studio jean verville’s eclectic MEV cabin draws from the memphis style

mev cabin: an eccentric refuge in the woods

Studio Jean Verville designs this eclectic MEV Cabin for two ‘admirable eccentrics’ in Montreal. The design is largely driven by the clients’ passion for art and Italian design of the 1980s, together with their desire for a refuge nestled away in the forest. ‘The objective is to host their daily lives with a whimsical energy,‘ write the architects, noting the spirit of the residential project. Luckily, this challenge harmonized with the studio’s ‘disruptive approach’ to architecture.

image © Maxime Brouillet | @maximebrouillet

studio jean verville learns from the memphis style

The MEV Cabin by Studio Jean Verville takes shape as ‘a personalized alternative universe.’ The house was developed in close collaboration with the clients, and with ‘architectural mathematical rigor.’ The team looks to the rebellious works of the Italian Memphis Group, borrowing the geometries and colors associated with its design movement. The architects describe their understanding of the style as the ‘antithesis to monotony and the monochromatic architecture and design of his time.’

image © Maxime Brouillet

sparkling interiors enclosed by a dark volume

An eccentric refuge in the woods by Studio Jean Verville, the MEV Cabin takes shape with curving geometries and kaleidoscopic interiors. The group notes its aim to evoke a ‘wacky universe of the ’80s,’ celebrating boldly contrasting relationships.

This type of dialogue is most apparent in the contrasting languages of the exterior and interiors. The architecture stands as a low, dark volume nested away among the trees, carved away to create a slanting and curving geometry. Inside, the interiors are defined by extravagant, graphic materials, whose reflecting surfaces result in a kaleidoscopic environment.

image © Maxime Brouillet

The team at Studio Jean Verville comments on the atmosphere of the space: ‘ Volumes and surfaces play games of formal opposition, adorning themselves with a panache of elements, patterns, and colors vying for traces of childhood.

‘Quintessence of the getaway in nature, the Laurentian forest welcomes the house-studio on a parcel of its territory that has remained out of reach, providing a place of life and work, both vibrant and free.’ 

image © Maxime Brouillet
image © Maryse Béland

image © Maxime Brouillet

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project info:

project title: MEV Cabin

architecture: Studio Jean Verville Architectes | @jeanvervillearchitecte

location: Montreal, Canada

lead architect: Jean Verville
studio director: Tania Paula Garza Rico
artistic advisor: France Goneau
design team: Rémi St-Pierre, Samuel Landry, Camille Asselin, Jacob Éthier, Bahia Burias

built area: 181 square meters (1,950 square feet)

completion: 2022

photography: © Maryse Béland, Maxime Brouillet | @maximebrouillet