Villa Geneste

The villa is located in Le Pyla-sur-Mer, in the heart of a particularly unspoilt area, some fifty kilometres from Bordeaux. From the 19th century onwards, this small seaside resort was considered to be a holiday destination for the Bordeaux bourgeoisie, and became the main residence of an assertive elite.

All local amenities and a school are within easy reach.

The living space is characterised by its open plan layout thanks to the load-bearing walls on the facade, creating a vast uninterrupted volume that allows great freedom of layout. The large picture windows invite residents to contemplate the landscape. The oversized beams, left exposed in a sculptural approach, magnify the structure of the house and create a monumental spaciousness, while drawing perspectives towards the Bay of Arcachon. The beams frame different ceiling heights, creating a play of volumes and surprising effects along the way. The high openings generate indirect light that highlights the architectural elements, in a bid to dramatise the living space.

“The quality of architectural space that we love is that of the open space of Le Corbusier’s free plan disciplined by the example of the Bauhaus, the fluidity of the relationship between interior and exterior that we learned from Californian architects Neutra, Schindler, Ellwood and of course Frank Lloyd Wright, but also from the creators of traditional Japanese architecture.”
Pierre Lajus

Pierre Lajus, one of the associate architects, on the Villa Geneste:
“The white rendering of the Villa Geneste and the orthogonality of its forms recall Le Corbusier’s purist phase, with his Laroche-Jeanneret (1923-1925), Stein (1927-1928) and Savoye (1928-1931) villas, icons of the period. The sculptural quality of the house’s architecture, whose strength lies in the monumentality of its structure, recalls some of Frank Lloyd Wright’s work such as Sturges House (1939), where the large wooden beams are left exposed, but also Pierre Koenig’s Stahl House (1959-1960), where the beams and joists punctuate and qualify the space.”

The agency, founded in 1964 in Bordeaux, was made up of Yves Salier, Adrien Courtois, Pierre Lajus and Michel Sadirac, and made a name for itself with the construction of several districts (‘Le Hameau de Noailles’ in Talence, the ‘Domaine de Fougères’ and the ‘Ponte-Lamartine’ operation in Pessac), which are still regarded today as exemplary modern operations. 

Although the agency had produced a collective housing project, the hamlet of Noailles (1968-1973), as well as religious buildings in reinforced concrete, it specialised in individual housing. Around 700 of the prefabricated Girolle houses, with their wooden structure (an economical alternative to concrete pavilions), were produced. The architects also moved towards more upmarket architecture, building modernist villas in reinforced concrete, including the Villa Février in 1972 (listed as a Historic Monument in 2017) and the Villa Tenaya (1970), which has a sculptural appearance and blends into the landscape through its shape. 

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