It’s a sunny morning in Normandy, and the light is beginning to peek through the trees, glimmering across the curved metal roof of Isabelle and Patrice Girard-Donnat’s home. Affectionately dubbed Le Kiosque—a nod to the open-walled structures that dot parks across France—the wood house has large sliding glass doors on either side, both of which are open today. As a breeze wafts in from the surrounding garden, the boundary between inside and out truly begins to fade.
After living for nearly two decades in and around Paris, the couple, who have two daughters, Léontine and Siloé, longed for this sort of setting. Patrice, a telecommunications engineer, and Isabelle, a set designer and props director, were ready for a reprieve from the hustle and bustle, or “Métro, Boulot, Dodo,” as the…
