To extend a house, is to add an extra layer in an existing building, which sometimes allows to see the previous ones. The house we had to extend, close to the Procé park in Nantes, is a clear example of this layering process, picture of the time passing through the changing needs of the previous owners.

© Guillaume Satre

Architects: Mabire Reich

Location: Nantes, France

Partner Architect: Fanny Robin

Area: 128.0 m2

Project Year: 2018

Photographs: Guillaume Satre

Structure Engineers: EVEN

© Guillaume Satre

Text description provided by the architects. To extend a house, is to add an extra layer in an existing building, which sometimes allows to see the previous ones. The house we had to extend, close to the Procé park in Nantes, is a clear example of this layering process, picture of the time passing through the changing needs of the previous owners.
© Guillaume Satre

At first a single floor one, this house was firstly extended aside and eventually partly raised up, questioning its ability to go under a third extension phase.  Instead of erasing this history, we completed the puzzle by raising up the initial building in order to form a new volume coherent with the first extension.

© Guillaume Satre

We painted the facade with the aim of harmonizing this patchwork, nevertheless still readable by a careful observer. Then we add a wood mesh, giving a...