For Sale, Savin Couëlle’s Spectacular Organic Villa Complex on a Remote Corsican Island

Words by: Jonathan Bell

Villa Pieds Dans L’Eau is a masterpiece of 70s organic architecture, built into the rocky coastline of the Corsican island of Cavallo.

Villa Pieds Dans L’Eau is a waterside property on the small Corsican island of Cavallo, located in the Strait of Bonifacio. Designed by the architect Savin Couëlle (1929 – 2020), it was constructed over a four-year period in the 1970s, as Corsica and Sardinia became favoured Mediterranean destinations for France and Italy’s smart set.

Tour Savin Couëlle’s organic villa, Villa Pieds Dans L’Eau

Couëlle was the son of architect Jacques Couëlle, who also built in the region, most notably the Cala di Volpe hotel in Sardinia, familiar to cinema fans of the era as a location in the 1977 Bond film, The Spy Who Loved Me. Cavallo also found favour as a cinematic backdrop. It was the location for Marco Ferreri’s 1972 melodrama Liza, starring Catherine Deneuve and Marcello Mastroianni.

On Cavallo, Couëlle had to contend with strict building codes, that included a 4.5m restriction on height and naturalistic planting that screened new buildings from the sea. Taking the landscape as his cue, Couëlle integrated the villa directly into the coastline, incorporating granite outcrops into the design, carving steps directly into the rock and creating a naturalistic series of curved roofs and cave-like openings to frame the sea view.

For sale through Lionard Luxury Real Estate, the villa sprawls for 700 sqm along the sea front, set within a private coastal park of 4,700sqm. All that space has been designed for sharing, with a total of no less than 12 bedrooms and 12 bathrooms, as well as additional staff accommodation, an independent guest house and dock. There’s also a private white sandy beach, offering the direct sea access that gives the house its name.

In keeping with Cavallo’s rules, the house is almost completely invisible from the sea, with monumental masonry carefully spliced between the existing granite rocks. Arranged across multiple level changes, with existing and new planting arranged naturalistically across the site, it offers the new owner an organic and immersive place in nature.

The main living area is dominated by a large chunk of granite, into which the house’s central staircase has been painstakingly carved, as well as a sculptural fireplace. Rough white lime plaster rendered walls twist and turn as they sprout from the tiled floors and rocky surfaces, framing views within and without the space. All windows are bespoke, shaped according to Couëlle’s principles of organic architecture.

The accommodation includes a number of self-contained suites as well as a fully equipped professional kitchen. Shaded sun decks and covered verandas are scattered around the complex, with ever-present sea views and an unrivalled sense of privacy and seclusion.