Exotic pearl of the week | Double game in the Basque Country

Every week, we scour real estate sales sites around the world to unearth properties that arouse curiosity or conducive to daydreaming.

Sylvain Sarrazin
The Press

While looking for a beautiful traditional house located in the Basque Country, in the south-west of France, we instead came across this strange double-faced architect’s residence, located in Urrugne, not far from the Atlantic coast.

We certainly find many elements of theetxed, the traditional Basque house, in the exterior aspect of this country residence, with its whitewashed walls, its red half-timbering and its tiled roof. But once through the doors of the building, all the regional development codes have been “ripped to pieces” in favor of an interior à la Dalí. The effect is all the more surprising since the region is very conservative in terms of traditional local architecture, rooted in the model of large family farms.

After some research, we found the architecture firm behind the project: it is Inaki Nobila, who multiplies bold projects combining traditional Basque and avant-garde elements. The designers explain that, in the case of this house baptized Amalur (meaning “Earth-Mother”, a founding figure of Basque mythology), the idea was to create a restful central cocoon, not visible from the outside, around which the other parts would gravitate. This element goes against the stone interiors and the usual volumes, in favor of huge solid wood walls, streaked with openings with improbable shapes. Stairs and galleries surround this core, playing with its heights. It certainly does not offer a view of the beautiful Basque coast, but allows a very nice view of the Rhune, the most emblematic peak in the area. Too bad that real estate prices have seriously soared in this region during the pandemic.