A miniature pavilion transformed into a spacious family home © Agathe Tissier
The garden was huge, but the house was far too small to accommodate a family with three children. Despite everything, the architect succeeded in transforming the place, and in making this small 50 m2 pavilion an astonishing family home of … 220 m2!
The metamorphosis is spectacular and the surprise awaits you. The architect not only renovated this small suburban pavilion, she transformed into a family home with a contemporary loft look. To welcome its new owners, a family with three children, the house needed to be extended. In order to fit out four bedrooms and spaces suitable for everyday life, it was necessary to show ingenuity to multiply the square meters across the creation of new volumes. And the challenge was great. If the ground extended widely at the rear, it was on the other hand very sloping and marked by many constraints physical. “We discovered a bit by chance that Napoleonic drains went underground. Some were leaky, and the land was waterlogged in places. The implantation was therefore made according to that” explains Camille Hermand, who took charge of this large-scale project. The architect was also inspired by the style of the original building. “The house dated from the 1960s, with a very marked style, a single-pitched roof, fairly geometric volumes … We therefore imagined a modernist house that uses these codes, with very horizontal lines “. She has thus added several volumes on the garden side, positioned like a domino game, which go almost unnoticed from the street. “The objective was to give the impression that the house is very small when we arrive, and let it reveal itself as we go “. The bet is successful: the extensions are invisible at the front while the house has gone from 50 m2 to … 220 m2! A breathtaking transformation, which gives pride of place to light and generous volumes. Visit in pictures.
Before: a small house from the 60s
Before: a small house from the 1960s © Camille Hermand
If the large garden which extends to the back of the house is attractive, the house on the other hand was much too small to accommodate a family with three children. The owners wanted to be able to fit out four bedrooms and a large living room. The architect therefore imagined a set of volumes, which made it possible to create new living spaces, and which are articulated like dominoes between the existing house and the garage.
Before: a small house from the 60s
After: a family house with contemporary lines
After: a family house with contemporary lines © Agathe Tissier
Thanks to these extensions, the house now offers a living space … four times larger! Enough to comfortably welcome its new occupants. Camille Hermand was inspired by the architecture of the existing pavilion by drawing volumes with very clean lines, surmounted by a flat or single-pitched roof. To give rhythm to the construction, she also played on the contrast in black and white. “The choice of materials, with zinc elements, makes it possible to energize the whole”. The architect has also reorganized all of the living spaces to preserve everyone’s privacy. “The children’s bedrooms are in the original part, the living rooms in the new volumes, and the parental suite in the black box on the garden side”.
After: a family house with contemporary lines
A comfortable and spacious parental suite
A comfortable and spacious parental suite © Agathe Tissier
In addition to its privileged access to the garden and the terrace, the master suite offers a comfortable environment of almost 40 m2. The spacious bedroom is completed by a bathroom and a double dressing room.
A comfortable and spacious parental suite
A warm wooden terrace
A warm wooden terrace © Agathe Tissier
A friendly wooden terrace also forms the link between the house and the garden. “It is located in the continuity of the black box and directly at the exit of the show, as the natural extension of the living spaces” emphasizes Camille Hermand.
A warm wooden terrace
A bright living room and generous volumes
A bright living room and generous volumes © Agathe Tissier
Arranged in a second volume adjoining the parental suite, the living rooms, like the living room, offer large and very bright spaces. The architect has in fact cut out many large bay windows on the facade, in order to take advantage of an optimal supply of light whatever the time of day. An asset also highlighted by the impressive height under the ceiling (5.50 m at the highest) which allows this pleasant flood of light to circulate.
A bright living room and generous volumes
Tailor-made arrangements
Custom-designed fittings © Agathe Tissier
Like the large bookcase that adorns the right wall, many elements were tailor-made by the architect to furnish and energize the space. “A fireplace has also been created in the living room. It uses the same horizontal lines as the house” emphasizes Camille Hermand. At the end of the room, the living room opens onto the dining room and the kitchen.
Tailor-made arrangements
Space and light
Space and light © Agathe Tissier
The kitchen and the dining room also have very generous volumes, designed to comfortably accommodate the whole family. This part of the house also benefits from an extraordinary luminosity thanks to many picture windows, but also an interior glass roof which helps to illuminate the various rooms. “Light management was one of the main issues” indicates the architect. “You had to play with the views to capture the light, without exposing the house either”.
Space and light
A comfortable family kitchen
A comfortable family kitchen © Agathe Tissier
In the kitchen, Camille Hermand also saw the big picture here. A huge worktop, completed by a central island, occupies the space directly behind the living room. The room benefits from an additional entry of light thanks to a horizontal canopy cut out over the entire length of the roof.
A comfortable family kitchen
Before: a house to reinvent
Before: a house to reinvent © Camille Hermand
Before the works, the house opened onto the rear garden and overlooked the garage. It is there, leaning on the side, that the architect came to install the first domino, which itself serves as a support for a second, where the kitchen and the dining room are now located.
Before: a house to reinvent
After: a patio to bring in the light
After: a patio to bring in the light © Agathe Tissier
The space between the house and the garage was thus filled by the various extensions, giving rise to a small patio which helps to light up the new living rooms, but also the children’s bedrooms in the original building.
After: a patio to bring in the light
A wing reserved for children
A wing reserved for children © Agathe Tissier
Distributed on two levels, the original house now accommodates the children’s bedrooms: one on the garden level, and two on the upper floor, which corresponds to the ground floor on the street side. Completely renovated and refurbished, the “children’s wing” also offers large rooms, widely open to the outside.
A wing reserved for children
Three bedrooms and a bathroom
Three bedrooms and a bathroom © Agathe Tissier
Completely refurbished, the pavilion has three bedrooms between 17 and 20 m2. They are completed by a large bathroom, also dedicated to the couple’s children.
Technical sheet
Project: renovation and extension of a pavilion from the 1960s Location: Rueil-Malmaison (78) Area: approximately 50 m2 before works, 220 m2 after works Realization: Camille Hermand Architectures (https://camillearchitectures.com) Duration of the works: about 2 years Budget: not communicated
Three bedrooms and a bathroom
