Studio Sirach responds to the evolving lifestyle of a young couple and their children, who recently made their former vacation house their permanent home. With the upper floor no longer meeting their spatial needs, the lower level was transformed into a fully integrated living area, including a bedroom, bathroom, and generous storage solutions.
© Lucille Descazaux
The intervention is anchored by a key architectural gesture: a new staircase that reconnects the previously disconnected basement to the main floor. Due to structural constraints, no alterations to the existing floor slab were possible. The design solution embraces this limitation with ingenuity, inserting a compact, playful stair that fits within the narrow footprint of the original opening. A series of wooden ‘stepping stones’ initiates the descent, leading into a white powder-coated metal staircase that balances solidity and visual lightness.
© Lucille Descazaux
Throughout the space, new built-in furniture is carefully integrated within the raw architectural context. The existing brick ceilings have been preserved and left exposed, celebrating the building’s original materiality while embracing the building’s original character.
Project Info
Architects: Symbiose Interior Architecture & Design
Country: Ria-Sirach, France
Area: 80 m²
Year: 2024
Photographs: Lucille Descazaux
Interior Architect And Designer: Jacqueline Vendrell
