Arranged as a trio of interconnected structures, this seaside, Atlantic coast house project by BAL architects is a self-contained compound on a sloping site in Lacanau Océan, with the structures themselves providing weather shielding, privacy and carefully framed views of the ocean, just 200m away.
The house seen from the road
Tour this Atlantic coast home in France
The strategy of creating three discrete structures partly camouflages the scope and scale of the house, which has a total of six bedrooms across 300 sq m. The rhomboid-shaped plot itself isn’t much larger, at 500 sq m, but there’s still space a pool, playhouse and cycle storage, in addition to off-street parking and a careful planting scheme using local species.
The three closely placed structures seen from above
The three structures are connected at basement level, with a separate connection at ground floor level adjacent to the entrance. With the volumes set at an angle to one another, the plan produces gaps, vistas and slices of garden, as well as enticing views between each building and the promise of secret passageways, underground connections and pathways through the garden.
The main entrance, showing the different levels
The basement in particular is a world of discovery, with the building closest to the road housing a games room and home cinema, connected by tunnels to a pair of basement bunkrooms in the adjoining building and to the hammam, surf workshop and cellar area in the other.
At ground floor level, the main living and dining space sits above the basement games room, connected to another sleeping level. Across the terracotta paved upper terrace, the furthermost structure houses a double-height living space; both can be fully opened up to the exterior via large sliding glass doors. This living area also has a staircase that connects directly with the basement via a planted courtyard.
The architects had 30,000 terracotta tiles made locally especially for the project, colour coded to match the sandy soil of the garden – they run inside and out in a herringbone pattern to give a unity to the surfaces.
The upper terrace at dusk
Each ‘house’ is very similarly shaped, with angle-cut Douglas fir cladding that references the tiling. The architects cite the area’s historic tobacco-drying sheds as a precedent for the quasi-industrial vernacular of the project.
The walls themselves are highly insulated with lime-hemp and plant-based wool, the concrete used is low-carbon certified and rainwater is collected for reuse, while solar shading and air circulators are included in every room.
One of the twin bedrooms
A bath set within one of the bedrooms
The first structure also has an additional floor, where a further pair of bedrooms can be found. Despite the region’s high summer temperatures and strong winds, the house is designed to be comfortable all year round, as well as being fully permeable to soak up the sound of the ocean.
Kitchen joinery details
View from the principal bathroom to the bedroom
Thomas Sabatier, Thomas Cestia and Jeanne Mauvezin established BAL in nearby Bordeaux in 2015. All three studied at the École Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture de Versailles before working around Paris and Bordeaux for various firms before coming together for their first project, the refurbishment of the Hôtel Splendid in Dax.
An internal staircase leads from basement level to the grand hall
The name – Bureau des Architectures Libres – was chosen to emphasise the studio’s commitment to freedom of design, as well as a ‘love of beautiful things, a taste for bespoke environments and unique projects, whatever the scale, from the tiniest coloured chamfer on a stair tread to the major refurbishment of a listed building’.
Their approach to this particular project highlights their love of a non-linear solution fused with a close attention to detail.
