{"id":2667,"date":"2025-09-28T21:42:58","date_gmt":"2025-09-28T13:42:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/homeofmaterials.com\/2025\/09\/28\/organic-architecture-on-the-cote-dazur-a-jacques-couelle-villa-with-a-new-kitchen-extension\/"},"modified":"2025-09-28T21:42:58","modified_gmt":"2025-09-28T13:42:58","slug":"organic-architecture-on-the-cote-dazur-a-jacques-couelle-villa-with-a-new-kitchen-extension","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/homeofmaterials.com\/it\/organic-architecture-on-the-cote-dazur-a-jacques-couelle-villa-with-a-new-kitchen-extension\/","title":{"rendered":"Architettura organica in Costa Azzurra: Una villa di Jacques Cou\u00eblle con un nuovo ampliamento della cucina"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Antiquarian, draftsman, and self-taught architect Jacques Cou\u00eblle, 1902-1996, built a number of astonishing houses on the French Riviera. Made of carved concrete, they\u2019re defined by their fluid lines and close-to-nature interiors\u2014in Cou\u00eblle\u2019s day, a critic haughtily, if accurately, labeled them \u201cimproved caves.\u201d<\/p>\n

Needless to say, Cou\u00eblle dwellings are hot tickets these days. A villa that caught our eye is part of a Cou\u00eblle enclave in Castellaras, about 20 minutes north of Cannes. It surrounds the 1927 Ch\u00e2teau de Castellaras, which, Cou\u00eblle, at the time a 26-year-old specialist in medieval relics and an emerging designer, built out of old parts for an American businessman.<\/p>\n

Three decades later, Cou\u00eblle designed Castellaras Le Vieux, the enclave of 82 village houses that surround the castle, which is now a wedding and event space. These dwellings are Proven\u00e7al in style as interpreted by Cou\u00eblle, no two alike. The owner of this one, an English-Swedish couple based in the UK, loved the fact that it\u2019s well preserved and hired local architect Sabine Bell of Bell Architecture and British interior designer\/stylist Lauren Jennings of Lauren Olivia Design to make it 21st century functional. Come take a look at the key rooms they tackled, new kitchen extension included.<\/p>\n

Photography by Sarah Button, courtesy of Lauren Olivia Design.<\/p>\n


Above: Cou\u00eblle was a practitioner of the Antoni Gaud\u00ed school of organic architecture and a friend of Picasso\u2019s and Dal\u00ed\u2019s. He specialized in what he called \u201cnatural structures\u201d\u2014as typified by the villa\u2019s salon, which has the feel of a charming toadstool scaled for living.
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Above: The built-in banquettes and inset stain glass are original.,

Above: Cou\u00eblle positioned the windows in each of the Castellaras houses to frame the mountains or sea\u2014and avoid views of the neighboring villas. Lauren Jennings helped the new owners furnish the room. To give the banquette a \u201cmore neutral, relaxed feel,\u201d she wrapped the cushions in a woven linen throw: see Save the Sofa: 5 Easy, Good-Looking Ways to Protect the Favorite Seat in the House.
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Above: An additional place to lounge is one step up from the living room. It can be curtained off and used as a guest room.
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Above: An archway leads into the new kitchen, which doubled the space of the original (Jennings describes the existing kitchen as a \u201cnothing special\u2014small and squished\u201d and a 1972
\nNew York Times<\/em> article about Castellaras quips that Cou\u00eblle\u2019s kitchens are \u201cbuilt for people who are expected to eat most of their meals out.\u201d) <\/p>\n

The extension was designed and project managed by architect Sabine Bell and fitted by Jennings, who is the senior designer of her family\u2019s kitchen company, Closa, of Tetbury, England. The living room\u2019s slate floor continues in the kitchen.<\/p>\n

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Above: The kitchen has Closa\u2019s Suffolk cabinets, designed and fabricated in the Cotswolds. They\u2019re hand-painted in a shade called Cornice from Mylands and have Armac Martin Latchford Cabinet Knobs and Cotswold Drawer Pulls.
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Above: The counter is local limestone and the brass faucet is Barber Wilsons\u2019s Regent China Lever 1030, 1890\u2019s Style.
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Above: Double glazed doors open to the front courtyard.
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Above: The range, a Lacanche Cluny Classic, has an induction cooktop.
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Above: The range hood is modeled after Cou\u00eblle originals: \u201cA few of the villas have this style of hood built into the wall and plastered,\u201d says Jennings. The antiqued brass Club Wall Lights are from Jim Lawrence.
Above: The downstairs WC has its original tiles and marble shelf. Jennings introduced a painted antique sideboard as a vanity mounted with a stone basin.
Above: Most meals are eaten outdoors. <\/p>\n

More summer retreats:<\/p>\n