Now that the summer is here to stay, we all dig the deepest places on the internet trying to find inspiration for our holidays or just to drool over beautiful houses. With that moto, this article is all about a stunning holiday house designed by the studio of Paris-based architect Pascal Grasso. It may look like only four concrete boxes, but there’s much more about this home which nestles into a verdant hillside on the southern coast of France. Take a look.
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This holiday house in Southern France combines the architecture roughness of exposed concrete with the warmth of local materials and the surrounding landscape.
Named “Maison La Cap”, the house is embedded in a Mediterranean landscape of rocks, trees ,and small sandy coves on the Var coast, which Pascal Grasso Architectures used as the basis for the home’s layout and material and color palette.
The house design consists of several orthogonal volumes which promote beautiful views over the Mediterranean; the house’s four large openings were conceived more like cinema-screens than windows since they frame particular views of the winding coastline and the surrounding forest.
Grasso’s design was also inspired by the empty aluminium boxes installed in the Texan desert by minimal artist Donald Judd, as well as the use of existing natural elements by exponents of land art.
Existing stone walls on the site were extended so that they could be incorporated in the new design, and special care was taken to shelter the interior from the intense summer light and heat. The dry stone walls around the site are echoed in the terraces and the surfaces of interior walls, which bring a natural texture into the home. “The chosen materials – raw concrete, stone, glass, stainless steel – echo the coast’s mineral quality,” said Grasso.
A very simple design makes this dining table a raw element in these interiors. Allied to the stone walls and the pale color scheme, it gives the ambiance a natural feel.
Modern cabinetry contrasts with the rustic use of materials in this kitchen.
Storage and technical amenities are all concealed to minimise any distractions from views through the glazed surfaces. Isn’t this house’s architecture simply stunning?
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