Paris Apt Renovation

PROGRAM: Appartment Renovation

DATE: 2012-2013

TEAM: Pearchitectures, WOMA

TECHNIQUE: Digitally Designed and Cut MDF

PLACE: Paris, FRANCE

The approach is to maximize the space to make the most of the 28m2 offered by the apartment. Several methods have been used to achieve this:

• Densify the living spaces (entrance, kitchen, bathroom) to free up maximum volume for the resting spaces (dining room/office, bedroom, office), creating a gradation from public to private sphere. The architectural journey starts from the compact entrance, then the space relaxes and expands throughout the discovery of the apartment, ultimately revealing the cocoon, the most intimate area, the bedroom.

• Use circulation as a full-fledged space by avoiding the traditional Haussmannian separation between corridor and room. Concentrate storage on the periphery to avoid not only physical but also visual obstacles.

• Favor the sensation of space: clear perspectives. The view at the entrance reveals the courtyard window, suggesting the gaze to flow outward. Then, the main diagonal circulation naturally imposes itself and directs the gaze towards the longest length of the apartment through the kitchen, living room, and to the back of the bedroom if the door is open.

• The kitchen element serves as a fridge cabinet, storage space, workspace, and a pivot volume between the living and resting spaces. It is the main articulation of the whole, located in the elbow of the L-shaped apartment plan.

Credits

Paul Ehret

Architect