The owners of this Provençal mas appreciated the coolness and shade afforded by its thick walls and small windows but found it damp and deplored the lack of openings onto garden and sea. They therefore wanted the house revamped and a modern extension in wood added that would connect liberally with the exterior. The end result sets old and new parts around an internal patio that receives the noonday sun. On the ground floor, the kitchen and dining area connects with the garden via vast glazed doors, transforming the kitchen into an outdoor space and the dining room into a natural continuation of the terrace. In contrast, the original vaulted cellar has been turned into the living room, grounding the house both spatially and temporally. The upstairs bedrooms are reached by a staircase that seems to draw you up towards sea and sky. Because the plot space available was limited, the extension makes excellent use of both depth and height.
Opinion of jury
"In some projects you look at architectural performance but this one immediately makes you feel you want to live here, to walk out onto that terrace bathed in light. Generally speaking, with an extension or rehabilitation you're more beholden to context than able to highlight and valorise it. Here it's the opposite, displaying genuine architectural research into solids, spaces and transparency."