Eric Arsenault Architecture

01 La Charite sur Loire maison bois

Wooden house

  • Localisation : La Charité sur Loire (58)
  • Program : hall, living-room, kitchen, four bedrooms, play room, larder, patio
  • Project type : new build
  • Surface : 175 m2
  • Cost : 150 000 € excl. VAT
  • Client : private
  • Work duration : 6 months
  • Delivered: 2005
  • Photos : Christophe Deschanel

Wooden house designed for a couple and three children on a low budget.
The land is wooded, very steep. It overlooks the Loire to the west, in a protected historical area near the city walls.

The project is located on a hillside, linked to two seasons alternating contrasting vegetation:

  • in the winter leafless trees allow a view on the Loire and the sunsets.
  • in the summer, the project develops in the heart of a green oasis, without a view but in the freshness of the leaves.

The project proposes two superimposed volumes, located on the slope of the land, one home to the other. We enter mid level: the higher floor is for the children and the lower floor for the living rooms, on the same leve as the garden. Taking advantage of the slope, a 40m strip is buried. It corresponds to hidden spaces (cellar, boiler room, bathroom, guest room) enjoying the thermal inertia of the earth.

The original project proposed a "glass cube" at the garden level protected by the overhang of the higher floor. My clients wished to reduce the glass surfaces but confided to me after a few months that they regretted not having more windows in their living-room.