An Angular Black Cabin in Coastal France Honors the Bucolic Landscape

Steps from the sea in a forested area protected by a circle of towering cypresses, the hustle of everyday life quickly melts away inside a small, wooden retreat in France’s northwestern Brittany region.

Architect Anne Gayet and her husband, Aldric Gayet, cofounder of the Bordeaux-based firm Gayet Roger Architectes, hoped to build an idyllic vacation home for their family near the dunes of Keremma. Together, Anne, Aldric, and the team at Gayet Roger Architectes created a modest black cabin that integrates into the surrounding landscape. "It is designed as a refuge—a place for rest, relaxation, and contemplation in the middle of nature," says Aldric. While the location was a central draw for the couple, the coastal site leaves the structure at risk of flooding. The architects also felt a sense of responsibility to honor the area’s natural topography. 

To protect the cabin from potential flooding and leave the below landscape undisturbed, the team placed the asymmetrical volume on a raised platform supported by four-foot-tall metal stilts. The exterior, clad in cross laminated timber, was painted with a black Falun-style paint—a durable Swedish pigment used on traditional timber cottages and barns throughout Scandinavia—that complements the surrounding trees.