Latapie House

Set in a 330 sqm plot of land, the house spans 170 sqm over two levels.

The Latapie House does not have a front door in the traditional sense of the term, but a modular façade made up of multiple fibre cement panels that open out across the entire width of the building. On the ground floor, there is an entrance hall, living room, dining area and open-plan kitchen, organised around a central technical block that houses the staircase and sanitary facilities. Upstairs are three bedrooms arranged around the same technical block, which includes a bathroom. The living spaces on the ground floor are extended on the garden side by a vast translucent polycarbonate greenhouse that has been converted into a living room. The garden of around 150 sqm has a shed or workshop at the bottom of the plot.

It is also possible to purchase a 198 sqm adjoining plot.

The interior volume is open plan, offering great freedom of layout. The floor coverings reflect the different uses of the spaces: black and white tiles for the entrance, kitchen and dining area, and parquet for the living room. The interior walls, in wide-grained plywood, give the spaces a soft, warm feel. The door and window openings are plain and unadorned, with simple openings in the wooden walls.

The house is ideally located in Floirac, on the outskirts of Bordeaux, not far from the Garonne. It is located in a quiet residential area with all amenities close at hand. Schools, transport links, shops and health services are all within easy reach.

Between inside and outside, the greenhouse’s luminous volume opens entirely onto the garden, allowing the house to evolve with the seasons. Thanks to its eastern position, it catches the first rays of the morning sun. In winter, it creates a thermal buffer that helps to save energy in the heated rooms of the wooden structure.

This horticultural greenhouse is a clear demonstration of the Latapie house’s commitment to economy of means, ecology and, above all, generosity of space. It is the embodiment of the architects’ commitment to freedom of design, mixed use and, as a result, the ongoing reinvention of domestic uses.

Laid on a slab, the construction system of the Latapie house consists of a metal structure inspired by a farm shed, with a fixed part and a part that opens out. The living space, a large wooden cube, is slid inside this structure. On the outside of the framework, enclosing this wooden box, are corrugated fibre cement sheets on the street side and corrugated translucent polycarbonate sheets on the garden side, forming a second, watertight and protective skin. This skin protects the house from the elements, while letting in generous amounts of light from the conservatory side.

Anne Lacaton and Jean-Philippe Vassal graduated from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture in Bordeaux in 1980, and set up their own practice there in 1987. They carried out their first projects in the Bordeaux region, mainly detached houses (six were delivered between 1993 and 2005), all laboratories for a radical approach to architecture, based on ethics and economy of means.

They moved to Paris in 2000 to work on the Palais de Tokyo project, and went on to sign a number of major projects, including the Sciences de Gestion university centre in Bordeaux, the Nantes School of Architecture, the FRAC Nord-Pas-de-Calais in Dunkirk, the Tour Bois-le-Prêtre in Paris (with Frédéric Druot and Christophe Hutin), and the renovation of buildings G, H and I at the Grand Parc in Bordeaux.

Lacaton & Vassal was awarded the Grand Prix national d’architecture in 2008, the Equerre d’Argent in 2011 for the Tour Bois-le-Prêtre project, the Global Award for Sustainable Architecture at the Cité de l’architecture & du patrimoine in 2018, the Mies van der Rohe Prize in 2019 and the prestigious Pritzker Prize in 2021.