Con­crete is able to get people’s blood up like no other con­struc­tion ma­ter­ial, es­pe­cially when it is ex­posed. Is it about an un­fin­ished build­ing shell? Is it its cold grey tone that pro­vokes? If the build­ing is built com­pactly and just suf­fi­ciently equipped with win­dows, it must surely be a “bunker”.

These are, however, char­ac­ter­ized by the most massive con­crete walls and have no win­dows. Or one con­sults other “role mod­els”: in Ar­dez, it must in­ev­it­ably by about the con­tem­por­ary ver­sion of the En­gad­ine House, which has tra­di­tional hole open­ings with fun­nel-like re­veals and large arch open­ings.

Text provided by the architect.

La entrada Schweizer-Schmid House se publicó primero en Global Spaces.

Located in a small hamlet in Charentes-Maritimes (FR) overseeing the Gironde estuary, an existing barn is transformed into a holiday house. The project is conceived as a sequence of differentiated volumes each with its orientation and distinct characteristics.

The first gesture is to propose an extension widely open onto the estuary. The pre-existing buildings were initially organized around a shared courtyard with the neighbors to meet the needs of agriculture and animal rearing, thus ignoring the view. The extension hosts the main collective spaces for the family (kitchen, living and dining area, wood stove) and gives access to a large covered terrace.

The second gesture is to remove a roof between two of the existing volumes to create a patio. This new outdoor space, directly linked to the terrace of the extension, is well protected from the wind allowing for an alternative atmosphere and use. These two operations result in a project made of juxtapositions of volumes, circulation, usages, and materials. Exposed concrete frames are poured on-site to create large openings as well as to reinforce the walls.

La entrada Extension & reconversion of an old farm se publicó primero en Global Spaces.