Spiral House

Photo Stéphane Chalmeau

France 2009

Spiral House

Burgundy 2009

This extension to a fairly conventional house provides more room and improves the connection with the large garden. But more importantly, it gives a contemporary identity to the house, and frees up space for the lifestyles of its residents, a wine maker, an artist, and their two children.

The addition prolongs the old house with an unusual, sculptural volume, which embraces a courtyard and rises up. The warm tone of the new façade and its glittering finish establish a dialogue with the stone and the tiles of the existing house. The dynamic movement through the new appendix creates a variety of views and connections with the garden. The extension, literally, opens up new experiences of the house, with a fluid continuity of garden, ground floor and upper floor, and the possibility to look back upon the house.

The complex geometry is realized taking full advantage of the versatility of wood construction, and the exceptional expertise of a carpenter specialized in restoring roof structures of old churches. All construction materials were carefully chosen for their environmental-friendly qualities, as well as for their capacity to create a breathing interior climate, to naturally regulate the indoor conditions in the humid, and changeable weather of the region.

Sketch of the view from the living room towards the courtyard

Photo Stéphane Chalmeau

Photo Stéphane Chalmeau

Photo Stéphane Chalmeau

Sketch from the first floor over the patio

Photo Bas Princen

Photo Stéphane Chalmeau

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Photo Stéphane Chalmeau

Photo Bas Princen

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