HERCULE

Description

house on- and in- a slope
The riddle of too much programmatic demand for a small piece of residual land was answered
in a simple way: to work with - instead of against - the topographic constraint, in order to
articulate a suburban typology with the landscape and the context.
Like an iceberg, most of this single-family house is submerged underground. This major part
gathers all the technical functions and the garage but also the living areas; the entrance, the
wardrobe, the office, the laundry and the fitness, as well as the kitchen, the dining room and
the living area.
These last functions are arranged in a single space, of 14m by 6m, opening completely on the
southwest orientation via a patio.
Above, a small volume repeats these dimensions on 2 floors and accommodates the
bedrooms and bathrooms. Designed to the pure basic ergonomics of these functions, this
part, which is visible from the public domain, represents only half of the footprint and the
visual impact of neighboring houses.
A binary approach drew the facades: to the south, a blind wall forms a beam on two floors to
avoid any column in the living room and reflects the light to the patio and the neighbor.
On the north-facing elevation, the façade exploits the outlook opening onto the gardens by
framing different landscape elements through furniture-windows that combine views and light
with the deck chair and / or office utility.
The east and west façades, to the street or to the garden, are materialized as a curtain wall
with a solar protective glass. Thus, reflecting both suburban and landscape contexts, the
house blends-in with its surroundings.
The radicalism of both the approach and the plan is complemented and expressed by the
renunciation of finishes. Only the structurally necessary is visible and qualified through
formwork or sanding. The resulting austerity, which is out of step with contemporary domestic
standards, underlines the essence of the project: the availability of quality spaces forging
relationships to contexts, an architecture facilitating the appropriation of an integral and
timeless place by the users and their daily life.