Chapelle MI by Atelier Ose
Chapelle MI positions a contemporary house in Mortagne-sur-Sèvre, France, by Atelier Ose with the original stone chapel as anchor. The project draws a measured sequence around the heritage buildings, connecting garden, terrace, and rooms through glass and timber. On stilts, the new volumes ride the slope and open toward the wooded hillside and the Sèvre Nantaise below.
A timber volume lifts from the slope, its underside clear. Glass on both sides carries the garden straight through the reception hall.
This is a house in Mortagne-sur-Sèvre by Atelier Ose, composed as a sequence around existing stone buildings and a chapel. The project favors progression—room to link, link to room—so circulation doubles as experience. Each step calibrates relation: old to new, inside to garden, near to distant view.
Set the Sequence
Arrival lands in a reception hall glazed on two sides, which opens directly to the garden and reads as a hinge between eras. The room’s transparency folds the exterior into daily movement, so crossing it is less a pause than a passage toward light and greenery. One short turn, and the route resolves toward the gallery.
Walk the Gallery
A glass passageway extends from the hall and connects straight to the outdoor terrace. The gallery stays narrow and bright, heightening awareness of the stone walls it skirts and the timber frame that carries it, then loosens at the terrace for a breath and a look. It’s a clear thread, easy to read and easy to use.
Rooms on Stilts
The extension sits on a wooden frame and stilts, riding the land’s fall rather than cutting it flat. Three fragmented, suspended volumes—each with a distinct function—touch lightly and keep ground flow beneath them, the lightness set against the mass of the old buildings. The openwork wood cladding reveals portions of existing stone, letting the past show through without mimicry.
Orient the Views
Single-sloped roofs lift at each end, tipping the rooms toward the broad landscape. Generous anthracite aluminum bay windows pull in long views—wooded hillside high, the Sèvre Nantaise low—so orientation reads as part of the plan, not an afterthought. The office claims a vantage, and the dining room, with its independent access, closes the run with a grounded, social room.
Link Old and New
Between stone and timber, the plan does the work. Each connection respects the chapel and adjoining structures, keeping their heft intact while threading daily routes in glass and wood. The path remains legible: hall to gallery, gallery to office, office to dining, garden always within reach.
Evening pulls shadows through the cladding, and the stilts read crisp. From the terrace, the sequence holds—quiet, clear, and tuned to slope and view.
Photography by Vladimir Jamet
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