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Beach Home in Cap-d’Ail/ Developed by Dave Rowles/ Interior surfaces by
barth. Image © Tobias Kaser Share Facebook Twitter Mail Pinterest Whatsapp Or
https://www.archdaily.com/1039534/transforming-a-concrete-shell-into-a-wooden-interior-shaped-by-the-sea!.?.!Set along the external breakwater of Port de Cap-d’Ail, situated next to Monaco, the Beach Home inhabits a
limit between land and sea. Surrounded by water and docked boats, the structure beings in close discussion with the harbor, exposed to the moving light, reflections, and environment of the Mediterranean. Within this setting, your home checks out practically like another vessel moored along the harbor wall. When architect Dave Rowles started work on the task, however, the home used little of this character
internally. The previous private home had been removed back almost completely, leaving a raw concrete shell. The remodelling, therefore, began with a basic question: how can an interior capture the qualities of its surroundings? Instead of taking on the powerful maritime context, the design concentrated on creating a calm, material-driven interior that frames and magnifies the beauty and experience of the surrounding landscape crafted from oak, cedar, marble, and stainless-steel information. In collaboration with barth, a business focusing on interior workmanship, Rowles transformed the concrete structure into a cohesive interior, where natural materials, light, and fine-tuned detailing specify both the exterior and interior spaces. Translating
the Environment of the Sea into Interior Architecture
The design strategy was assisted by the idea that the interior can echo the experience of being on a boat, surrounded by water, through spatial company, product continuity, and thoroughly regulated views. Boat interiors are usually compact yet highly incorporated, where furnishings, walls, and circulation run as a single system. This concept ended up being main to the home’s change as Rowles explains:
The sensation you feel when you’re in your home is that of a boat. We tried to replicate the kind of nautical feeling to bring the environment from the Riviere, the nature of travelling into something that is fixed on the water.
Wood plays a definitive function in this architectural language, highlighting warmth, tactility, and timelessness. Cedar and oak surfaces extend continually, forming a warm envelope within the formerly raw concrete structure. In the entrance sequence, a long cedar-lined passage instantly establishes the tone upon arrival. Walls, ceilings, doorframes, and hid doors combine into a continuous wooden surface, producing a calm and immersive passage that moderates in between the outside arrival and the interior home.
Beach Home in Cap-d’Ail/ Designed by Dave Rowles/ Interior finishes by barth.
Image © Tobias Kaser Beach House in Cap-d’Ail/ Developed by Dave Rowles/ Interior surfaces by barth. Image © Tobias Kaser Connection and Movement through Craftsmanship Built-in furniture forms an essential part of the job. Established in partnership with barth, it supports the realization of the architectural principle through careful technical detailing. Here, the furnishings is not an independent layer put within completed spaces. Instead, it ends up being an extension of the architectural structure itself, structuring area, assisting movement, and defining how the interior is inhabited. Rowles expands:
Craftsmanship was paramount to the success of this job, and it’s in the punctuation of whatever that’s what makes it so beautiful.
Craftsmanship was paramount to the success of this job, and it’s in the punctuation of whatever that’s what makes it so beautiful.
A specifying example is the ten-meter-long kitchen space that runs along the primary home. Developed as a freestanding architectural element, the system functions at the same time as a cooking area, a gathering point, and a spatial anchor. Dressed in Alpi Verdi marble, its elongated kind enhances your house’s linearity while developing a visual discussion with the horizon beyond the windows. The counter top effortlessly incorporates the washbasin, maintaining the piece’s monolithic character, while indirect lighting beneath the unit aesthetically lifts it from the floor.
Beach Home in Cap-d’Ail/ Developed by Dave Rowles/ Interior finishes by barth.
Image © Tobias Kaser< img alt="Changing a Concrete Shell into a Wooden Interior Shaped by the Sea -Image 4 of 15"height="427"src ="https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/69b1/4c37/785c/2724/7893/1252/newsletter/transforming-a-concrete-shell-into-a-wooden-interior-shaped-by-the-sea_12.jpg?1773227147" width="640 "/ > Beach House in Cap-d’Ail/ Designed by Dave Rowles/ Interior surfaces by barth. Image © Tobias Kaser This integration of architecture and furnishings continues in the sleeping locations. Custom-made oak-veneer bunk beds, incorporated cabinets, and thoroughly proportioned storage elements reflect the compactness common of maritime interiors. The mix of veneer and strong wood balances material effectiveness with tactile quality
, ensuring that each component contributes to a meaningful spatial system. Beach House in Cap-d’Ail/ Created by Dave Rowles/ Interior finishes by barth. Image © Tobias Kaser Integrated Furniture as a Continuous Envelope Motion through your home unfolds as a continuous series rather of a series of separated spaces. The main sculptural staircase presents curvature into the otherwise rectilinear structure, guiding vertical flow while softening the geometry of the concrete shell. From here, the interior slowly opens toward the primary living areas, where big windows frame views of the harbor. With water noticeable on numerous sides and boats docked nearby, your home begins to evoke the feeling of living in a vessel moored at the edge of the port. This interaction between enclosure and openness, in between the protective intimacy of the cedar-lined passages and the extensive views outward, captures a spatial quality closely connected with life at sea.
Beach House in Cap-d’Ail/ Developed by Dave Rowles/ Interior surfaces by barth. Image © Tobias Kaser Underlying the task is a strong focus on craftsmanship and technical execution. Barth’s contribution is evident in the precision of joinery, the integration of hidden doors, and making use of innovative fabrication techniques such as CNC milling for window frames and customized elements. These procedures permit the tactile heat of natural materials to exist together with a high level of technical refinement.Even utilitarian
spaces preserve this architectural consistency. The laundry location includes laminated kitchen cabinetry and open storage specific niches arranged in a clear, structured structure, while stainless-steel elements present a restrained technical contrast to the heat of the surrounding wood. In the wellness location, an aspen-wood sauna creates a reflective environment. The soft product scheme and hidden lighting enhance the sense of retreat, while a generous opening preserves a visual connection to the outdoors environment. Beach Home in Cap-d’Ail/ Developed by Dave Rowles/ Interior surfaces by barth. Image © Tobias Kaser The resulting interior draws straight from its maritime setting. Constant wooden surfaces echo the warmth of seaside environments, while extended views and integrated furnishings stimulate the spatial reasoning of a boat interior. Anchored along the breakwater yet aesthetically immersed in the harbor, your home equates the experience of the sea into a domestic architecture specified by craftsmanship, product depth, and spatial continuity.