Barrault Pressacco

In Prades-le-Lez, north of Montpellier, ordinary single-family houses occupy the territory. All cultivate the codes of local vernacular architecture – two-sided roofs, orange mechanical tiles, light beige render – and are set in an organization that favors individualization and low-density. Our project is located in the heart of a subdivision typical of this suburbanization. The house is built against the upper limit of a plot with four major qualities: a corner position, faraway views, a strong topography, and the presence of a large oak tree. The internal arrangement on two levels takes advantage of these conditions and establishes the project in the natural slope of the land. It allows as much openness towards the landscape, as well as the intimacy of the living spaces. The interior is organized around a concrete framework which partitions without enclosing, and which creates, through the common thickness of each of its constituent elements (post, slab, beam), a spatial texture common to all functions. The frame then rests on a façade made of single-wall bricks insulated from the inside. The layer of plaster applied to the exterior recalls the ordinary suburban fabric in which the house belongs. This bearing thickness constitutes the only limit of the domestic spaces and integrates a vast terrace which extends the living room, the kitchen and the dining room to the outside. They will benefit from the proximity of the oak tree, whose shade will cool the house during the hot periods of the year, more and more frequent in this southern region.