Budget: €50 to €100,000

Located in a historic and highly sought-after condominium in the 10th arrondissement, this apartment with its industrial origins was in good condition, but its U-shaped floor plan deserved to be rethought. It is built around a 9 m2 terrace, whose charm was just waiting to be revealed.

Objective

Rediscover a plan that’s easier to live in, with an open kitchen, larger shower room, separate WC and, of course, more storage space. Bring the terrace back to life as a real bonus room. More light in the kitchen.

Line of conduct

Preserve the atypical charm of the premises and the remarkable old features. Echo the greenery of the terrace by punctuating the apartment with flat expanses of green.

Assume the “countryside in Paris” ambience, which combines industrial codes (black metal skylights, antique doors, retro-style electric radiators), country-inspired antique furniture such as the farm table and framed kitchen fronts, and the Mediterranean softness embodied by the raw materials of the South of France: terracotta and waxed concrete.

Implementation

A complete renovation that places the kitchen next to the terrace, giving each a place at the heart of the apartment. A previously under-utilized space was upgraded with the creation of a custom-made office, entirely painted a deep green to become a real bonus room.

A parquet floor painted white to unify the whole and let the light circulate: a bold choice, but one that paid off.

An ultra-optimized bathroom in which waxed concrete-covered formwork conceals technical elements and creates hidden niches and storage.

Original plans & project

A haven of peace and light with simple beauty.

L'ARCHITECTE CARMIN

  • Crédits photosBertrand Fompeyrine BCDF
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The before …

A contemporary renovation that respects the special soul of this beautiful 110 m2 flat in the heart of the Old Port of Marseille.

Target

To give this typical Old Port flat a new lease of life by revitalising and brightening it up.

Course of action

The idea was to rebalance the volumes of the place and to redefine the living rooms. The idea was also to create a work space that could become a spare bedroom, while keeping the beautiful light provided by the four windows.

The renovation and decoration of the flat was designed in several stages, in order to trace the eclectic career of its occupants, mixing contemporary pieces and travel objects.

Achievement

Changing the volumes of the kitchen was the first thing to be done in order to remodel the living room, to integrate a lounge and a dining area. Unifying the ceiling by sanding the beams (former galley masts) allowed them to regain their original clarity and softness. The challenge was to maintain the feeling of space without losing the clarity, thanks to the glass roof and steel joinery, separating the office from the living room. All of this was achieved by maintaining a colour palette that harmonised with the clay tiles on the floor, by creating a dialogue between the furniture and by creating beautiful perspectives thanks to an XXL mirror with generous curves.

In the night space, a parental suite has been designed, full of softness and fantasy. The bathroom of the suite was entirely made to measure, with gold marble tiles highlighted by a delicately powdered pink that is accentuated by the copper tapware. The choice of a thick, light-coloured carpet brings to the whole the luxury touch of the grand hotels and an unparalleled voluptuousness.

A warm and delicate glow, revealed by the beautiful light of the South.

L'ARCHITECTE NOUVELLE MAISON STUDIO

architectes@archik.fr
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Before …

A complete and colorful renovation for this 100 m2 apartment located in a building of the 6th district of Marseille, which was revealed thanks to strong bias.

Target

Bring back to life this apartment where the charm and assets were hidden by too many disparities, while recreating a common thread.

Course of action

The idea was to highlight the titles of nobility of the place, while revealing the taste of its owner and making the kitchen and living room communicate. Then to furnish it, without using neither blue nor green!

Achievement

The colors have slowly imposed themselves, warm, spicy, as well as noble materials like leather, wood and cement tiles.

In the living room, in order to keep the depth and the effect of space that the old ice wall provided, the designer Axel Chay designed an XXL mirror.

The Art Deco type glass roof between the kitchen and the living room creates an elegant opening through which one can enjoy the view without displaying the technical part of the kitchen. The transition between the spaces is smooth, thanks to a kitchen cabinet that looks like a library visible from the living room, creating an aesthetic link between the two rooms. The furnishings have been reorganized, a dining area created and the circulation optimized, with black as a common thread, in small touches, dialoguing with the quarter-top piano. In the kitchen as well as in the alcove, the ceilings were painted to accentuate the feeling of enclosure and intimacy.

In the entrance, the small windows were revealed. The former powder room, hidden behind its double doors, has been completely redesigned and decorated as a boudoir with a Garden of Eden feel.

The bathroom has been treated as a minimalist water room, where the white zelliges with pearly reflections are an invitation to relaxation. The cement tile floor with palm motifs evokes the Orient and its Oases. A touch of rosy terracotta enhances the complexion as soon as you wake up.

An elegant and subtle renovation.

LE QUARTIER

Préfecture

Around the Hôtel de Préfecture, this district is one of the most lively and commercial.

