Approaching the house via the curved access road reveals the contrast between the solid cubes and the lightly-weight, cantilevered sections.

The entrance area is roofed over by such an extremely projecting angled slab. Like the carports at the entrance to the site, this slab is covered with a silicon layer, which sparkles in sun and moonlight. This surfacing finish was refined as a versatile coating system by the architect in a pain- staking development process.

The entrance leads to a central atrium with a glass roof, which allows sunlight right down to garden level, which is oriented towards a wood opposite the house. From the central hall, a rough wooden wall section leads to a bright living space with a kitchen and dining area. A turnable fireplace is positioned between the eating and living areas. The fireplace’s distinctive extension penetrating the roof clearly emphassises this important area towards the outside.

The style of the main architecture is Art Deco with new sprit, material, form and scale. The building facade has homogeneous vertical lines made of glass fiber concrete. Those straight lines not only reduce the overall impact of heavy/hight facade but also make a dramatical change in terms of day lighting/shadows. The horizontal dark ribbon around the building link the facade up together.

However, the bioclimatic plan of the house leads to a simple lines design, with large windows in the walls in order to allow nature comes into the interior space. The revolutions’ origin. The carpentries, which are introduced into de Stone walls, make stronger the structure.

The interior are emphasized by brightness and warm colors. In addition, the sun light gets over all the spaces from a skylight in the main floor. In the kitchen, you can observe smooth surfaces and design furniture.

Details are very important in this house. The main stair, covered by oak wood, receives the light from the large window and it is decomposed creating a hand-made library.

The outer shell of residences consists by a composition of mixed volumes with the landscape and its elements. A central element of residences is an independent overflow swimming-pool, which take shape in the exterior verandas of residences that illustrate the liquid component of the residence.

Our design approach staggers the dwellings so that each unit enjoys unobstructed views of a wooded valley, framed in the foreground by its neighbor’s planted green roof. Each roof is planted with various species of sedum that bloom at different times of the year, resulting in patterns that merge to form a single, iconic composition that reflect the change in seasons.

Those elements are the creator of the project, the transitions between the landscape views giving the entrance from the north and the curved plan giving a vitalized focus towards the seaside in south. When turning back the north view towards the mountain is as well enhanced with the widening view due to the fan-shape of the tilting wooden wall, being a mediator between the northern and southern landscape characteristic.

The tilting is an answer and an interpretation of the glacier towards east, they are communicating and the only and huge window in that wall is creating “a painting” of the glacier experienced from the interior.


The program is laid out in three intertwined parts: space for classrooms, management and services, and space for multiple use.


The multiple use space is the main point of the project. It will allow uses like dinning room, winter courtyard, performance hall… At the same time, acts as distributor and receiver/control point of the building.


As you enter the house from the north-east via the two-storey entrance hall, the floor-to-ceiling glazing facing southwest opens up onto the garden. One can look out over the pool in front of the house, and across the valley towards the hills opposite. In this entrance hall (as in the whole house), visitors are aware of an interplay of open and enclosed spaces stretching between transparent expanses of glass and protective walls. This layout satisfies both the occupants’ need for security and, on the other hand, for openness and a connection with the surrounding natural landscape.

If necessary, the house can be divided into units of varying sizes without major constructional work being required, thus offering its occupants maximum flexibility and permitting a suitable way of living for every lifestyle and family situation. This multi-generational villa is a new and sustainable reinterpretation of the old dream of a house that can grow and shrink within the same building shell.

Our response is a formally simplistic and easily identifiable building which contrasts, in both architecture and ambiance, with the surrounding buildings (the strict, sober and neutral forms of the surrounding residential buildings and the loud, playful architecture of the adjacent shopping centre).

We proposed a simple and bright architectural style designed to clearly convey the nature of the media library as a contemporary public facility, and a space of cultural circulation and recreation with its amenities open to the public. The building might have otherwise appeared as a closed space, reserved for an initiated elite, demanding a commitment to regular attendance and as such, intimidating to the public. Our building expresses the ambitions of an attractive and vibrant media library, offering a variety of activities and events, a place where the public can stroll amongst the bookshelves and disc gondolas as well as see exhibitions or simply read books.

There has always been a steady flow of pedestrians at the site due to the central and strategic location of the land, with its proximity to the RER train station and the shopping centre, and this would naturally promote the use of the facilities, but the small size of the site was restrictive. In order to ensure maximum floor space, we designed a slight cantilever to the first floor, using transparent facades of coloured glass in various sizes creating a dynamic appearance, making the building seem aerial and bright, straightforwardly presenting the contents of the building to passers-by, all this creating an important symbol for the neighbourhood. The facade of the first floor is mostly glass on three sides, and boasts a panoramic view of the Massy valley. In contrast, the ground floor is well-anchored to the ground, like basement, but with some areas of glass to clearly expose the contents of the media centre.

The north-facing facade of the media library is the largest, making its aspect ideal. The entry of natural light is controlled by each façade: the south facade is completely blind, the north, west and east facades are treated as double façades on the first floor. The double skin acts as a buffer to control the natural evacuation of heat and reducing solar exposure to the interior glass walls. This also ensures excellent acoustics relative to external noise, which was a major consideration for the project mainly due to the noise of traffic at the intersection as well as that of passing trains.

We gave much attention to the roof of the media library which was treated as a fifth facade, considering its position and situation relative to the 14-floor existing residential building and the many direct views from this building on the roof of the media library. The option of a green roof was therefore ideal, making the roof a sort of “terrasse jardin”, rather than making it an afterthought simply attached to the adjacent building, while also providing benefits in terms of the environment, energy conservation and reduced maintenance.