Excerpt: Villa Varoise, designed by NADAAA, maintains the site’s vitality and respects strict zoning guidelines for regional vernacular materials and construction processes while leveraging the sloping terrain. This resulted in the integration of landscape and house through the production of a monumental vaulted threshold to a central courtyard. The house’s architecture extends into the landscape, retains it, and frames spaces in between.
Project Description
[Text as submitted by architect] In the South of France, sited on a hill of olive trees, pinus pinea, and a vineyard, a family retreat was designed to maintain the site’s vitality. An agricultural plot, the family’s mission was to cultivate the landscape as part of their stewardship. The house also needed to respect strict zoning guidelines for regional vernacular materials and construction processes while leveraging the sloping terrain. This resulted in the integration of landscape and house through the production of a monumental vaulted threshold to a central courtyard.
For centuries, the enclosed courtyard has been overlaid on various geographic settings—each time transformed according to the place’s climate, rituals, and construction practices. A vehicle to capture the outdoors within the building, the courtyard is defined by its interiority. The slipped court of this project provides simultaneous interiority and exteriority—protected and engaged. The resulting vault is a ruled surface that mediates between the geometry of a stair, the pool, and living areas above.
Structurally, the roof is a series of surface-active vaults that produce strong lateral stability. The slope of the vault maximizes the zoning envelope to bring southern light. Beneath the roof is the primary living, eating, and sleeping spaces. The lower wing is conceived as a street corridor, activated by a reading room and bedrooms that open directly onto the landscape. Many of the living spaces of this house are outdoors, taking advantage of varying views, times of day, and public vs. private moments. For this reason, the house’s architecture extends into the landscape, retains it, and frames spaces in between.