L'ARCHITECTE NOUVELLE MAISON STUDIO

architectes@archik.fr
  • honoraires10 000 € (excl. tax) as a fixed price
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Before …

From a beautiful bourgeois apartment in its juice stopped in time, Caroline made a warm family apartment. She likes comfortable and thoughtful interiors, and he likes to mix styles and eras. The result is an eclectic apartment with obvious character, where colors and inhabitants clash happily.

Target

Modernize the circulation, bring back light and rethink the spaces for a family and friendly life conducive to the reception.

Course of action

Modify the organization of the apartment to bring light into all the rooms, play with the colors to structure the spaces, move the kitchen to make it a real living space.

Achievement

The whole organization of the apartment had to be modified to modernize the circulation, and all the networks rethought. The U-shaped floor plan allows for different exposures of the rooms, and the choice was made to work with one color per room, with the colors varying according to the time of day. The entrance, originally blind, now serves as a small office and library area, lit by a glass opening onto the living room. In enfilade, the kitchen has taken place in the former reception room. The kitchen has become a convivial room, with a dining area. The family bathroom replaces the old kitchen. Deliberately kept white, it is in the cement tiles that the color found its place, bringing the necessary fantasy.

©Sophie Tom & Fabien Sans

En résulte un appartement éclectique au caractère évident !

L'ARCHITECTE Caroline BOUTEL

architectes@archik.fr
  • Crédits photosSophie Tom & Fabien Sans
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This duplex apartment in the heart of the Antiquaires district, is representative of a classic 18th century architecture. It is also a real jewel of historical heritage, perfectly preserved, which was waiting to be revitalised with a more contemporary touch. Revamped by the interior designer Chrystel Laporte, it is the result of a bold gamble: to bring a modern touch to an upper middle-class setting and turn it into a welcoming family flat.

Target

Transforming a flat occupied by a couple into a family flat, making the spaces more functional and personalised, creating a large family kitchen, access to the unused terrace, creating a new bathroom upstairs.

Course of action

To preserve the charm while modernizing; to bring lightness despite sometimes, little bit loaded elements; to emphasize what makes the flat unique; to be graphic and surprising by creating contrast.

Achievement

We simplified the existing ornamentation by working with whites and light to enhance it. We renovated the beautiful wood floors, with a more contemporary matt finish. We added more contemporary elements, such as the striated glass on the doors and cement tiles, but still respectful of the style of the architecture. To access the terrace, we designed an arty staircase, in a bright color responding to the immaculate white kitchen. To create contrast, was placed the ultra-contemporary kitchen directly on inlaid parquet, and the light and airy lighting fixtures were chosen to soften the heavy ceiling. We rekindle the terrace with masonry benches, cactus, and white walls, giving to it a nice Mediterranean feel.

A beautiful re-birth!

L'ARCHITECTE TRAVIATA

  • Crédits photosGabrielle Voinot
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Before…

In the heart of the Carré d’Or hides this unsuspected garden level. Left abandoned for a long time and split in two by a wall, it was the result of a long renovation.

Target

To find a ‘real garden’ and to be able to embrace the space in its entirety from the house.

Course of action

Structuring the space into two distinct functional areas: a garden area and a parking area. The two spaces being on two different levels.

Achievement

In the garden area, the existing plants have been deliberately preserved and enhanced. The existing plant palette was already diversified and interesting: apricot tree, laurel, olive tree, medlar tree, almond tree, etc. The beds were simply restructured with perennials and lower plants (agaves, stipa, creeping rosemary, thyme, gaura, etc.) and delimited by corten steel, in order to highlight them. The lighting of these beds has also been designed to give perspective to the garden and verticality to the existing limestone walls. The central space is grassed, hosting a beautiful tree with light and evergreen foliage (false pepper tree). It also allows to reduce the vis-à-vis from the upper floors of the building. All around, a large terrace in exotic wood offers various living spaces: garden furniture, dining area, etc.

The difference in level with the parking space is managed by a wooden step in the extension of the terrace and in the almost total width of the garden. In order not to have a continuous view of the bottom of the garden, we have created a white concrete screen made to measure, with an openwork pattern, reminiscent of those already present on the ironwork in place. This element becomes the masterpiece of this garden.

A true haven of peace in the heart of downtown Marseille!

LE QUARTIER

Périer | Delibes

An extension of the very chic Carré d'Or, Périer is one of the most sought-after neighborhoods...

L'ARCHITECTE COTE OUTDOOR

paysagistes@archik.fr
  • Crédits photosElodie Wehrlen
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Before …

Renovation of a typical apartment of the 60s. Bright, located on a whole floor at the corner of 2 streets, it originally had 3 bedrooms, a shower room, a bathroom and a kitchen. Bought by a couple, one bedroom was removed to create instead a beautiful living space.

Target

To give character to an apartment that didn’t have much. Favouring a large living space, very luminous, where the various pieces of furniture of the owners, keen on design of the 50s and 60s, will be highlighted. Renovate the whole, in its juice, with short perspectives, and with dark and not very functional rooms of water.

