February 8, 2012
French Home Design
In our third post on specific types of home design we are focusing today on the region of France, which is a part of the Mediterranean bordering the southern tip of Italy. For earlier installments on other types of residential architecture see our posts on Mediterranean and Tuscan Home Designs.
And now it’s time for an Architecture linguistics lesson:
The word for house in French is ‘maison.’ Pretty close to the English word for ‘mansion.’ Coincidence?
Maybe – or – maybe not, but one common element of all French home design is that it most often has a distinguished and stately presence. Though economics may prevent most of us from owning a ‘chateau’ or castle of our own, it’s tre magnifique to think of one’s home as their castle, regardless of size and scale.
So what makes a French home French?
French inspired homes are typically distinguished by low sloped and shallow pitched roofs, plenty of ornamentation, understated elegance, a mix of stucco and cut refined stone, multi-paned windows and structured, clean landscapes. The color pallet and feel of the home is most often understated, yet sophisticated and clean. The ornamentation is typically contained to specific areas of the home, such as the front facade and highlighted exteriors that have the most visibility. Traditional French Homes have a mix of square and round tops at entrances, multi-paned windows, and other openings such as garages.
Ripple Design Traditional French Country Home
French Country Homes, which are also sometimes called French Provincial Homes, often tend to be slightly more rustic that traditional French Homes with ornamentation limited to isolated formal areas, such as the front entrance. The typical organic landscape lends to the more informal overall feel of the home, while still maintaining an understated elegance. French Country Homes are also more likely to be low to the ground and have larger masses with simpler roof materials, such as shake. The feel of French Country Homes is casual and very livable because of informality mixed with understated beauty. This home is more often times than not the most ‘cost effective’ home in the Mediterranean Home family.
French Country Home, located on the water (under construction)
This Cosmopolitan French Home has the highest level of ornamentation of the all the French Home styles and is not limited to front facades or entries. These homes are most appropriate situated in urban contexts and are designed to be impressive, with larger facades and steeper and varying roof pitches to increase presence of grandeur. Cosmopolitan French Homes, like Traditional and Country French, have a mix of arch and square topped multi-paned windows.
French Home Remodel, located on the Puget Sound
As we put our own spin on what it means to design a French Home we feel motivated to use modern technology and implement green techniques. We use a Stucco rain screen wall system in the exterior envelope to combat our wet and soggy Seattle climate, which is in stark contrast to the sunny provincial towns in Southern France. We also encourage using geothermal systems, radiant floor heating, passive heating and cooling system, rainwater harvesting, native vegetation, natural day lighting and locally sourced materials.
To close out our language lesson for the day:
‘Architecture’ in English = ‘Architecture’ in French
Voilá!