Rehabilitating, Adapting, Transforming: A Medieval House in Aurignac, France

The project began as a near-ruin in Aurignac, France: an uninhabited medieval house, pared back to its stone structure. When a Paris-based artist discovered the village by chance and decided to stay, he enlisted Les Ateliers Permanents—founded by Chloé Morin and Enzo Fruytier, with an office in Aurignac—to rebuild it as a working home. “We work where people live, where everyday life has taken root: in the margins, the outskirts, the countryside, small urban centers,” Morin explains. “Everywhere, the task is to listen to what the territory tells us—and to respond with precision and care.”

Here, the intervention was extensive by necessity. The house had sat empty for nearly 20 years and was in poor condition, so the architects worked from the edges inward. Only the walls and part of the existing structure remained, with one section formerly used as a barn. The roof was rebuilt and insulated; floors excavated and insulated; and the interior levels reworked into a stepped sequence. The main living area, once outdoors with packed earth flooring, is now organized around a double-height volume that draws light into the plan. Bathrooms were added where there had been none.

It’s a modern layer that aligns with the studio’s broader ethos: “Building no longer necessarily means constructing a new, but intervening with care in what is already there. Rehabilitating, adapting, transforming—not by default, but by choice.” Here’s a look.

Photography by Sandrine Iratcabal for Les Ateliers Permanents.

Above: On the street, the entry is set back from the façade to create a shallow loggia—a small buffer from passersby that shades the glazing while allowing in light. Above: Oak-framed windows and front entry with an integrated concrete shelf for wood storage. Above: The entry opens into a kitchen constructed with oak cabinet fronts and a concrete worktop sealed with an eco-friendly pore sealer. A central concrete table serves as both casual dining and workstation. Above: The electric cooktop is a Bora appliance and the oven is AEG. Above: Stepping into the living area at left, the dining table base is designed by Richard Lampert—paired with a plywood top. The chairs are Gio Ponti Superleggera Chairs. Above: With the living/dining area elevated, the view from the dining table looks out to the street. Above: The remaining walls of the house date back to the 13th century. The additional stones throughout were sourced from the village quarry. Above: A wide view of the double height volume. The freestanding stove is an Invicta Kiara model. Above: The sofa is a Bastiano Sofa by Tobia & Afra Scarpa with Jorge Ferrari-Hardoy Butterfly Chair. The lamp is a vintage Staff Leuchten Table Lamp. Above: The lamp is the Artemide Tizio Task Lamp on a Jasper Morrison Cork Model C Stool. It plugs in via a floor outlet integrated into the polished concrete flooring. Above: The central concrete stairs are newly built. Above: Insulation was approached case by case, with wood wool in some areas, lime-hemp in others, and select sections of exposed stone. “These choices were made depending on the orientation, the function of the room, and the architectural composition,” Morin says. Above: Square tiles in the bathroom are from Primus Vitoria in Portugal. The floor tiles are from a workshop in the Spanish Pyrenees. The taps are both from Iconico; the sink is a Roca sink; the tub is from Bette. Above: The second story is defined by oak flooring and white walls and tunnels—or skylights—of light. Above: The doors were designed by the architects and made custom by a local carpenter: “We chose to keep the raw MDF look on the doors,” Morin explains. Above: A dynamic garden was built beyond the living room windows. Above: The landscape design here echoes the rocky terrain of the southern Haute-Garonne region in front of the Pyrenees mountains. Above: The architectural plans showing the ground floor inclusive of the garden in back. Above: Plans show the design of the top floor bedrooms and bathrooms.

For more modernized French interiors, see our posts:

• • Modernity in Outer Paris: A 1910 House in Île-de-France by Mudo Architecture
  • The New Provencal Style: An Artfully Reinvented French Mas
  • Bioclimatique: An Arles Farmhouse-Turned-Artist Residency with Sustainability in Mind
  • Past and Present: A Montpellier Architect Restores a Historic Maison de Maître