A Simple Summer House Captures the Magic of the French Countryside

Seeking a country escape, a Parisian couple commissioned architect Alphonse Surtout of Ciguë to design a summer house in Saint-Julien Le Petit, a small town five hours south of the French capital. Working together, the clients and the firm drew inspiration from California’s case study homes to design a residence that would rest lightly upon the lush landscape.

In a departure from the town’s traditional stone dwellings, Ciguë used Douglas fir from the surrounding forests to craft the two-bedroom home. A spacious, south-facing living room and kitchen overlooks the valley below via large windows that fill the interior with light. The firm employed basic bioclimatic principles to heat and cool the space—for instance, openings to the east and west are strategically placed to capture cross breezes.