Lafarge - Villa Navarra

Hidden away in the hinterland of the Var coastline, the
building achieves its objective by nestling into the
slope so as to blend into the natural vegetation of the Provencal
landscape. The desire for discretion meets here with concern
for the environment by limiting the impact of development on
the site. The principle of modesty dictates the positioning and
the form of the construction, which has a quiet profile.
The platform, cleared beforehand for the construction, leaves
the rock bare and the plot of land stripped, to be planted
tomorrow with cork oaks and cypresses. As for all the private
homes previously conceived by Rudy Ricciotti, the relationship
with the landscape is direct and frontal, accompanied by a
certain discretion, which banishes disruptive elements. The
building, positioned along the contours, is by its volumes
similar to a dry stone wall. Its firm horizontality often follows
the horizon out at sea and at other times the green and undu -
lating tide of the fronds of vegetation. Ricciotti’s houses stand
guard; sometimes they even take on a camouflaged aspect. As
for Villa Navarra, it resembles a watchman lying on the slope
of the maquis.
The confrontational attitude is accompanied by no nonsense
forms: in this case, a simple rectangle of forty metres long by
just ten wide, encompassing a volume built on one level and
doubled by a basin in the foreground that extends out into the
landscape. “The radical treatment of the house’s geometry,”
which is the architect’s signature, is masterfully interpreted in
the technical approach to the building’s construction. The Villa
Navarra practically boils down to its roof: an immense visor
stretching forty metres between the trees, a distinctive sign of
the watchman hiding deep in the woods. This cantilevered
surface of 7.80 metres opens up the house to the wild Var
landscape. Only a thin line of façade gives away its hidden
presence: an added line, blackened by coal.
P.06
FRONTAL ATTITUDE
A simple rectangle defines a volume,
established over a single level,
and doubled by a basin that extends
out into the landscape.
VILLA
NAVARRA
"The "Villa Navarra" can be summed up by
its roof structure: an immense visor stretching 40 m between
the trees, a distinctive sign of the watcher
in the shadows."
P.07