Enchanted forest. FAHOUSE by Jean Verville architecte
07/07/2016.
[Eastern Townships] Canada
metalocus, BRANLY ERNESTO PÉREZ, LAURA CENTELLAS
metalocus, BRANLY ERNESTO PÉREZ, LAURA CENTELLAS
Surrounded by conifers, the Fahouse house seems to have come out of a fairy tale. The property, consisting of two interlocked triangular prisms that rise as two trees more, is reminiscent of the traditional houses in the forest. This archetypal image, has been essential in the development of the project.
Outside view. Fahouse by Jean Verville. Photograph © Maxime Brouillet.
Outside view. Fahouse by Jean Verville. Photograph © Maxime Brouillet.
Outside view. Fahouse by Jean Verville. Photograph © Maxime Brouillet.
Outside view. Fahouse by Jean Verville. Photograph © Maxime Brouillet.
Outside view. Fahouse by Jean Verville. Photograph © Maxime Brouillet.
Outside view. Fahouse by Jean Verville. Photograph © Maxime Brouillet.
Outside view. Fahouse by Jean Verville. Photograph © Maxime Brouillet.
Outside view. Fahouse by Jean Verville. Photograph © Maxime Brouillet.
Exterior view. Fahouse por Jean Verville. Photograph © Maxime Brouillet.
Outside view. Fahouse by Jean Verville. Photograph © Maxime Brouillet.
Inside view. Fahouse by Jean Verville. Photograph © Maxime Brouillet.
Inside view. Fahouse by Jean Verville. Photograph © Maxime Brouillet.
Inside view. Fahouse by Jean Verville. Photograph © Maxime Brouillet.
Inside view. Fahouse by Jean Verville. Photograph © Maxime Brouillet.
Inside view. Fahouse by Jean Verville. Photograph © Maxime Brouillet.
Inside view. Fahouse by Jean Verville. Photograph © Maxime Brouillet.
Inside view. Fahouse by Jean Verville. Photograph © Maxime Brouillet.
Inside view. Fahouse by Jean Verville. Photograph © Maxime Brouillet.
Inside view. Fahouse by Jean Verville. Photograph © Maxime Brouillet.
Inside view. Fahouse by Jean Verville. Photograph © Maxime Brouillet.
Inside view. Fahouse by Jean Verville. Photograph © Maxime Brouillet.
Inside view. Fahouse by Jean Verville. Photograph © Maxime Brouillet.
Inside view. Fahouse by Jean Verville. Photograph © Maxime Brouillet.
Inside view. Fahouse by Jean Verville. Photograph © Maxime Brouillet.
Inside view. Fahouse by Jean Verville. Photograph © Maxime Brouillet.
Inside view. Fahouse by Jean Verville. Photograph © Maxime Brouillet.
Floors plan and elevations. Fahouse by Jean Verville.
Outside view at night. Fahouse by Jean Verville. Photograph © Maxime Brouillet.
Outside view at night. Fahouse by Jean Verville. Photograph © Maxime Brouillet.
Outside view at night. Fahouse by Jean Verville. Photograph © Maxime Brouillet.
Outside view at night. Fahouse by Jean Verville. Photograph © Maxime Brouillet.
Outside view at night. Fahouse by Jean Verville. Photograph © Maxime Brouillet.
This dream house by architect Jean Verville rides between a traditional language with gabled roofs home and a contemporary interior. Using the slope of the land to enter the house you go down, protecting the plot through a large overhang. The plant is built around the staircase, the second floor divided into two houses in turn, one for parents and one for children.
Description of the project by Jean Verville
Nestled in the privacy of a hemlock forest, FAHOUSE presents an amazing building that seems to emerge from a children's story. Exploiting the contrasts between opacity and light, the architect Jean Verville develops a graphic assemblage, which rises like two giant conifers, intensifying the dreamlike aspect of this architectural proposal. Derived from the archetypal figure of the house, the double triangular prism perfectly illustrates childhood characterizing the whole development of this project.
Conceived for a couple of young professionals and two children, the cottage revisits the family home settings to explore an imaginary closely linked to the site, its occupants and their actual way of living the family life. The close complicity with these clients during the design process, and the playfulness distinguishing their parent-children relationship, empower the architect to design a new way of living their reality. Throughout the construction, the collaboration between the architect, the family and the entrepreneur promotes a shared enthusiasm resulting in building quality and flawless finishing.
The two houses profile emerges. The architect emphasizes the elongated shape of the land by a promenade along the blind wall of the first volume. A wide exterior staircase revealing the natural slope leads to the ground floor and welcomes newcomers under an imposing cantilever defining the covered terrace. The large opaque door opens into a vibrant lobby that extends to the mysterious forest. The living area enjoys glass walls, which seem to dematerialize and eliminate the boundary between architecture and landscape, allowing nature to fabulously slip inside. Already the house comes to life and the magic of the place operates.
The architectural deployment of the staircase articulates the ground floor while governing the access parade to the perched areas of the two houses. The first, the toddlers’, nestled in the enchanted forest, displays a large bunk bed welcoming friends to share fantastic nights. A few stairs jump leads to the second, the parents’ house, which looks like a beehive composed of a succession of cells each offering a distinctive ritual. In a surprising mirror effect, the bedroom doubles as a bathroom offering two simple and soothing volumes suspended between earth and sky. In contrast, the graphic display of the impressive family shower room promises a different experience for daily ablutions. The upper floor evokes the lair of the whale to brighten the imagination and allow for a colorful world of unbelievable adventures.
More information
Architect
Jean Verville
Collaborators
Jessica Bouffette, Olivier Grenier and Martine Walsh.
Glass joineries
Shalwin Canada
Typology
Housing
Constructor
Ulys Collectif
Venue
Eastern Townships, Quebec, Canada
JEAN VERVILLE
Studio Jean Verville architectes consists of a multidisciplinary team working under the direction of architect Tania Paula Garza Rico. The complementary skills of team members contribute to the variability of the Studio's output. Currently, the team is working on the development of a 3,000 m2 dental complex, a research and innovation center for Cannabis, personalized houses and apartments, a forest castle, and an immersive architectural installation for an international public art festival.
Jean Verville. Architect and professor at the School of Architecture at Laval University, Jean Verville draws upon play, humor, and self-mockery in his professional practice, as well as in his teaching approach. A playful creator, it is with apparent lightness and casualness that he presents his thoughts on relationships with domestic space, as well as on the role and capacity of architecture to transform everyday life.
Verville observes the impacts of popular culture with amusement, inviting individual appropriations that underline the attributes and omnipresence of architectural space. Celebrating the multiplicity of perceptions, his deliberately imperfect digital collages shape baroque fantasies where the discernment between architecture and personal imagination is disputed in order to evoke traces of childhood, including doubt about the veracity of images and the plausible banality of ordinary life.
Jean Verville. Architect and professor at the School of Architecture at Laval University, Jean Verville draws upon play, humor, and self-mockery in his professional practice, as well as in his teaching approach. A playful creator, it is with apparent lightness and casualness that he presents his thoughts on relationships with domestic space, as well as on the role and capacity of architecture to transform everyday life.
Verville observes the impacts of popular culture with amusement, inviting individual appropriations that underline the attributes and omnipresence of architectural space. Celebrating the multiplicity of perceptions, his deliberately imperfect digital collages shape baroque fantasies where the discernment between architecture and personal imagination is disputed in order to evoke traces of childhood, including doubt about the veracity of images and the plausible banality of ordinary life.
