Camouflage Look for the “Snake House”

The “Snake House” with its striking python facade is the highlight of an otherwise architecturally rather pragmatic new district of Grenoble. The shape and design of the building itself are very simple. It is the facade material that makes the design extraordinary, as it abstracts the angular form. The snake came into play because the graphic patterns of snake skin make it very difficult to define its shape. The scale pattern functions like a camouflage look that makes corners and edges disappear. Édouard François used a designer backpack as a template for the facade design. The pattern was scanned and zoomed to the appropriate size. François chose anthracite and silver as well as the two shades, light grey and natural shine. 1,500 m² of facade with around 47,000 20 × 20 wall tiles were laid. Each rhombus was precisely defined to ensure the effect of the dazzling outer skin. For this reason, a number was noted on each small part in the corresponding colour – P.10 anthracite, P.10 light grey, natural shine and silver metallic, which helped with the precise implementation of the planned arrangement on the facade.

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