Contemporary french chateau

Clients:

CONTEMPORARY
FRENCH
CHATEAU

CONTEMPORARY

Jesse designed Chateau Donalda as a contemporary rendition of the Second-Empire-style French Chateau. He sought to capture the grandeur that is intrinsic to this historic design style, referencing the work of great French architects of past centuries such as Francois Mansart. With this in mind, his approach favors proportions, symmetry, and a great number of relevant exterior details. When he embarked on the design process for this home, it was with the intention of capturing the luxuriously ornate exterior details inherent to this design style featured throughout the chateaus he saw during his travels to Paris, Dijon, and the Loire Valley region.

It may seem deceiving at first glance, considering the facade’s simplicity, but Jesse designed a wealth of masonry details that work together harmoniously to capture the desired character. The stepped window trim profiles are a great example of this, as he incorporated a slickly contemporary art-deco detail that continues to influence French design. The top of wall banding detail is also similarly simple, though it serves to draw the eye to the width of the structures proportions.

The French Chateau design style, irrespective of what nuanced stylistic classification you look into, is synonymous with the use of noble materials. This made the use limestone cladding a must. It frames the symmetrical windows wonderfully,

The result is that the proportions of the structure imply a sense of grandeur, with the main floor reaching a height of 13 feet. This allowed Jesse to use both the ground floor windows and front vestibule archway to draw the eye upwards to the dormers that feature both dramatic proportions and similarly restrained details.

The dormers on the front and rear also serve another purpose; to harness natural light into the second floor bedrooms and hallways. Every home Jesse designs is based on an initial sun study, serving to optimize the amount of natural light we are able to harness in each space during their average highest time of use. This approach not only deeply impacts the composition of the design process, it also significantly improves the quality of each interior space. In later phases of this process, you will see renderings similar to those featured below depicting the home’s facades in different lighting conditions, aiding us in assessing the amount of natural light that will hit each face of the home and at what time.

The rendering to your left serves as a testament to the ongoing collaboration with our clients and their builder to accurately bring the home to life. The detailed craft of bringing these masonry details to life is no easy task, each featuring a radius and several step and panel details. Our continued involvement through every detail required to be clarified through the construction process was the deciding factor in how accurately our design vision was brought to life.

Chateau donalda