This 646 square meter house was revised to a sculptural retreat

“We didn't want to keep anything from the existing little house that had been completely cobbled together by its previous owner over the years,” said Antoine Geiger and August Hijlkema, founding architects by Geiger & Hijlkema. It is true: The new variety of rooms makes the 646 square foot of the house appear twice as large. “We cleaned the whole thing up to the stairs. Everything was revised. We tried to consider the house as a place where time stands still. With a certain modesty in its form, but with a great wealth in terms of the different volumes and the way in which they are arranged, the couple created a consequence of small rooms that are composed and extended, where they cross light and half -light and three levels with two terraces Clear different heights.

The dining room of Green Terrazzo, framed by colorful oak, fits the leg of a table and the custom bearing elements. A horizontal strip of the desperate mirror enlarges the room like a window designed by Le Corbusier, an allusion to the master of architectural duo. On the sideboard, a voyelle lamp by Joseph Melka (Room Service Gallery), a few glass candles from the 19th century (Delesalle Antiquités Gallery), a Christofle vase (Galerie Matthieu Richard) and a work of Pablo Picasso (Privée Collection). On the right side, on the wide edge in the top in the stairs, Atrio vases by White Dirt Studio (Room Service Gallery).

A good place to start with this home tour is the large window that brings the garden into the garden. The entrance and the main bedroom on the first floor use the calm of the courtyard, the latter an intimate suite that feels like a bamboo box that is supplemented by a bathroom with black cell tiles and a green sink. The sink, which was formed from scrap from a marble workshop, added a luxurious touch while remaining in the narrow budget. The heart of the house is the staircase, a sculptural feature that is slightly expanding on the climb and has its second step flight with galvanized steel grilles to let in light. On the first level, the living area opens to a large stone terrace with a view of the garden, in which a railing is covered with Virginia Creeper.

A mineral green terrazzo floor gives the impression that the house is ground in its location, while a network of solid oak slats gives rhythm into the room and introduces heat and character. “When we start with light, simple and bright walls, the soils can be a means to introduce materiality and a real personality into the house.” The kitchen at the top of the first stairs leads to the dining room, which is then opened in this sequence of interconnected rooms to the living room of the cathedral. Here we understand the intentions of the architects to repeat the idea of ​​compression and expansion in the volumes of the home. “The height of the ceiling, which is low in the kitchen, rises in the dining room and then becomes high in the living room, so that we can insert three different functions into a 237 square meter room.”