Maison(s) | Michael Menuet

A house for a couple and their 3 children.

The family wants to leave the city of Marseille and start a new life in the countryside.
She finds a large plot of 4000 m2 located on a hill at the entrance to a village in the Aix-En-Provence hinterland. Deforested, the land reveals earthen banks, vestiges of agricultural terraces.

The construction consists of 6 volumes. Each volume takes the form of a small house:
• 1 house for the parental suite and a library;
• 2 houses for shared spaces, entrance, laundry room, living room, dining room and kitchen; • 1 house with the bedroom of the elder and the bathroom;
• 1 house for the 2 bedrooms for the twins;
• 1 house for friends, with a living room, a kitchenette, a bathroom and a bedroom.

The houses are arranged at the top of the plot to take advantage of the south-eastern exposure and views of the hilly landscape. They are staggered with respect to each other to free up exterior spaces of their own.

The reinterpretation of the archetypal house with a sloping roof creates interior volumes that are both generous and reassuring, and exterior volumes that resonate with the architecture of individual houses around.