Located outside of Nice, on a wooded site high above the Mediterranean coast of France, is an extraordinary brutalist concrete structure that MKCA is transforming into a home for a creative couple. The badly compromised structure, green roof, pool, and landscape will be thoroughly restored into a live-work-play building for entertaining, making art, and raising a family.

The project is centered on a careful rehabilitation of the original structure and facades, while reorganizing the interiors to support a new way of living. At every step, we are working to preserve the raw spirit and presence of the original concrete architecture.

With so much emphasis placed on architectural preservation, a key added design ambition is to deepen the villa’s dialogue with its dramatic landscape. We are strengthening and extending these connections through deliberate interventions: managing water and establishing new plantings in the courtyards, pool, and pond gardens; introducing a new stair that brings you to a floating meadow on the villa’s roof; and creating a footbridge that extends the rooftop meadow outward into the surrounding forest. Each of these gestures reinforces the bond between building and site, creating new perspectives and new ways of inhabiting the architecture in the landscape.

Architecture and interior design by MKCA.

In progress