Fernando Caruncho Crafts a Kiosk for Contemplation in Normandy

“A small kiosk for contemplation and silent rest” is how AD100 landscape designer Fernando Caruncho describes the Japanese-style wood pavilion, as crimson as a geisha’s lip rouge, that he erected in Normandy, France. The rolling, artfully planted acreage, once owned by the eminent Gallimard publishing family, is now the retreat of a film producer and his decorator wife. They asked the Madrid-based Caruncho to include a getaway within a getaway in his plans, a destination that would be a leisurely stroll away from their incongruously American-looking 1950s white-shingled house. His concept was a pavilion inspired by a Japanese monastery. There was one particular challenge, though—the best site, embraced by a grove of towering black poplar trees, is in a flood plain. Every few years, the adjacent river, a tributary of the Seine, overflows its banks, so Caruncho placed the kiosk, like a sacred flame that must be kept alight, atop a five-foot-high basketlike platform. A walkway edged with modest rope railings gently ascends to the captivating building’s single poetically sparse room, where lattice panels open to a tranquil yet ever-changing view.

Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest