The House in the Fields
A very small house designed for a very big family. Instead of walls, the house
has sliding polycarbonate panels that allow for a maximum opening potential.
This is a small house designed for a large family of 5 children and two adults and built on a very low budget.
Rather than build a conventional countryside house, the project consisted in installing a "facility" for the family to live in the field, to interact with the rural environment and to enjoy the impressive Bourguignon landscape.
The wood structure plays here a leading role.
The frame is held on concrete piers, the house is raised off the ground, the grass continues to grow under the building's floor. The structure holds an open 90sq meter "deck" and the imposing zinc roof. A second floor, just under the roof, in the attics, accommodates the sleeping areas.
Each rafter is supported by two 90cm walls; these walls consist of double posts joined with OSB panels.
And they, alone, organise the house spaces. No other walls or fittings are added.
The skin is made of polycarbonate sheet panels fitted on wooden frames.
It is freed from any supporting structure too. The light weight material allows for the easy handeling of the panels.
The process allows each panel to slide freely on wooden paths all the way down the facade.
Therefore, each space in the house can be widely opened... The whole house can be transformed into an open deck in the garden.
The polycarbonate sliding panels, the surrounding patio, together with the roof sides create a thick limit. The barrier between interior and exterior spaces is blurred as soon as a panel is moved.
When closed, the house takes advantage of the filtered white light...
And when opened the house becomes a mere covered deck placed on the fields.
This project was an opportunity to experiment the references of Japanese Architecture in a small rural French village environment. And the integration is quite successful!
