Lost In Paris By R&Sie(n)

Photos courtesy of R Sie(n).

Gourd-like glass appendages house a bacteria farm, while ferns cover the entire exterior of this quirky home designed by R&Sie(n) in Paris.

Eco architecture doesn�t come any darker or stranger than R&Sie(n)�s Parisian hideaway, a quirky home for a family of four that�s appropriately called Lost in Paris. Tucked away in a courtyard beneath a forest of ferns, the fa�ade of the house is hung with the gourd-like glass appendages of � wait for it � a bacteria farm. While the 1200 ferns cloaking the three-storey building are fed by hydroponic tubes transporting water from the rooftop, the 300 specially made glass bulbs contain rhizobia bacteria and water. This bacterial soup brews in the summer sunlight and is harvested later as food for the ferns. �The client had a desire for stealth,� says architect Fran�ois Roche, explaining the greenery-swathed building. He describes the house as incorporating �nature gone wild�, thanks to its distinctly unnerving bacterial processes � an antidote, certainly, to the pervasive (and, dare we say it, bland) wholesomeness of all too many green architecture projects.

Posted by Nils Groot