August 14, 2025 | TRAVEL
TEN HOUSES, ONE VISION
words Onur Basturk
In a world where luxury travel often leans on surface glamour, Les Maisons CAB offers something far richer — an invitation to live inside a work of art. Spread across Europe and the Caribbean, these ten remarkable vacation homes are not just styled with museum-worthy pieces; they are curated, immersive environments where design history, architectural heritage, and contemporary art converge.
CASA BIBI - PANAREA
STAYING INSIDE THE COLLECTION
The vision belongs to Hubert Bonnet — Belgian collector, aesthete, and founder of Fondation CAB. For more than two decades, Bonnet has pursued a singular passion: the intersection of modernist and vernacular architecture from the 1930s to the 1970s. Over the years, he quietly assembled a portfolio of extraordinary properties — from the modular Maison Prouvé in Saint-Paul-de-Vence to a sun-washed retreat in Panarea — each restored in collaboration with architects of equal renown: Marc Corbiau, Louis-Herman de Koninck, Charles Zana, Christophe Gevers, Louis Vincent, and Jean-Jacques Honegger among them.
LES AILES - GENEVA
Inside, the interiors speak a fluent language of form and function. Pieces by Jean Prouvé, Alvar Aalto, Hans Wegner, Charlotte Perriand, and India Mahdavi sit alongside avant-garde sculptures and contemporary works pulled directly from the Fondation CAB collection. Some homes are enriched with site-specific commissions — a Sol LeWitt wall painting at Villa Paquebot in Knokke, a Mathis Bensimon fresco animating Casa Bibi in Panarea.
The seed for this living-gallery concept was planted years earlier, when François Laffanour introduced Bonnet to a 1944 demountable house by Jean Prouvé. The encounter became a turning point in his appreciation for functional, modular design — a sensibility that now permeates each Maison CAB.
PARIS SELECTION
Originally private residences where Bonnet himself lived, the houses were opened to guests in 2024, extending the Fondation’s artistic spirit far beyond its Brussels and Saint-Paul-de-Vence spaces. It’s an evolution that transforms the act of travel: staying in a Maison CAB is not simply booking a home, but inhabiting a layered narrative of architecture, art, and place.
From the Caribbean rhythms of Casa Bibi in Las Terrenas to the Alpine crispness of Chalet Bibi in Verbier, from the Mediterranean ease of Casa Bibi in Panarea to the quiet modernism of Belle Vue in Brussels, each address holds a distinct sense of place. The portfolio spans Paris (Jacob), Geneva (Les Ailes), London (London Mews), Knokke (Le Paquebot), and Saint-Paul-de-Vence — home to both the Fondation CAB and the iconic Maison Prouvé. Ten destinations, one vision: preserving rare architectural heritage, ensuring its longevity, and offering a way of traveling that is both deeply personal and culturally resonant.
REPUBLIQUE DOMINICAINE SELECTION
