Single-Story Villa is a minimalist residential renovation located in Montézillon, Switzerland, designed by Noue Studio. The 1983 single-story villa arrives at Noue Studio as a proposition rather than a problem – its existing structure not a constraint to work around but the foundational logic from which every decision unfolds. This fidelity to what is already there, rather than the imposition of a new formal language, defines the project’s character. The move to swap the kitchen and bedroom positions – a seemingly simple act – reorganizes the entire domestic sequence, realigning how light enters, how rooms relate, and how the daily life of the house flows.
The spatial reorganization follows a logic of revelation. From the entrance, a sightline opens through the living spaces, drawing the eye inward and forward simultaneously. This compressed perspective – a technique with deep roots in classical interior planning – transforms circulation from a neutral act into an experiential one, preparing the inhabitant for the rooms ahead rather than simply connecting them.
The kitchen’s relocation to open directly onto the living room is central to this social reordering. Rather than operating as a service space separated from the life of the house, it becomes a constituent element of shared domestic territory. The enlargement of living room openings extends this logic outward, dissolving the boundary between interior and landscape. Light and the surrounding environment are treated not as incidental backdrop but as material, actively shaping the spatial atmosphere throughout the day.
The bathroom layout introduces a more nuanced spatial thinking: a gradient of privacy rather than a binary division. This calibrated approach – distributing intimacy incrementally across the room – reflects a broader contemporary interest in flexible domestic infrastructure, where fixed programs yield to varied rhythms of use and occupation.
