Maison Clair

The site did most of the work. A generous plot, mature trees, and a particular quality of afternoon light that comes through the western edge in a way that made placing the living spaces almost self-evident. The house follows the gradient of the land rather than sitting against it — the section steps down so that every principal room meets the garden at grade. Materials were chosen for their capacity to age well and look better for it. Exposed board-form concrete on the main facade. Dark timber cladding on the subsidiary volumes. A planted roof that will, in time, make the house harder to see from above. The windows are large where the view earns it, modest everywhere else. Inside, the plan is straightforward: a long open living level that compresses at the entrance and expands toward the garden, private rooms tucked into the upper volume, a staircase that is the only piece of architecture that asks to be noticed. The finishes are few — plaster, oak, stone. The house asks you to look through it rather than at it. Maison Clair is the project in its most literal form. Not a statement about how people should live, but a careful response to how one family actually does.