“The collective is called “Les Pieds Verts” (a house of light and shadows). We find the description very accurate and share the opinion that daylight is the primary material of our house.”
The project was meant to be innovative in all aspects, starting from the first sketches. Environmentally friendly, with low carbon emissions, constructed from local materials only, with the help of future inhabitants. “Les Pieds Vertes” is be a statement against countless new-built single-family houses and reactionary repetition of traditional aesthetics.
Building such a house required a lot of effort during the planning phase, as the regulations in landscape protection zones – Erdeven lies in one of them – impose strict rules on volumes and materials of newbuild houses. Luckily i+e architectes could convince the authorities that wood shingles and green roofs will match the landscape as well as white walls and ceramic roof slates typical for the region. Because of limited height of the volume and compulsory roof angle of 45 degrees, making a two-storey house was possible only with roof windows.
"During the design process, we were conscious of the right intensity of daylight in each room. Sun floods the living rooms, while VELUX roof windows ensure an adequate amount of daylight in the bedrooms. Daylight keeps us in constant touch with our environment and sunlight brings our architecture to life."
- Benjamin Jardel, architect and co-owner of the house
The apartments combine the advantages of tradition and innovation, each of them offering different spatial experiences. Plain plaster walls and natural flooring materials – wood or linoleum – leave the inhabitants room for expressing their personalities.
All four units – three apartments and the office space – cover two floors, the upper one relying on VELUX roof windows only. The district architect, who approved the project, saw this solution as the only option allowing a long, straight traditional roof form
Graphic
The house is divided by three greenhouses, storing heat from the solar radiation to return it during the night. A dual ventilation system with heat recovery as well as a thick insulation layer ensures an optimal indoor climate.
Recycling or using biodegradable resources is a rule in the entire house: straw and hemp were used for insulation, collected rainwater irrigates the greenhouses, wooden shingles of the facade left untreated.
Project details
Project: Cooperative Housing
Location: Erdeven, France
Architect: Benjamin Jardel & Nicolas Epaillard / J+e architectes
Year: 2018
Photos: Antoine Mercusot / Franch Galivel