomes a modenature. Between frugality of materials and generosity of relationships, the architecture seems frugal, unfinished and leaves room for possibilities.
Faced with a particularly dense context, the openings appear as precise incisions. Despite the generosity of the openings, their arrangements preserve intimacy, highlight uses, and define frames towards the urban landscape.
