Contemporary Renaissance: Montpellier House Opens To Poolside Living
Contemporary Renaissance transforms a suburban house in Montpellier, France into a calm dialogue between interior and garden. Brengues le Pavec orchestrates the renovation as a gentle thickening of thresholds, using wood, concrete, and carefully framed views to draw daily life outdoors. The project treats the existing shell as a backdrop for layered terraces, subdued rooms, and a new canopy that pulls the pool, lawn, and living areas into one continuous experience.
Filtered light slips through the new canopy and lands in narrow bands across the timber deck. Beyond the pool, dense planting wraps the perimeter wall and softens the suburban setting. From the garden, the house reads as a sequence of low, horizontal planes anchored by the darker metal frame of the terrace roof.
This is a renovation of a private house in a suburb near Montpellier’s center, reworked by Brengues le Pavec to intensify the link between interior and garden. The project keeps the original scale of the building intact and focuses instead on recalibrating surfaces, furnishings, and thresholds. A metal-framed, wood-filled canopy becomes the hinge, pulling the living areas toward the lawn and pool while setting the tone for a restrained, warm palette inside.
Extending Living Outdoors
From the lawn, broad timber steps rise to a generous deck that runs along the rear of the house. The new terrace reads like an outdoor room, edged by loose beanbags and low platforms where people can pause between pool and interior. Overhead, slender wooden slats sit between metal beams, filtering sun during the day and framing a luminous strip of sky. This linear canopy emphasises the length of the garden and underlines the gentle slope between house and pool.
Wood Ceiling As Spine
Inside, the terrace canopy turns into a continuous wood slat ceiling that runs across the living room and kitchen. Long boards trace the room’s direction and draw the eye from the garden glazing toward the deeper core of the house. Warm light washes the ceiling perimeter, tucking linear illumination between timber and wall so the source remains discreet. The slatted surface softens acoustics, balances the harder concrete floor, and acts as a visual spine linking outdoor deck and interior lounge.
Soft Minimalism In The Lounge
Generous, low sofas in muted fabric cluster around a wide coffee table, forming an inward-focused island at the center of the room. Cushions in earthy tones break the monochrome and echo the vertical wood surfaces nearby. Sliding glass walls on two sides open to the terrace, so the sitting area can work as a breezy pavilion during warm months. When closed, the large panes still keep the garden present, with foliage and pool reflections acting as moving artwork along the edges.
Calm Kitchen And Dining
Beyond the lounge, a compact kitchen stands in matte gray cabinetry, its planes almost flush with the adjacent walls. A central island with pale countertop becomes both preparation area and informal bar, paired with slim stools that keep the room visually light. Recessed lighting and a skylight bring clarity to the working surfaces without competing with the glow along the timber ceiling. Outside, a long dining table in soft green sits under the canopy, so meals can shift effortlessly between interior and terrace depending on weather.
Garden Rooms Around The Pool
At the pool edge, the timber deck steps down again, forming a series of platforms where loungers and beanbags cluster around the water. Planting ranges from tall palms to dense shrubs against the brick boundary, turning the perimeter into a green wall with layered textures. The house, the canopy, and the deck create a low horizontal foreground for this foliage, keeping the original upper stories in the background. Everyday routines slip between interior rooms, sheltered terrace, and water, guided by the consistent palette of wood, gray concrete, and soft textiles.
As day fades, light lines along the ceiling and canopy give the house a gentle glow while leaving the garden in a darker, cooler register. Views from the interior catch reflections off the pool and pick up silhouettes of planting against the wall. The project rests in this balance between quiet rooms and lush exterior, using measured materials and furnishings to renew the bond between house and garden.
Photography by RBrengues
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