For Bruno and Dominique Lafourcade, converting a
1960’s vegetable packing warehouse, surrounded by a grim concrete
car park, has been a revelation in contrast. For many years the couple
lived in a traditional 18th century two-storey Provençal country house.
There, Dominique, a noted professional garden and landscape designer,
created one of the most photographed gardens in the region. But change
is inevitable, and the couple longed to simplify and put their passion for
‘soft’ modernism into practice.
On a challenging narrow site near the Greco-Roman town of Glanum,
the blocky warehouse was of a solid construction and provided the
volume that Bruno was immediately drawn to—a virtual blank canvas
tempting his creative impulse. With his son, Alexandre, he runs a busy
architectural and design practice in St-Remy-de-Provence that is widely
recognized as the region’s premier restorers of traditional old chateaux,
manors and farmhouses. The Lafourcade architectural studio also hand-draws all their plans in the traditional way, a rare and refined delight
for clients.
“Our philosophy is to listen,” Bruno says. “We believe we create the
apr + may
very best historic vernacular exterior design and construction (planning
is very tough here) with up-to-the minute contemporary interiors, which is
2011
tremendously exciting for us.”
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