This one does not try to form a wall. It is a column: a cylinder rendered in matt white, free-standing in the middle of the room, whose diameter is read at a glance and no side of which is any more the ‘front’ than another.
The shape is not gratuitous. A cylinder offers the largest exchange surface for a given floor footprint, and it radiates through 360°, which suits a central position: the heat goes out in every direction instead of being thrown back by a wall.
The firebox is arched rather than rectangular, to follow the curve of the body without cutting a flat. At its foot, a low circular base lifts the mass off the floor and serves as a step.
Built in Moselle, at Danne-et-Quatre-Vents.
