The Snake by Francois Roche, New Territories and R&Sie Architects in Paris, France | Yellowtrace
Photo by Jérôme Galland.

The Snake by Francois Roche, New Territories and R&Sie Architects in Paris, France | Yellowtrace
Photo by Jérôme Galland.

The Snake by Francois Roche, New Territories and R&Sie Architects in Paris, France | Yellowtrace
Photo by Jérôme Galland.

The Snake by Francois Roche, New Territories and R&Sie Architects in Paris, France | Yellowtrace
Photo by Jérôme Galland.

The Snake by Francois Roche, New Territories and R&Sie Architects in Paris, France | Yellowtrace
Photo by Jérôme Galland.

 

If you’re ever lacking a bit of that artsy-edge in your design lives, only look towards Paris. For better or worse, you can trust the Parisians to explore and blur the boundary between art and architecture. Although I’m obviously making a vast generalisation, nothing says this more than the Parisian ‘snake’ project by New Territories/ R&Sie Architects. Edgy as hell, this ‘snake in a box project’ is more than just a sneaky innuendo; it’s an abode for the ultimate art-crazed lover of minimalist living.

Located in an old 19th Century, industrial brick building in Paris’s lively 10th Arrondissement, the project was completed in 2003 for an anonymous and supposedly super fancy art collector. To explain the project in brief, New Territories/ R&Sie constructed a white cube of 350sqm and filled it with the minimal necessities for living: a kitchen, bed, and bathroom etc. Clad entirely in white plaster, these spaces were then complimented by a public art space where the client’s art collection lives and is occasionally accompanied by exhibition art works. Between it all, lies a bisecting snake structure, splitting and defining the more private living spaces and public art gallery spaces; providing a central, sculptural element where someone can live. Constructed primarily using a metal-mesh material dressed in a silky white plaster skin, the snake rises, doubling up on itself as the occupant inhabits the space and makes the journey towards an apex where they can appreciate and oversee the art collection from above.

 

Related post: Stories On Design: The Art of Giving Good White.

 

The Snake by François Roche, New Territories and R&Sie Architects in Paris, France | Yellowtrace

The Snake by François Roche, New Territories and R&Sie Architects in Paris, France | Yellowtrace

The Snake by François Roche, New Territories and R&Sie Architects in Paris, France | Yellowtrace

The Snake by François Roche, New Territories and R&Sie Architects in Paris, France | Yellowtrace

 

Using the snake to create a narrative between inhabitant and public art enthusiast, this project invents a space that echoes the edgy yet refined intentions of the client, their own artistic collection as well as a capacity to exhibit. Using the white brush of the typical minimalist masters, New Territories/ R&Sie dramatically explore and highlight the unusual, organic and twisting form of the snake, creating ghostly spaces that frame the works as well as the life of the inhabitant. Pushing the edges of interiority, this architecture within architecture celebrates organic boarders and its appeal to a more fluid way of living. Enjoy guys!

 

Related post: Deliciously Curvalicious.

 

 


[Photography by Jérôme Galland as indicated. All other images and sketches courtesy of New Territories.]

 



About The Author

Originally from Melbourne, Sam is a design-crazed architect currently living and working in Copenhagen, Denmark. Nuts for all things futurist and technology based, he is super interested in the evolving relationship between design/ architecture and the process of industrialised production - probably derived from childhood ambitions to make his own, personalised R2D2. Totally crazy about concepts like self-assembling architectures, Sam gets an unreal kick out of trying to understand the complexities behind any design. In his limited, non-design time he is currently learning Danish and practicing it shamelessly with the poor coffee barista down the road twice a day, every day.

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