Region: Marseille & Provence

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…

Un jour d’avril

Interior Designer

architectes@archik.fr

Chrystel and Nicolas, interior designers for the agency “Un jour d’avril”, are passionate about design, color and custom furniture design. They have both worked in the advertising sector, one in art direction and the other in editorial design. They work in Marseille and its surroundings as well as in Paris.

Un Jour d’Avril, an agency founded in 2008, became an ARCHIK partner in 2016. The agency renovates and refurbishes interiors with a founding principle: “A place tells a story that we seek to respect. We share with ARCHIK a certain idea of style and respect for places.”

Their strong ideas? To use constraints to turn them into assets, to play with colors and perspectives and always to imagine a strong and creative element. Charming houses typically from Marseille, beautiful bourgeois apartments or more contemporary spaces, no interior escapes their enthusiasm and their ideas.

Creative and inspired, Chrystel and Nicolas can choose to divert furniture, materials and create surprise by details “in order to place the attention where it should be”.

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Dans l’aile gauche, un espace bureau ainsi qu’une chambre parentale avec dressing et salle de bain privative sont suspendus au-dessus du jardin.

La suite de la partie nuit se situe au niveau inférieur comprenant quatre chambres toutes tournées vers la fraîcheur du jardin, qui se partagent une salle de bain. Un espace de détente avec sauna et de vastes volumes de rangements viennent compléter ce niveau.

Dehors, le jardin qui entoure l’habitation abrite un court de tennis, un terrain de pétanque ainsi qu’un espace de stationnement nichés discrètement dans la végétation omniprésente.
Une œuvre unique, à habiter.

André Stern

Architecte DPLG, urbaniste, scénographe, André Stern a débuté sa carrière en 1977. Lauréat de concours nationaux et internationaux, ses réalisations sont non seulement appréciées pour leur esthétique, mais également pour leur qualité Thubaneau, la rénovation de la salle symphonique de l’Opéra de Marseille, la rénovation du château de la Buzineace et son utilisation créative de différents matériaux dans la construction de bâtiments.

Membre du Conseil International des Monuments et des Sites, André Stern a réalisé des projets remarquables tels que le Mémorial de la Marseillaise rue Thubaneau, la rénovation de la salle symphonique de l’Opéra de Marseille, la rénovation du château de la Buzine ou encore la scénographie intérieure de l’Eden Théâtre à La Ciotat.

États de verre I ATELIER GEORGE

Novembre 2022 – Février 2023

As part of the launch of its Revue N°4 on the theme of glass, ARCHIK presents an exhibition as a tribute to this timeless, malleable and infinitely reusable material, which has been present in architecture and design for decades.

This exhibition highlights the co-creation of the TANGO edition. ARCHIK has given Atelier George carte blanche to create a scenography illustrating the blown glass technique through the production of the TANGO edition and the cast glass alongside a selection of pieces from its “Cime” collection.

The TANGO edition is displayed among the laser-cut poplar moulds used to create the fluted decoration of each element of this nomadic set. It consists of a carafe and two glasses that fit together like Russian dolls to create a sculptural totem.

On the other side, an extract from the “Cime” collection by Atelier George. The pieces were created by taking impressions of plants in molten glass. Cradled by the planet’s vibrations, this line encapsulates traces of the surrounding plant world. They light up, rest or cling.

Atelier George

Atelier George is a duo composed of Eve George and Laurent Fichot, designers and glassblowers.

After studying at the Ecole Boulle, then at the ENSCI in Paris, Eve specialised in glass. She joined the CERFAV – Centre Européen de Recherche et de Formation aux Arts Verrier – and became a Compagnon Verrier. For his part, Laurent, who comes from a family of ceramists, benefited from training from an early age.

Laurent, for his part, studied art throwing and cane blowing, and then became a professional in fine houses such as Cristalleries Saint-Louis or Lalique, and in artisanal workshops such as Biot. He joined the Centre International d’Art Verrier (Meisenthal) where he made custom-made pieces for designers and artists.

At Atelier George, they work together from design to production. Their work includes lighting, tableware and wall tiles, all made using molten glass techniques. Each object in the Atelier is unique: thanks to the mastery of glass blowing, the objects are never reproduced identically.

Opaline globes, wooden moulds and broken glass make up this scenography inspired by a glassblower’s workshop.

INFORMATIONS PRATIQUES

Dates

De novembre 2022 à février 2023
à la Maison ARCHIK Marseille

Site des designers

www.atelier-george.fr

Plus de photos

In the heart of Mazargues, the exterior of this apartment was already structured by its shape but never really invested. A challenge in only 50 m2!

Target

The exterior of this apartment, located close to the hills of Marseille, was already structured by its shape but never invested. It consisted of a wooden terrace that covered the entire space, and on the side, an outdoor shower/mini pool to cool off in the summer. It was essential for the clients to protect themselves from the opposite side of the house, to occupy this exterior as a real additional living room. A challenge in only 50m².

Course of action

Vegetate the whole space, but also create real distinct living spaces.

