Name: St.Cast
Location: Saint-Cast-le-Guildo, France
Year: 2008-2010
Type: housing
Status: completed

On a long and narrow plot in Brittany, there is an existing building that has three floors and a pitched roof which is in the process of being extended. On the ground floor, there is an unheated storage room. On the first floor there is the kitchen and the living room and on the second floor the three bedrooms. Behind the building, there is a garden surrounded by a hedge with a constant height of 2m.

The client wanted to demolish the existing staircase and replace it by a new space orientated towards the garden. We propose that aside from the staircase, nothing of the existing building should be touched. The extension of 4m x 8m is accessible from the existing door on the northeast façade where the new reading room will be built and a new staircase leading to the garden. The space underneath will be used as storage space for gardening tools.

The horizontal cornice is a strong architectural element of the existing house. It not only separates the plinth from the upper floors but also two different materials from each other: natural stone and plaster. This element will be continued with the extension and underlines the floors as horizontal stripes.