Maison Soultrait

When Baron Pierre de Soultrait commissioned Claude Parent to design his new main residence, the architect had only been active for three years. He had been working since 1953, first with Ionel Schein and then on his own, designing low-cost single-family houses along the lines of the Courant Plan (a 1953 state programme encouraging the construction of affordable housing). In this particular case, savings – in terms of space, cost and delivery times – were not an issue. In fact, in this 2-hectare park, the baron and his family wanted to see an innovative house emerge, similar to those that can be found in magazines and fairs, for example those dedicated to the ideal house. While creating the model, the architect began to play with masses and points of view. He imagined two main parts of the building, one rectangular and one square, joined together to form a 120° angle. Although in residential design levels are more often used to indicate the separation of functions, here it is the different volumes that indicate this difference. The areas dedicated to family life are spread over two levels in the longest part of the house. Thus, the bedrooms, bathrooms, games room and kitchen are separated from the living room, which extends over three levels. Almost entirely glazed, the living room is built with the same concrete structure as the rest of the house. With a height of almost 9 metres from floor to ceiling, Baron de Soultrait initially found this framework rather frightening, comparing it to rocket “launch pads”. To soften the impact of this concrete monolith, Claude Parent clad the exterior in slate, in accordance with the owner's wishes, and the interior in wood panelling. For the architect, this house inaugurated a long series of inventive projects in which the occupants' lifestyles and architectural expression seem to predominate.