A blank page to write in this apartment on the rue des Martyrs, which has been asleep for years. A playground of 112 mto invest fully.

Target

Adapting an apartment to today’s uses and functions, thanks to the decompartmentalization of the kitchen and the creation of a parental bedroom with dressing room and large shower room.

Course of action

A strong intervention on the entrance space and the kitchen, completely remodeled, and the creation of a contrast of this space with the rest of the apartment. Thought as a small stage, everything in the kitchen is there to highlight materials such as pink Quartzite opus, travertine, and dark wood.

Materials of unusual use, such as the Incertum opus in Pink Quartzite in the kitchen floor and the entrance hall, create a sense of surprise and are enhanced by custom-made arrangements in blackened oak and dark paint.

Achievement

The work on the custom-made layout elements has allowed the creation of functional spaces, as well as a simple and uncluttered reading of the spaces. It also allows to highlight elements such as a central island in travertine or furniture.

The adult bathroom, with its flowing shower and transparent dressing room, reveals a warm space bathed in light from the south.

Clean lines and uncompromising style, with bold but always accurate choices.

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Before …

Complete renovation of an old townhouse orchestrated by JoBe Architecture and ARCHIK to create an open and friendly living space, turned towards natural light.

Target

At the bend of a steep alley in the heart of the typical Vauban district, an old townhouse evokes the Marseille of yesteryear. On this playground, the will of the renovation duo was to create an open living space, turned towards natural light and inviting to conviviality. For an art of living à la marseillaise.

Course of action

The intention was to give this townhouse, with its succession of small, narrow, dark rooms, a Mediterranean flair as well as a functionality suited to urban family life. To enlarge the house and offer an isolated and suspended parental space, an attic mezzanine was created above the living room. The new floor plan is distributed over 4 levels of living space, with an aerial staircase as a common thread.

Achievement

The interior charm of the house echoes the Mediterranean way of life, with its raw and mineral materials in warm tones and its sand-colored resin floor.

On the first floor, the objective was to create a functional and comfortable entry space for daily use. The concrete staircase, the backbone of the house, provides direct access to the living areas.

The second floor offers two bedrooms and a children’s playroom with artist’s frescoes, adorned with cream curly carpeting, as well as a pleasant bathroom in total terracotta look where a tiled niche welcomes the bathtub.

The heart of the house is discovered through a terracotta cloister. A large bay window in freijo wood opens the living room on the terrace and its pond, letting the sun fill the living room. On the other side, the open kitchen offers a terracotta tiled island and a recycled plastic worktop in beige tones.

The climb ends with the master suite. A beautiful attic room with its adjoining shower room entirely tiled with grey ceramic, including a white matte pedestal sink.

Outdoor

The outdoor space has been cleared and landscaped to bring together all the functions of an outdoor space in a small area. A pool, a dining area and masonry benches invite you to relax. In the background, planters give rhythm to the whole and break the verticality of this space located at the back of the house.

A stylish renovation with a singular character, inviting to conviviality.

  • Crédits photosFlorian Touzet
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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.

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Before …

In Boulogne, 125 m2 of open-plan offices have been given a new purpose: that of a tailor-made home.

Target

For this new space created from scratch, the objective was to give pride of place to perspectives and to open up. To close off rooms without appearing to do so, and to recreate each space in a flat.

Course of action

The desire to bring warmth to this industrial space dictates the use of oak as a guiding line throughout the flat. A real trompe-l’oeil that hides the classic office codes, hides the ducts, and groups the water rooms.

Achievement

The decompartmentalisation of the spaces to keep the loft spirit is underlined by the made-to-measure joinery which draws the different living spaces. Oak dresses the edges of the bay windows, creating a frame, and is found as a metaphor on the bathroom cabinet. A red staircase in folded metal created by the designer Axel Chay provides access to the terrace. The office area is delimited by the wall shelves which overflow onto the living space, like a fusion of spaces.

The only water column, a real constraint of the flat, obliged to gather each water room in the same neuralgic point. A camouflaged cube was then created behind the bookcase, opening through a back door onto a bathroom with toilet. The kitchen is juxtaposed with this on the one hand and the bathroom of the master bedroom on the other. The Leicht kitchen has a stone worktop and a grey-green waxed concrete floor that highlights the colour chosen for the cube, the centerpiece of this renovation.

The ceiling rails were retained, while the original parquet floor was sanded and glazed while retaining its natural colour. The two structural posts that weighed down the space are now adorned with striated wood, allowing them to disappear throughout the living area.

A real trompe-l'oeil that hides the classic codes of the office.

  • Crédits photosGabrielle Voinot
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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 !

