Architect : Raphaëlle Segond Architecte Location: Domaine de Beauvallon, Township of Grimaud, France Project Team: Jonhattan Inzerillo, Project Manager Concrete & masonry : Paul Ciotta & Fils, maçons Windows crafters : Maria Aluminium Electrician : Nicolas Espitalier électricité Project Area: 250 sqm Project Year: 2011 Photographs: Philippe Ruault
The first glimpse at this house is a wall of cork which separates the site in two from a North-South diagonal creating a garden along the street for the entrance and a garden on the side of the valley protected from wind and from the sounds of the street.
In Beauvallon, the slopes are meant to protect both the sights and the period of sunshine. In reality the houses are arranged in staggered rows leading a way of sight towards mid-day.
Three metres above the highest point on the site, a broad view of the Mediterranean Sea opens up. In fact, seeing the sea from the lounge and the swimming pool was an important request of the client in the program of this house. Thus, at this height, in a forest of oaks and strawberry trees, the architects positioned the lounge toward the view. From the lounge one reaches the swimming pool which is muscled between two walls of cork.
Under the lounge, the natural slope of the site was kept in order to hold the next part of the program: five rooms with individual bathrooms and a kitchen-dining room. Rooms consume more than the half of the living surface. They are melted in the natural and built landscape, this way all the bedrooms are crossed and passed through.
The continuation is quite simple : concrete, glass, aluminium and rough steel were the only ones materials used in this house. Concrete is used for the structure and floors, walls were confined in wooden boards and floors were polished. Doors and cupboards were made of wood then steel and glass were used for the facades between structure elements.
