The inhabited volume is inserted in a spectacular white concrete structure that creates a protective screen between the living spaces and the street. Its orthogonal design is superimposed on that of the Japanese joinery framing the bay windows, creating subtle framings on the vegetation. From the inside, the spaces thus appear both intimate and open, in an architectural staging of the environment.

The architect combines modern materials (raw concrete, white-painted formwork, glass) and traditional ones (wood, cement, brick) and achieves a hybrid architecture, between local tradition and modernist spirit.

The agency, founded in 1964 in Bordeaux, consists of Yves Salier, Adrien Courtois, Pierre Lajus and Michel Sadirac, and is noted for the construction of several neighborhoods (“Le Hameau de Noailles” in Talence, the “Domaine de Fougères” and the “Ponte-Lamartine” operation in Pessac), which are still considered to be operations with exemplary modernity.

Although the agency carried out a project of collective housing, the hamlet of Noailles (1968-1973), as well as religious buildings in reinforced concrete, it specializes in individual housing. The prefabricated houses Girolle, with their wooden structure (an economical alternative to concrete pavilions) were produced in about 700 copies. The architects also oriented themselves towards a more high-end architecture, by building modernist villas in reinforced concrete, notably Villa Février in 1972 (listed as Historical Monument in 2017) or Villa Tenaya (1970), with a sculptural appearance and integrating, by its shape, in the landscape.

The agency received in 1965, together with the Atelier de Montrouge and the Atelier d’urbanisme et d’architecture (A.U.A.), the Grand Prix du Cercle d’études architecturales.