It was, as is not infrequent in these cases, all about the view. For if Professor Malecaze had acquired a modest property in this sparsely built suburb of Toulouse, it was precisely because of the stunning panorama it offered across the valley of the Garonne River toward the Pyrenees on the far horizon. But he wasn’t so keen on the small 1970s house that came with the lot, which he found not only too poky for his needs but also too closed with respect to the natural splendors the site enjoyed. And his chosen architects—discovered by chance on a trip to Spain, long before their 2017 Pritzker Prize win—agreed. “The view across the valley is so powerful that we wanted to do a house based around it,” says Carme Pigem, the C in Catalonia-based RCR Arquitectes.