Single Family House Denis-Ortmans

The Denis-Ortmans house is based on a reflection on what can be a current single-family dwelling and respectful of the rules of sustainable development. We have worked to put recent techniques at the service of an economic, ecological construction, adapted to the demands of today in terms of comfort and significant contemporary formal research.

Many observers note that the market for single-family dwellings is virtually monopolized by "turnkey" construction companies. It is the traditional house that serves as a reference to their "four-facade villa" with recovery bricks, false beams, concrete tiles, pseudo-girders, dormer windows ... Individually made, these achievements are laughable, but their generalization is a real scourge which affects both rural and peri-urban areas.

Moreover, most of the time, materials and construction methods are polluting (waste and important surpluses often buried on site, waterproofed floors, etc.) and do not fit into the ethics of sustainable development either in their functioning nor in their aging. The Denis-Ortmans house is a reaction against this type of practice.

Completely prefabricated, the Denis-Ortmans house was assembled on a point foundation in the middle of an orchard. The technical solutions are simple. By way of example, it can be noted that the internal module and the floor slab are constructed of concrete so as to participate in the regulation of the internal temperature by the thermal inertia of the materials. To reduce the living space, the plan adopts traditional arrangements such as the bed in the alcove and uses sliding partitions, in particular to separate the main bedroom (4m2) And the library. The house is in symbiosis with its environment and offers the occupants an intimate relationship with nature. On the south and west sides, cables stretched in front of the windows are used to support vines. In summer, vegetation prevents any greenhouse effect, protects the interior space from the eyes of the street and animates it by the moving play of the colored shadows and spots of light.
We collaborated with the artist Jean Glibert for the elaboration of the color schemes of the house.