Between Forest and Valley: A Family Home Outside of Paris by Atelier HA.

Somewhere on a private estate in Marnes-la-Coquette, just outside of Paris sits a small manor house. Situated in the heart of an idyllic tree-laden park, the Anglo-Norman-inspired home has been redesigned by the architectural duo Hugo Vince & Adèle Nourry of Atelier HA.

Positioned between forest and valley and once the neighbouring home to French rockstar Johnny Hallyday, the house is hidden behind an elegant half-timber facade with a traditional gazebo and janitor’s cottage attached.

The biggest challenge for the designers was to transform the rustic and austere house into a welcoming and functional home for a family with five children. “We had to respect everyone’s privacy while creating spaces that would allow them to live together,” Hugo and Adèle explain.

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Originally dark and made up of five small independent and adjoining rooms, Atelier HA knocked down all load-bearing walls on the ground floor to create one open living space. An entrance gallery opens into a large living and dining area of over 100m2 with an epic sculptural stone fireplace. “We love the kitchen, with its large concrete shelves and the play of mirrors that give the room a psychedelic perspective,” Adèle and Hugo elaborate.

Upstairs are an additional four bedrooms including an elegant master suite and bathrooms and below in the basement is an intimate timber-lined green office and private cinema room. The office, a work retreat for a lawyer who can work late into the evening, is a hushed space that takes inspiration from traditional English and Scandinavian design.

“We wanted to respect the history and the style of this house while bringing a touch of modernism, and a ‘designer touch’ without losing a warm atmosphere. It’s very important to us [for it to] feel very comfortable, even if it’s a big space,” Adèle and Hugo conclude.

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[Images courtesy of Atelier HA. Photography by Odhràn Dunne.]