Welcome to the F House, a strikingly simple blend of simplicity and style, packaged in a rustic barn frame. This is a semi-permanent vacation home that was built on top of the original foundation of an old barn in the Normandy region of France according to a design by lode architecture’s Jerome Vincon and Amaud Locoste. The foundation was less than 600 square feet, but the addition of a second story has brought the total area up to almost 1,000 square feet.
Flanking both sides of the upstairs you’ll find storage and bunk/sleeping areas. Several beds fit in each cubby hold on the left, and a couple beds suspend off the ground to the right, just above the clerestory windows. Notice the netting, which keeps young children from plummeting down the stairs.
It’s a simple, minimalist design inside and out, but the slate roof and red pine covering the timber frame make it look quite classy. The interior is about as basic as you can get, featuring concrete floors on the ground level and plywood for the walls, ceiling, and second-story flooring. And the floor? It’s made from black rubber in case you were wondering.
In the midst of that simplicity, though, are a couple of surprisingly upscale touches. There’s a modern galley kitchen backed by sliding glass doors to give the cook a view of the 2.4-acre meadow on which the house is built.
It’s also a pretty eco-friendly place. The barn was fortuitously oriented to soak up sunlight, and Vincon and Locoste capitalized on that by placing several big windows on the ground floor. They also put in a ground-coupled heat exchanger for energy-efficient heating and cooling.
Finally, there’s the tub, which is perhaps the most impressive feature of all. It sits squarely in the middle of the living room, next to the warm stove, and glows at night thanks to some built-in LED lighting.
