With its pretty thatched roof, this Norman house has had several lives: first a barn, then an artist’s studio for the father and then it was rented. Abandoned for a few years, it was taken over by one of the father’s children, a Chilean artist. Some work had already been carried out in the past, such as these ingenious roof windows which bring incredible light as well as the upper mezzanine space. A couple with two children decided to renovate this family building so that it could be their second home, next to their mother’s, on the same land. The brief was clear: to rethink the space so that it could be inhabited by four or eight people, because he wanted to create a sharing place where he could receive friends. They called on Rémy Bardin, architect of the project.
Coping with the constraints of the building
Each level was a large open space on the ground floor as well as upstairs. “With all these openings, these connections, from level to level, we tried to keep a visual between each point of view so that we can see each other, but so that there can be as much intimacy as sharing”explains Rémy Bardin. That’s why upstairs, they installed a large window in the dormitory space allowing you to see the rest of the mezzanine. In the same way, opposite, there is no wall and the room called “screening room” is partly open. On the ground floor, it’s the same. The living room, dining room and kitchen coexist in a large space, without partitions. We had to deal with the framework of the structure which takes up a lot of space. There is also the workshop which did not communicate with the house and which was attached – by tearing down a wall. This made it possible to create a sublime master bedroom surrounded by nature with its bathroom. The angles and sloping corners have been fitted out with custom-made furniture to match the shape of the accommodation. A few touches of color, strong pieces and others in more muted tones bring a sort of tranquility to this elegant country house which has not lost its charm with this renovation, quite the contrary.
© @ Marine Pinard/Bardin Architect
