Maison Louis Carré: Aalto’s Architecture, Revisited by In Common With
In Bazoches-sur-Guyonne, west of Paris, Maison Louis Carré is architect Alvar Aalto’s only realized building in France—and one of his most complete expressions of architecture as a total work. Designed in 1956 for art collectors Louis and Olga Carré, the house is a sequence of rooms moving from a low, contained entry, then opening out toward the terraced garden.
Aalto conceived the project down to its smallest details, working alongside his second wife and collaborator, architect Elissa Aalto to design not just the building but its interiors, furnishings, and lighting—an approach based upon the idea of Gesamtkunstwerk, or a total work of art. Nearly seventy years on, that ethos remains intact.
It’s this continuity that drew New York-based studio In Common With to the house. Founded on similar principles—modularity, adaptability, and a close attention to material—the studio installed a selection of its Core collection here, placing contemporary fixtures into dialogue with Aalto’s architecture. Rather than contrast, the aim was alignment: pieces that register as part of the spatial order.
Photography by Bastian Achard for In Common With.
Above: Maison Louis Carré is oriented to follow the land—its stepped terraces and low rooflines meeting the surrounding forest. Here, the Double Puck Surface Mount is installed on the perimeter of the house.
Above: The exterior is constructed with white-finished brick and the same local sandstone used for the nearby historic Chartres Cathedral. The Arundel Mushroom Surface Mount leads up to the front door.
Above: Installed at a low height to match the layout of the existing room, the Arundel Mushroom Pendant hangs above two low Aalto tables. The Puck Table Lamp sits on built-in furniture.
Aalto designed the house as a complete environment, from built-ins to light fixtures, dissolving the boundary between architecture and interior. “[Alvar Aalto] is a key inspiration behind why we founded In Common With—and the guiding principle of our first collection, Core: a modular system built to evolve, adapt, and endure,” explains In Common With.
Above: The Eave Floor Lamp sits behind the Artek Model 48 Chair. The Dune Portable Table Lamp sits on Artek Model 88 Nesting Tables.
The founding of Artek in 1935, 20 years prior to finishing Maison Louis Carré, helped translate Aalto’s approach into furniture and systems designed for everyday use. Nearly a century apart, the shared language—modular, adaptable, expressive—allows the new pieces from In Common With to sit easily within Aalto’s framework.
Above: The house was designed with two kitchens—the main kitchen is designed for daily use and here, the Double Puck Surface Mount lights the space.
Above: A more robust kitchen, the service kitchen, is fitted with the large Saga Pendant.
“Every element in Maison Louis Carré is considered,” describes In Common With. “Our approach was to place our fixtures in a way that felt continuous with the architecture, rather than applied to it.”
Above: Brick, oak, copper, and plaster are chosen for their tactile warmth and their ability to age in place. The Aalto Round Dining Table and Chair 69 meet the Disc Pendant.
Above: The Arundel Orb Pendant hangs above the Artek X600 Stools and Table. The Up Down Sconce is installed on the wall.
Above: The original upholstery and bedding remains at Maison Louis Carré. Two Eave Table Lamps sit on the built-in bedside furniture.
Above: The Spot Surface Mount in Patina Brass in another bedroom.
Above: The original pale blue tiled bathroom with the Chromatic Glass Up Down Sconce.
Above: Above the step-down tub in another bath, the Mushroom Surface Mount in Patina Brass is installed just above.
Above: A pair of Ridge Surface Mount fixtures above the wash basin.
Above: An Orb Surface Mount light above Aalto’s inventive exterior window shade.
Above: Maison Louis Carré is open for guided tours March through November.
For more historic modernist houses, see our posts:
- Villa Rezek Restored, Now On View: 1930s Viennese Modernism by Architect Hans Glas
- Daring Color Ideas to Steal from the Finn Juhl House in Copenhagen
- 14 Lessons in Minimalism from the Glass House
- 12 Design Lessons from Le Corbusier’s Maison La Roche in Paris
- 12 Design Lessons from Kettle’s Yard in Cambridge
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