black corrugated metal clads récita architecture's slender house in france

RéCITA ARCHITECTURE MAKES A MARK ON the landscape

lyon-based récita architecture has designed a three story dwelling with a slender silhouette in rural france. the house enjoys a prominent position embedded into a sloping site on the outskirts of a village called dallet.

the architects say, ‘knowingly detached from the suburban buildings below, the house looks like an isolated object and gives rise to an immediate experience in the landscape.’

to the north, the detached house dominates the limagne plain while to the south it looks towards a pasture for horses.

images © recita

A MINIMAL FOOTPRINT TO REDUCE COSTS

the house is planned over three levels to keep the footprint small and therefore reduce build costs. récita architecture composed two volumes: the semi-buried ground floor garage and the two upper levels that occupy an elongated trapezoid-shaped floor plan.

the first floor contains one bedroom and an open plan kitchen, living and dining space. this level looks out in all four directions, creating a luminous and airy space. the children’s bedrooms are located on the second floor.

the house is clad in black corrugated sheet metal

the dwelling was constructed from brick and clad in black corrugated sheet metal. larch timber details in the window and door frames offset the dark cladding and help make the openings ‘pop’.

thanks to the prismatic shape of the floor plan, which narrows significantly in one direction, the architecture takes on a bold yet slender profile on the north-facing elevation. récita architecture has also played with familiar archetypes by employing a typical pitched roof profile, but it’s abstracted to keep it contemporary.

the design team explains that this aspect was informed by the photographic works of swiss architect philipp schaerer, ‘whose fictitious and abstract architectures refer to strange but familiar archetypes such as the barn or the vineyard dwelling.’

the north-facing elevation has a slender profile