Terra-Cotta Flooring Ties Together a Refreshed Country Home in France

Houses We Love: Every day we feature a remarkable space submitted by our community of architects, designers, builders, and homeowners. Have one to share? Post it here.

Project Details:

Location: Boury-en-Vexin, France

Architect: MMNK Architects / @mmnk_archi

Footprint: 4,844 square feet

Photographer: Caroline Charrel / @carolinecharrel

From the Architect: "Located at the entrance of the village of Boury-en-Vexin, this late 18th-century house consists of two buildings connected by a more recent extension. Dilapidated and damaged by the passage of time, a large part had not been used for years by the previous occupants, who only used a few rooms. The new owners wanted to transform it into a warm and joyful home.

"The studio MMNK Architects focused on working towards this goal by designing a lively and easy-to-live-in house, emphasizing generous spaces, bringing natural light into all areas, and using natural materials that would age beautifully. These design strategies are complemented by custom-made lime paintings with colored pigments, offering each space a unique universe in harmony with the whole. The architects reconfigured the different volumes by unifying fragmented spaces to create a true home with a smooth and instinctive flow. This involved opening up numerous small, dark, and partitioned rooms to create spacious areas in proportion to the house and filled with light. New openings and direct access to the garden were designed to create double-sided axes of light, opening up the entire house to the garden located in the northwest while benefiting from southern light inside. With these new large spaces, the three building bodies are reconnected."

"The rooms on the ground floor are organized around a wide staircase that provides access to the forgotten attic of the house. This new curved masonry staircase adds a new dimension to the entrance. Craftsmen meticulously built a wooden formwork to create the gentlest curve and reach the new floor. Its masonry and painted handrail offer a delicate grip highlighted by a hollow joint.

"Connecting these spaces required addressing the differences in levels, and a new floor was implemented. In the reception rooms, it is covered with a pattern of large hexagons of terra-cotta, rectangular pieces, and cabochons to their scale, while in the rest of the house, smaller tiles of the same finish dress the floor, adapting to smaller spaces. These handmade terra-cotta tiles are fired in a chestnut wood oven, following traditional craftsmanship. Throughout the house, a palette of natural materials is used. The walls are covered with a lime wash that reflects light and changes appearance throughout the day."