Maison de l’Orée
After acquiring the adjacent wooded land, the project began with a simple gesture: to reorient the house towards the forest, opening the dwelling to this landscape which, until then, had remained somewhat hidden. Two timber-framed extensions form a U-shaped layout, while a central opening in the former blank wall completes the design: the house extends into the site, and the views spread
out. The carefully chosen openings in the extensions frame the forest like Impressionist paintings.
The ochre-toned cladding, echoing the site’s pine trees and autumn foliage, unifies the new volumes with the renovated structure; a delicate use of moldings (posts, profiles, openwork) creates a measured relief. At nightfall, the façade becomes a wooden lacework, revealing the depth of the house.
One of the two-story extensions is sunken: its concrete base, resembling a carved rock, provides the desired height, even reaching the attic.
Inside, a natural palette unites the spaces: oak for the woodwork and fittings, mineral plaster on the walls, and a fireplace made of hewn Fontainebleau sandstone blocks—the very stone of the neighboring rocks. The brushed stainless steel island reflects the light and shadows of the trees.
The design also includes the furniture: custom-designed fixed pieces and mobile units conceived as companions in both material and function, extending the narrative of the house.
Here, landscape, facades, and interiors resonate with one another: everything arises from a dialogue with the site, a place that is authentic, inhabited, and undulating.
