Maison Latapie is a low-cost residential project resulting from a commission to build a home on a low budget for a couple with two children. Located in a discontinuous residential area, the house fits into the street profile. It is a simple volume on a rectangular base that includes two open platforms. On the street side of the residence, the metal frame is clad with opaque fibre-cement sheeting, while the other side, overlooking the garden, is covered with transparent polycarbonate sheeting to form a conservatory. A wooden volume – which is clamped onto the frame behind the opaque sheeting – defines an insulated and heated winter space opening onto the conservatory and the street-side exterior.
Maison Latapie, Lacaton & Vassal Architectes, Floirac, France, 1993
The conservatory faces east and receives the early morning sun. It is an inhabitable part of the house, equipped with ample ventilation panels for comfort in summer. The mobile nature of the east and west facades enables the house to change from its most closed configuration to its most open state according to the inhabitants’ needs and desires for light, transparency, intimacy, protection and ventilation. The inhabitable part of the house can vary according to the seasons, from the smallest spaces (the living room and bedrooms) to the largest area, by integrating the entire garden in high summer. (from the architects’ project description)
Maison Latapie, Lacaton & Vassal Architectes, Floirac, France, 1993