Course of action

Destructure to restructure. Open up the spaces as much as possible, but restructure them by using cross-cutting woodwork, giving onto both the hallway and the living room for example, or onto the hallway and the kitchen. Re-open and lengthen the perspectives, bet on white (the majority of the woodwork) and on pretty materials with soft, subtle tones: light terrazzo for the kitchen, slightly marbled tiles for the shower room, matt white tiles, almost chalky for the large bathroom…

Achievement

Except for the 2 bedrooms and bathrooms, all the partitions have been removed. For the most part, they were replaced by custom-made woodwork. For example, the wall of the corridor was replaced by a large bookcase, located in exactly the same place, but which lets the light pass. A lot of work was done on the parquet floor, which was entirely renovated and completely redone in some rooms where there was none left. The kitchen was enlarged to the maximum, with the same principle of “crossing” furniture giving on the corridor. The two bedrooms were optimized by creating custom dressings at the head of the bed. A very graphic joinery work marks the entrance, and gives a strong personality, in contrast to the rest of the essentially white joinery.

A renovation that gives pride of place to materials and light.

LE QUARTIER

Périer | Delibes

An extension of the very chic Carré d'Or, Périer is one of the most sought-after neighborhoods...

L'ARCHITECTE Un jour d’avril

architectes@archik.fr
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Before …

In a 1930s building, this apartment with beautiful art-deco rosettes required a total rehabilitation.

Target

This apartment benefits from significant assets: beautiful volumes, a pleasant distribution, a crossing light. In its original state, the toilets were on the balcony, the kitchen was independent, the small living room was no longer functional, the living room lacked light. The objective is to connect the living rooms and give them back meaning, to write the history of the new occupants while respecting the place.

Course of action

To bring coherence to the different spaces, while proposing a real decorative bias.

Achievement

The living room becomes an office and has been opened on the corridor, thanks to a set of light wood claustras. The corridor, original by its U shape is highlighted by a game of color. The partition between the kitchen and the living room is transformed into a light wood skylight, thus bringing light and finally connecting the two spaces. Storage units have been specially designed for the office and the parents’ bedroom, and particular attention has been paid to the choice of materials in the kitchen and bathroom.

A gentle renovation, where life is good!

LE QUARTIER

Private: Cinq Avenues

Away from the Old Port, beyond the Canebière, is the Cinq Avenues neighborhood.

L'ARCHITECTE Un jour d’avril

architectes@archik.fr
  • Crédits photosChrystel Laporte
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Before …

Without fundamentally modifying the volumes of the apartment, the work consisted above all in a refreshment in all points of view (kitchen, painting, parquet floor, joineries), in order to offer to the purchasers an apartment which resembles them: an apartment with character, at the same time eclectic and audacious.

Target

To modernize an apartment in the Cité Radieuse while preserving its soul, drawing on the work of Le Corbusier.

Course of action

To provide a setting for the numerous works of art and designer furniture of the owners, great art lovers.

Achievement

The layout has been completely redesigned to highlight and stage the couple’s works. The kitchen has been completely redesigned to be more suitable in terms of functionality, while at the same time redoing some of Le Corbusier’s and Charlotte Perriand’s characteristic kitchen elements (high cupboards, reminder of the wooden handles on the kitchen fronts, etc.).
The range of colors used in the apartment is also directly inspired by the range of paint that Le Corbusier used in Bordeaux for the Cité Frugès, whether for the kitchen, or for certain volumes that have been repainted in pink, ivory white, almond green and red.

A precise renovation offering the best possible showcase for pieces and works of art!

LE QUARTIER

Sainte-Anne

Sainte-Anne is a typical residential area of the "city of 111 villages".

L'ARCHITECTE ÉCLECTISME CORBUSÉEN

  • Crédits photosOlivier Amsellem
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L’ avant …

More than a renovation, this project is a revelation of a rare Type G duplex on the south façade of the Cité Radieuse. The flat was acquired by Cité Radieuse enthusiasts, so the idea was to restore it to its original appearance with the greatest respect for Le Corbusier.

Target

To adapt this flat to a modern family life, by imagining new spaces, while respecting the place’s original design.

Course of action

To create a bright and peaceful family flat. Customize the spaces so that every member of the family makes it its own.

Achievement

On the ground floor, the kitchen was completely refurbished, the niches were revealed, and the entrance furniture was tailor-made. The window frames were given a new lease of life after thorough sanding. On the first floor, the two children’s bedrooms were recreated in length, and the original sliding door was restored to its original state. Charlotte Perriand’s wardrobes were heightened to create a different space for each girl. In the large master bedroom, a desk/bookcase runs along the wall and adds a graphic element. Finally, an incredible cellar on the first floor has been integrated into the flat, creating a vast dressing room on one side and a laundry room on the other.

A delicate renovation, enhancing the work of Le Corbusier while adapting it to our times.

LE QUARTIER

Sainte-Anne

Sainte-Anne is a typical residential area of the "city of 111 villages".

L'ARCHITECTE PURETÉ GRAPHIQUE

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Before…