This is the latest instalment of The Inside Story, Wallpaper’s series spotlighting intriguing, innovative and industry-leading interior design.
On the outskirts of Marseille, where centuries-old pines meet the Mediterranean Sea, interior architect Sandrine Sarah Faivre has transformed a former caretaker’s house into an idyllic coastal retreat. Standing beside the home where her client grew up, Villa Rossignols spans 200 sq m of interiors cascading across three levels, with an equal area of terraces.
The brief for this weekend pied-à-terre centred on two defining features: views of the sea and the majestic pines that shape the landscape. Faivre was determined to preserve two particularly remarkable specimens, regardless of the challenges this posed during construction.
Recreate the mood
The interiors exude the easy elegance of a Mediterranean escape. Sunlight pours in, washing the spaces in a sense of airy, restorative calm. Pine parquet underfoot echoes the trees outside, while pale, fine-grained limestone flows through the terrace level and bathrooms, its textures creating a dialogue between the original structure and the new interventions.
The renovation’s greatest technical challenge lay beneath the house. Being excavated into the rock face, the ceiling height of a new terrace-level floor was compressed; Faivre counterbalanced this by elongating the space, using mirrors to amplify its sense of depth and draw the eye towards the horizon, where west-facing bay windows frame the sea. Full-height curtains filter the intensity of the southern sun, moving softly with the sea breeze. Within this elongated volume, Faivre choreographs a sequence of living zones: a kitchen and dining area, a living room centred around a fireplace, and a cosy reading nook, complete with bespoke oak daybed.
While the architecture speaks the long-established language of Mediterranean summers, the furnishings gave Faivre an opportunity to add some edge. Villa Rossignols becomes a showcase of Marseille’s creative community, bringing together custom padouk-veneer joinery, hand-woven raffia canework, terracotta vessels and ceramics sourced from Moroccan artisans. There are vintage icons by Charlotte Perriand – including the ‘Tabouret Méribel’ stool – and Pierre Chapo's ‘S11’ dining chairs, alongside geometric rugs, wobbly glassware and contemporary artworks.
Perhaps it is inevitable, in the end, that Faivre’s favourite space is the terrace. At its essence, this is a holiday home – a place defined by the space between sand and sea, and shaped by the presence of the pines.
