Villa Laude et Dujardin

Guy Rottier designed three villas in Villefranche-sur-Mer in the mid-1960s. For this one, the future occupants (two branches of the same family, each occupying an entire level) wanted to take full advantage of the site’s exceptional location — perched above the Moyenne Corniche — to bring the surrounding landscape as fully as possible into their daily lives.

Far from being a constraint, the topography becomes the foundation of a logical narrative. It dictates how the volumes are anchored to the slope (with access provided via a tunnel carved into the rock, reinforcing a tectonic approach to the physical context). It also enables a functional distribution between the rear-facing bedrooms and service spaces, and the front-facing living and reception areas, which open out in balcony-like fashion onto the panoramic view of Villefranche Bay.

The freedom of the floor plan — a Corbusian legacy that Rottier explicitly embraced in his practice at the time — allows the house to evolve and adapt to its inhabitants, forming potentially interconnected family units. The way the slabs extend outward into space through continuous bands of glass is a CinemaScope®-style invitation to indulge in the hedonism of natural elements. Modernity here seems to revel in its ability to showcase its technical prowess in liberating form — as evidenced by this striking James Bond-like photograph.

(le109.nice.fr)