Villa Haut-Rhin

In Saint-Louis, on the border between France and Switzerland, a 1960s house is being transformed to accommodate a new way of living and cohabiting. It is becoming the home of a retired couple and their family, designed with careful consideration given to memory, intergenerational functionality, and the landscape.

The intervention draws on the original qualities of the building—its volume, the design of its facades, its relationship to the garden—to better reveal them. A sober extension prolongs the house and extends the continuous gallery that surrounds the existing volume. More than just a circulation space, this gallery becomes a lived-in promenade, a thick threshold between interior and exterior, open to multiple uses: a place of rest, a space for well-being, a winter garden, or an outdoor kitchen.

Like a domestic cloister, the gallery sets the pace for everyday life. Supported by a wooden frame and renovated paneling, it structures the views, filters the light, and gives the whole a calm and slender presence.

Inside, the spaces have been freed up and reorganized around a generous centerpiece dedicated to shared living. A large room brings together different uses, structured by two essential focal points: the fireplace and the kitchen island, which serve as gathering places and promote conviviality. More intimate spaces are set back, in the form of master suites designed as retreats, each with its own bathroom and dressing room.

The entire project is characterized by a sober and timeless design. A palette of natural materials—walnut and oak wood, stone, steel—creates a harmonious and lasting atmosphere, where the architecture accompanies everyday activities and the passage of time.

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