Maison L / Christian Pottgiesser Architectures possible
The architect paper on the design of a house is to combine clients desires with budget, local council requirements and building codes. Sometimes, a lot of nice ideas can not be used in a project because doesn’t comply in one of those instances. This house is a real architecture in practice. The architect thought creatively about the building planning restrictions and has designed an amazing house with 5 private areas for each one of the family members.
- Little tower emerging from earth
Architects: Christian Pottgiesser Architectures possible
Project Team: Christian Pottgiesser, Pascale Thomas Pottgiesser Completion: 2011 Area: 870 sqm house; 4,850 sqm garden
Photographs: George Dupin
- Clean design
Maison L « A house as a small town » Less than half an hour’s drive west from Paris city center, designed as an extension of a private residence to an 18th-century structure, sought to provide every family member with a private realm. The roughly 5000 m2 plot of old trees called for a project that would leave the spacious ground predominantly untouched.
- Light form the roof
The design foresaw an amorphous plinth storey with curved stone walls heaped up with earth and used as a general living area. Local building regulations only allow one single building with a gabled or hipped roof. However, in exceptional cases, flat roofs, as long as they do not exceed 25m2 each (e.g. : garages), can be provided. Thus, projecting above the acessible planted roof five towers like volumes have been argued and actually implemented. Positioned to frame a specific perspective of the site, each “tower” houses a dressing room and storage space (ground floor), bathroom (1 st floor) and a bedroom (2nd floor).
- Skylight
- Framed windows to the amazing view
- Carved on the landscape
House and landscape are intimately interwoven, boundaries between indoors and outdoors are blurred: The south-eastern facade emerges out of a complex topography between the house and its landscape. Carved towards every entrance in the glazing the river-bed-shaped, undulating terrain distorts, blending the construction into nature.
- Roof sculpture
- Abstracted entry
- Ground floor is two meter below surface
- Family common area
- Skylights are all over the place
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