AN ARTIST’S VISION
LE CANNET – FRANCE
2009
With its crenellated crown moulding, this stone house built by an artist in the early 1900s in the Belle Epoque style, has long awaited a careful restoration in keeping with its original architectural character.
The challenges of this renovation were many: to connect the garden level with the rest of the house with nothing less than a new staircase to be built under the existing one which subsequently was left… hanging in the air for a few weeks! (a true construction feat!), and to take advantage of the small edifice on the roof terrace by turning it into a room to be used as an office or an extra bedroom, with a panoramic view over the bay of Cannes and its islands. Built of wood and covered by a roof in zinc, this volume goes unnoticed amid the new deck of which it even seems to be an extension.
Integrating modern conveniences (central heating, mechanically controlled ventilation or air conditioning in the bedrooms) all the while respecting the peculiar design style of this house was a constant concern during this renovation: Carrare marble for the stairs, stoneware tiles thirties style for the floor, transfer of the details of the ironwork found on the back of the portal to the new balcony railings…