This 14th-century chateau above the French village of Mercury was a private residence for generations, home to the Chevron-Villette family and, later, the Dunand Bénéteau family, until its final owners moved away. During the Second World War, the family sheltered ten members of a Jewish family within its walls: all survived, and in 1996 the chateau's owners were recognised by Yad Vashem as Righteous Among the Nations. The brief called for something new: a small guesthouse built around groups rather than solitary travellers; weddings, private parties, gatherings that would take over the building for a weekend.

The proposal keeps its intervention minimal and reversible: a lift, bathrooms and bespoke furnishings, inserted as prefabricated elements without altering the stone shell. The only visible addition sits at roof level: a faceted glass volume rising from the slate roofline, reading from a distance as little more than a glint of light. In the garden, a row of slender brass-toned bars threads through the lawn, an outdoor installation built to support events without alien shapes and infrastructure invading the grounds.

Each room takes on a single tone or colour; a small gesture, fitting for a building whose history is bound up with what happened behind its walls: a stern exterior giving little away, warmth held carefully within. By day, that's a quiet detail. By night, when guests switch their lights on, the chateau turns into something closer to a dollhouse: a playful, colourful show visible across the whole village below.