A House That Hides

Photographs Courtesy of R&SIE(n)/Architects

Paris
Project: Lost in Paris
Architects: R&SIE(n)
Date: 2008

“This is not secure architecture as we know it,” says François Roche, one of the firm’s principals, who likes to cite Rear Window when writing about “Lost in Paris” and his desire to hide the house from the prying eyes of the “sleeping Parisian bourgeoisie.” As for living in the house—1,400 square feet of totally camouflaged concrete—“it’s either someone’s dream or their nightmare!” For one family, with two teenagers, it’s the former. So perfect, in fact, is their hiding place that no one is willing to say where in Paris it is.

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A House That Hides