Achievement

The shower/mini pool area has been rethought in the choice of materials, a square blue Onyx mosaic has been put in place, to allow this element visible from the living room, to be an “object” highlighted summer and winter. The low wall separating it from the terrace was widened to provide a comfortable seat on both the shower/mini pool side and the terrace side. Facing this element, a module in waxed concrete and red cedar comes to dress the wall until now unoccupied and is broken up of several elements: air conditioner cover, summer kitchen and large masonry bench. These elements allow the installation of a lounge area, to spend convivial moments from the arrival of the beautiful days.

To protect the terrace from the opposite side, the openwork red cedar and metal screens close the terrace on the hillside without depriving the owners of the green view. The colors of the landscape are also found on the terrace: shades of green/gray for the plants, Ravel pottery in white terracotta, and a planter in earth fiber. Even the choice of furniture (Fermob and Arkimueble) links the different shades of the hills and the sea that is so dear to them.

Finally, a custom-made awning protects the entire length of the terrace and custom-made seat cushions have been designed in nautical fabrics, all made to measure for optimal comfort.

A renovation that smells like summer!

LE QUARTIER

Mazargues

A real village in the city, it has kept this spirit around its shopping streets.

L'ARCHITECTE COTE OUTDOOR

paysagistes@archik.fr
  • 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 …

Amandine COQUEREL

Co-founder

+33 (0) 6 81 36 80 10
amandine.coquerel@archik.fr

Always passionate about design and architecture, on the lookout for the latest trends and creations, Amandine, an engineer by training and with a Master’s degree in Marketing from ESSEC, created ARCHIK in 2014. While she has worked for large groups such as LVMH and L’Oréal, she has also tried her hand at various projects before embarking, in Marseille, on this adventure.

The ambition? To put its sensitivity to aesthetics and a certain art of living at the service of others. The young structure has earned its stripes as an essential stop for architecture lovers, collectors of characterful properties and connoisseurs of beautiful materials. With this objective in mind, Amandine has never ceased to enrich ARCHIK with profiles from diverse backgrounds: cinema, art, economy, luxury…

Its catalog, now very selective, has led it to prefer bourgeois apartments revisited by architects, villas with panoramic views and hidden properties with high potential. “ARCHIK is both a city real estate agency and an architecture agency. We cater to lovers of the city, its energy and possibilities.”

With her team, Amandine scours the city for her clients in search of those living spaces that have a signature. “Marseille is in the midst of change, there is a public for these properties, waiting for a flawless service. And they want to be accompanied in their renovation projects!” says Amandine. What could be better than associating an agency and architects? A story that has only just begun!

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Sébastien COQUEREL

Co-founder

+33 (0) 6 83 34 90 69
sebastien.coquerel@archik.fr

Involved in ARCHIK from the beginning as co-founder, Sébastien works on all issues related to strategy, brand positioning and customer relations, as well as administrative and financial matters. His leitmotiv is to ensure ARCHIK’s high-end positioning through the quality of its customer relations. “ARCHIK is a company with structured work processes. And for all the cogs to work, it’s a permanent job that is not necessarily visible to everyone.

Sébastien has experience in this field. He worked for BMW for 10 years, from marketing to communications, including press relations and B-to-B sales, an experience which he applies to real estate. “With a background in a brand known for its rigour and the loyalty of its customers, I learnt what customers’ requirements are. It’s a matter of paying attention at every moment.

ARCHIK is characterised by real differences, “a quality of work, a desire to approach properties through the art of living, to offer a living space rather than square metres and to offer a specialised service by accompanying clients in the renovation of properties thanks to architects, decorators and other designers”.

This is an important specificity according to this fan of Frank Gehry, “an architect-sculptor, who also approaches his field in a different way: starting with an intention, an inspiration, he then imagines the tools necessary to make it real and viable”. According to Sébastien, this is a challenge that requires “evolving with the times, remaining flexible and listening to our clients in order to constantly reinvent ourselves”.

archik-architecture-marseille-toulouse-sebastien-coquerel-inspiration-5

This villa designed by architect Alain Richard in 2007 has a 100 m2 roof terrace offering an exceptional panorama of the sea and the hills of Les Goudes.

Target

Develop this unused roof terrace. Largely dominated by its direct relationship with the sky, and the minerality of its context, the layout of the roof must blend into the decor.

Course of action

Work on the question of the limit and allow this new roof terrace to integrate elegantly and discreetly into its environment.

Achievement

The aesthetic choice was to work with light furniture, whose colors and materials are reminiscent of the immediate environment, or make nods to the imagination evoked by the place (boat, port, forts, etc.). The garden lounge and the dining area are the two strong, structuring elements, around which the color is brought by the small furniture, the decoration and the vegetation. Strict and direct forms are mixed with softer ones, to bring a touch of harmony and softness to the whole. The layout of the terrace contrasts with the brutality of its landscape. One serves the other for more lightness.

The outdoor design was realized in partnership with Good Design Store, for the supply of furniture (Fermob, Houe, Gervasoni, Petite Friture, Serax), Basset Diffusion Aubagne nursery for the plants (olive tree, phormium, dasylirion, cycas, etc).

A roof terrace where the owners now enjoy spending quality time!

LE QUARTIER

Private: Les Goudes

At the gates of the calanques, this district is in osmosis with nature.

L'ARCHITECTE COTE OUTDOOR

paysagistes@archik.fr
  • Crédits photosFranKc Orsoni
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Before …