  • Crédits photosSophie Tom & Fabien Sans
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Classée au Patrimoine mondial de l’UNESCO depuis 2016, la Cité Frugès été conçue comme cité jardin moderne avec une volonté de transformer l’habitat ouvrier en œuvre d’art. Édifiée entre 1924 et 1926 par Charles Édouard Jeanneret dit Le Corbusier et Jean-Pierre Jeanneret, La Cité Frugès a été commandité par Sucrier Henri Frugès pour y loger ses ouvriers. Véritable utopie architecturale pour l’époque, les 51 maisons contenues dans le lotissement ont brisé tous les codes de l’architecture traditionnelle de la région, mettant en œuvre les premiers principes du célèbre livre “Vers une Architecture” ou l’architecture comme une machine à vivre. Ces formes géométriques sont construites sur un module de 5m par 5m afin d’optimiser la construction et intègrent des innovations pour l’époque telles que salle d’eau, chauffage central et espace de stationnement. Les maisons “Gratte-ciel” sont des maisons groupées par deux et accolées dos à dos. Elles sont reparties sur 3 niveaux et surmontées par un solarium semi couvert, accessible depuis un escalier suspendu en façade. Tout comme les autres modèles se trouvant dans le lotissement, les fenêtres en bandeaux, la polychromie des façades, les terrasses panoramiques et leur forme géométrique font de cet ensemble un lieu unique.

Le Corbusier

Né le 6 octobre 1887 et décédé le 27 août 1965,
Charles-Édouard Jeanneret-Gris plus connu sous le pseudonyme Le Corbusier, est un architecte du mouvement moderne. Aux côtés notamment de Robert Mallet-Stevens et de Mies Van Der Rohe, il est un artiste complet opérant également en tant qu’urbaniste et designer. Fondateur de principes tels que le Modulor ou l’Unité d’Habitation, son œuvre comprend 17 sites – 10 en France – classés au Patrimoine mondial de l’Unesco tandis que de nombreuses de ses réalisations sont classées Monuments Historiques.

Parmi ses œuvres emblématiques on compte La Cité Radieuse à Marseille, La Villa Savoye à Poissy, la ville de Chandigarh en Inde et la chapelle Notre-Dame-du-Haut à Ronchamp. Il signe également des pièces de mobilier phares tels que le fauteuil LC2 et la lounge chair LC4.

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...
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Before …

Édifiée entre 1965-1977, la résidence les Katikias est une des plus belles réussites en matière d’ensemble de logement collectif de vacances dans la période des 30 Glorieuses. Fruit de la collaboration fructueuse entre l’architecte Jean Dubuisson et la société SETIMEG, la résidence Les Katikias est classée au label « Patrimoine XXème ».

Ses caractéristiques esthétiques et modernes contribuent à son intérêt ainsi que la réponse qu’elle apporte en matière d’intégration au site et d’adaptation aux contraintes : interprétation de la vue, répartition des logements et des espaces de circulation.

La résidence est construite à partir d’une structure en béton armé et habillée d’éléments de façade préfabriqués en béton le tout recouvert d’un enduit lisse animé par des bandeaux sombres. L’architecture en gradins sur trois niveaux permet de conserver l’indépendance de chaque unité de logement malgré la superposition ainsi que d’offrir la meilleure vue sur la baie de Bandol. Cette orientation unique vers le Sud assure un ensoleillement maximal, tout en conservant en permanence une zone d’ombre dans le patio.

L’ensemble profite d’un club house et d’une piscine.

Jean Dubuisson

Jean Dubuisson (1914-2011), est un architecte français, auteur de nombreux projets, notamment de logements, durant les Trente Glorieuses et la Reconstruction.

Jean Dubuisson débute ses études d’architecture à l’École des Beaux-arts de Lille puis les poursuit à Paris à l’École nationale supérieure des Beaux-arts, d’où il sort diplômé en 1939.

Au milieu du 20e siècle, l’architecte propose un habitat lumineux, raffiné et ergonomique. L’attention particulière qu’il dédie au décor et au paysage ennoblit ses façades légères, par la création d’un vocabulaire moderne sinon moderniste. Il contribua grandement à inventer la production de logements de masse, primordiale dans ces années d’après-guerre, avec la mise au point de procédés d’industrialisation de la construction.

Connu notamment comme l’auteur du Musée national des arts et traditions populaires, dans le Bois de Boulogne, du grand ensemble du quartier Maine-Montparnasse rue du commandant Mouchotte à Paris et de la barre dite “La Caravelle” à Villeneuve-la-Garenne dont la remise au goût du jour en 2004 a suscité de vives réactions, Dubuisson obtiendra en 1996 le Grand prix national de l’architecture, récompensant ainsi l’ensemble de sa longue carrière.