Tucked into the verdant hills above Cannes, France, in a coveted residential enclave often called Decrease California, Villa Nicky overlooks the shimmering Mediterranean with a serene, nearly cinematic high quality. When architect Jerry Pellerin first visited the positioning—a former secure and employees quarters for the neighboring property—he felt an instantaneous connection. “I needed to reside with my ft within the water,” he says, referencing the French expression “les pieds dans l’eau.” The place gave him that feeling immediately.
Pellerin, the cofounder of Caprini & Pellerin, a multidisciplinary structure and design studio primarily based in Cannes, started the renovation in 2019. Nevertheless it took time for the house to lastly be move-in prepared. Between launching a serious hospitality restoration (the transformation of Palm Seaside Cannes, a historic leisure vacation spot) and relocating the agency’s headquarters, his own residence needed to wait. Designing your personal residence as an architect, “it’s very sophisticated,” Pellerin says.
Although modest in footprint—about 1,950 sq. ft—Villa Nicky unfolds vertically in 4 tales. Entry is at avenue degree, the place a discrete doorway and pure skylight provide a quiet welcome. The first suite sits one degree down, adopted by the principle residing space beneath, the place the open salon spills out onto a beneficiant travertine-clad terrace and a swimming pool. Simply behind it: the kitchen, storage, and a visitor powder room. A closing descent reveals a tucked-away studio area constructed beneath the pool. The house’s steep hillside place could have posed logistical challenges—“you possibly can’t even park a truck outdoors,” Pellerin notes—nevertheless it additionally allowed him to create a novel architectural expertise that descends by way of layers of the panorama.
Pellerin shares the area together with his spouse, their younger little one, and the household canine. For them, Villa Nicky is greater than a house; it’s a retreat, a sanctuary, a spot the place the boundaries between indoors and out dissolve nearly solely. “I at all times knew what I needed,” he says. “I used to be fortunate to discover a place that permit me specific that.”
