How will it be possible, this time around, to frame both ways, that is, towards the outside, to the beautiful view of the valley of Kfardebiane, and towards the inside, to a unique selection of contemporary paintings? ‘Housemuseum’ will name a new typology that merges art appreciation and nature appreciation. ‘House’ of course, because the project will cater for the necessary comfort and warmth especially during the cold snowy months of the winter. But ‘museum’ as well to wander around, curate and stage-set the arousal of serial emotions as one proceeds from level to level.

In essence, the longitudinal shape of the site is the natural invitation to an extraverted house. The required length of facade to fit in the legal constraints creates a sort of pointed yacht-like form that is inserted into the slope and stratified horizontally in 4 layers of varying interpretations of homeliness and museography.

1. Basement: The Bunker or the transformation of underground spaces into spaces of leisure in the form of a spa/hammam, a long underground heated pool, and a parking garage, all occasionally naturally lit via skylights.

2. Ground Floor: The Gallery or the celebration of openness and high level ceilings through an alternation of transparent and opaque planes, either to frame the exterior panorama, or to frame a painting on a wall, with technical lighting.

3. First Floor: The Cocoon or the enjoyment of coziness within lower level spaces, built-in furniture, balcony experiences and cinematic sliding shutters.

4. Roof: The Belvedere or the total experience of the site, at 360 degrees, with an outdoor fireplace, a mineral zen garden and low level shrubbery to hide a balustrade.

A continuous loop of circulation allows to experience the collection from roof to basement, uninterrupted. From the entrance at mid level between the Ground Floor and the First Floor, a long ramp gently ascends towards the upper floor to exhibit, via natural skylights the ‘warmer’ part of the collection. On the First Floor, it is possible to exit to a cantilevered black metal staircase (of the village tradition, usually made in stone though) to access the roof level. From the entrance at the Ground Floor, it is also possible to circulate down to the higher level ceiling zone of the Gallery via a stepped amphitheater and to continue to the basement behind the wooden library (in mystery novels all libraries contain a secret passage). An alternative route is the continuous elevator across all floors, and a smaller vertical staircase for deliveries and servicing. A loop in the landscape, its steps treated as rocks from a land-art, allows to turn around the whole house and access all levels or to the roof.

The project material, reminiscent of an Ando museum exposes fair-faced concrete inside and out on a regular module of a plywood formwork with exposed tie holes, cast as smooth as possible, the color as ‘middle-grey’ as possible to enhance all possible colors of the artwork without any insistence on the blacks or on the whites. Like a photographer who would be taking the light balance prior to the shoot, the middle grey will prepare art for its appreciation. On the upper floor in the cocoon, an almost systematic cladding in various veins of wood creates this time the necessary contrast and warmth. As for the photographic metaphor on this floor, it is more like of a projector with its steel blades or a black diaphragm in a dark room to draw a sharp cut of the view, or shutter it completely.