RIG 09 | Atelier d'architecture Laurent Tournié et Franck Martinez

The house is located a few kilometers away from Cahors, on a north facing slope. The laborious land surveying indicates that its contour lines are strictly oriented east/west. In this oak forest, the presence of a glade announces a breakaway to the west. If we build on one level, it will be necessary to treat the roof surface dominated by road. The house will have two floors. This hypothesis, more affordable, enable to simply separate the ‘’day’’ and ‘’night’’ parts. It allows the house to stand at a suitable level to give its skyline to the peak’s horizon line, and to get away from the road while taking place in a specific zone where the slope accelerates. The house will therefore be a prism strictly oriented north/south revealing the slope in its inflection point. Its two large walls, separated by 479 cm, allows the creation of a wide oblong space for the living room and kitchen. The pool takes place into the glade and the prolongation of a complete transparency from east to west. The living room’s ceiling is curved to increase the spatial tension between the two directions, it holds the upstairs fluids, qualifies the vertical views towards the large oaks north and the fireplace, and receive the pool’s glint in late afternoon. Upstairs, a patio allows to avoid the need of opening windows towards east and west. Thus, the house is facing the distance, it appears at first opaque and gradually opens towards the chosen views according to ground motion and neighbors that leafless trees in winter make closer.