WHAT DOES THE SPACE NEEDS TO BE

We started the project’s design by defining what is a dream home, and what was essential to include in this off-the-grid tiny house.

Our purpose is to offer a real tiny-home alternative, oppositely to the movement of movable home that are currently on the market: down-sized and classier bungalow, providing you with «everything you need and ever wanted», without questioning the real purpose of designing smaller spaces. Our idea is to leave aside the unnecessary space that every nowadays home includes and go towards a «happy frugality»

This frugality is the main concept which accompanied us throughout our designing process. Learning about our own experiences, we deconstructed the idea of comfort: what do we really need to happily inhabit a place? The basic human needs (to sleep, be clean, be warm and eat) obviously have to be included, as well as several other concepts we think are the core of a home:
Being able to welcome others, to stay discreet, being surrounded by nature and getting enriched by it. The link to the outdoor is essential, as the building in itself contains only the basic functions we decided for. Retrieving the freedom of movement is the aspect of comfort that we wanted to emphasize.

HOW AND WHERE TO BUILD IT
Our first idea was to be completely surrounded by nature, to inhabit the wilderness. Nevertheless, this strategy, when examined through the prism of frugality, sustainability and respect of other living beings, is not consistent. The idea of installing the structure in unspoilt nature is at first extremely tempting. However, it can’t be a viable design direction as, by building this way, we steal other creatures from a part of their common good. Moreover, the purpose of our design is to last and be adaptable at a reasonable economic and material cost; this includes to be protected from the strength of natural elements. Sustainability called for us to reuse what already existed and to valorize our patrimony.

Ruins revealed themselves as the ideal context, allowing us to develop our design within the already existing layout of a building. This marker of time and heritage tells a story that was interrupted, that we have decided to continue here.

The intervention slips between the ruins of this first stone structure. The wood, marker of the new time, slowly takes place and, in a game of thickness and opacity, heads towards the sky, reaching for the view of the surrounding scenery. The gesture is situated between a desire to rely on what already exists and to respect the enclosure of the ruin, sometimes merging, sometimes taking distance from it. The ruin embraces the structure tightly but flexibly, allowing it to breathe and have support at the same time. The distancing with the stone wall facing the landscape highlights the ruin, giving it a conservatory character and a sentimental dimension. This primary structure is the first layer of the project. They are both interdependent, one being the first rampart against the wind, rain and sun, the other instilling life in the abandoned place. The new wooden structure reveals framings on the landscape, staging and play of movements between various shots.

As our theoretical design was taking shape, we had to precise the building and functional systems that we wanted to implement in it. For us, sustainability goes along with the potential deconstructiveness of our building. Wood is the main material used in our design : its sustainable qualities as well as the great modularity and up-cycling potential make it the perfect material for our purpose. Within this structure, waterproof canvas, filled with sheep wool for insulation, construct a double-layered cocoon, connected to nature via several openings. The first layer cover the whole wooden structure, composing both the roof and walls: it allows harvesting great quantities of rainwater, thus going towards a complete self-sufficiency. The second layer is local and creates the intimacy necessary for inner spaces.

We composed a building which functions completely with its surroundings: the building is widely open and face the adjoining space as well as the further landscape. This openness is balanced by the intertwining of the structure and the translucent veil which protect its inhabitant from outside glances. Protected between the stone wall and the wooden structure, two more veils host the dry toilets and the shower, which used water are treated by phytopurification in the garden. At the very top part of the construction, a perch takes place and invite the inhabitant to meditate while being propelled into the landscape view.

As we expressed, the idea of comfort and how to define it was an important challenge. What is the comfort of a down-sized house, when the only process it goes through is to be shrinked, while keeping almost all the material and conceptual elements that compose a regular-size home? We do not want to pretend to offer the same comfort rank as modern housing, but to offer a more real, more reliable experience in the daily life of its residents.

To be in direct contact with nature, to cherish your surroundings, to have the chance to become a little bit more savage: those are the opportunities that are provided within the structure and its organisation. The vastness of the outside space is the continuity of the rooms demarcated by the canvas.


<<I AM WAKING UP,
THE SOUND OF THE WIND IS SLOWLY FADING,
I HEAR IT WHEN THE FABRIC IS NOT TENSE ENOUGH,
I HAVE TO THINK ABOUT STRETCHING IT A LITTLE BIT MORE BEFORE TOIGHT.

THE LIGHT IS SOFT BUT BRIGHT,
SURROUNDING ME FROM EVERY DIRECTION.
THE WARMTH OF THE STOVE PIPE
DECREASED THROUGHOUT THE NIGHT,
IT IS NOW JUST EMANATING A FEW LAST CALORIES.

I STAND UP,
AND AS EVERY MORNING, GO OUT OF MY COCOON, WITH THE FEELING TO BLOOM TO
THE WORLD,
I CLIMB DOWN THE STAIRS,
ALONG THE STONE WALL,
PROTECTING US FROM THE STRENGTH OF
THE ELEMENTS.

I ENTER THE ROOM,
STILL WARM FROM THE STOVE AND RESTOCK IT. THROUGH THE WINDOW I CAN SEE
SPRING BLOSSOMING IN THE FURTHER AND CLOSEST LANDSCAPE,
IT IS SOON TIME THAT WE GET RID OF THE SECONDARY CANVAS, TO WIDELY OPEN
OUR ROOMS ON THE OUTSIDE,
TO EXTEND THE INNER SPACE.

OUTSIDE,
THE WEATHER IS CHANGING
I CAN SEE THE GARDEN WAKING UP
BEES START TO WORK AND GO FROM FLOWERS TO FLOWERS
I WILL HARVEST A FEW EARLY TOMATOES FOR LUNCH

I STEP OUTSIDE
IN THE GRASS, THE MORNING DEW FRESHEN MY SKIN I SEE THE SUN COMING
THROUGH THE CRACKED WOODEN DOORD
A MOVEMENT TO MY LEFT
THE WIND IS BLOWING THRUGH THE WALNUT TREES BRANCHES
I AM SURROUNDED BY THE SOFT SOUND
AS IF I WAS SWIMMING IN THE SEA, THE LEAVES MOVING
IN WAVES.>>