Hauts-de-Seine Townhouse

This terrace house is in the developing Hauts-de-Seine area, near to a new Parisian metro station. The street-front façade of the house was built at the property limit and is at an angle, relative to the home’s long and narrow format with parallel walls, resulting in an unusual and interesting constraint that became one of the principle inspirations for the project.

The relationship between the house and street provided an opportunity to generate architecturally dynamic spaces. A large new atelier style window and the creation of a vertical void space for the stairs help resolve the angled wall and, importantly, serve to create a new regard to this aspect of the home, highlighting and framing it through volume, light, and material coherence.

Decorating the house came naturally and instinctively with the client giving "carte blanche" to furnish the space in an elegant and contemporary way. No rules, periods or styles are adhered to. Harmony was found in juxtaposition and unexpected but complementary compositions: rustic gouged wooden chairs carved by Atelier Marolles are paired with a space-age, acidic yellow, plastic fibreglass table from the 60s.

The dramatic volume, varied penetration of shadow and light, and an eclectic composition of decorative arts give the house an unexpected complexity and richness of experience.