Maison L / Kawahara Krause Architects
Maison L / Kawahara Krause Architects
Text description provided by the architects. The remodeling of an old stone house in western France was to give the house a new order, make it more spacious inside, but at the same time preserve its very own character. The house from 1850 and some lower annexes form a courtyard, through which it is accessed. Behind the house is the garden. The building ensemble is built in local stone, the main house has wooden ceilings. Before the remodeling, the inside was divided into small-cell rooms with thin, non-load-bearing walls in contrast to the very thick, solid exterior walls.
All interior walls were removed. After the remodeling, the ground floor consists of only one large, open space. Shelves on the outer walls provide necessary storage space and support the characteristics of the room. The space is now characterized mainly by the symmetry of the entrance door and the four windows on each side towards the courtyard and the garden, as well as the presence of the solid stone exterior walls. Along the existing wooden staircase, a shelving unit protrudes into the room, creating open zoning. On the upper floor, built-in wardrobes and shelves form a new room structure.
The clients’ wish for winter gardens on both sides of the house was further developed into a spatial sequence. The first winter garden acts as a threshold and entrance between the courtyard and the now large, open living space, while the second winter garden represents the transition to the open garden. The two winter gardens are characterized by a diagonal wooden lattice structure, the structure of which was also used for a pergola that frames a “green room” in the garden – as a spatial counterpart to the courtyard on the other side of the house.
