Region: Paris & Île de France

TOTEM

January 2025

To celebrate the start of an intense new year, ARCHIK invites you to discover “Totem”, an exhibition featuring the architectural duo HEJU Studio and their unique vision of timeless, sustainable design.

“Totem” is a retrospective of HEJU Studio’s collaborations with French brands and galleries sharing the same values of timelessness and sustainability: Ressource, Carocim, Nobodinoz, La Lune and Virginie Lesage. Through a selection of furniture collections, materials and artworks, this exhibition celebrates a singular aesthetic where rounded reliefs, graphic forms and primitive architectural vocabulary intertwine to create sensitive, poetic objects.

Sculptural furniture, graphic cement tiles, subtle hues and objets d’art: each piece on display embodies a dialogue between minimalism and expressive architectural forms. The totemic figure, omnipresent in their work, becomes here the common thread of a universe where craft, material and light meet.

Les artistes

Hélène Pinard and Julien Schwartzmann, architects and founders of Heju Studio, met at the École Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture de Strasbourg, where they graduated top of their class. Together, they have created a unique universe inspired by Japanese and Scandinavian aesthetics.

Their sensitive, spontaneous approach optimizes spaces, challenges codes and brings emotion and poetry to everyday life. They attach great importance to materials, colors and textures, creating atmospheres that appeal to all the senses.

Fervent advocates of the continuity between art, design and architecture, they conceive projects that merge disciplines and inspirations. Each project is unique, reflecting a luminous, calm simplicity enriched by a distinctive personality.

An invitation to plunge into the world of HEJU Studio, where architecture dialogues with design in a quest for balance and poetry.

PRACTICAL INFORMATION

Dates

Opening Thursday, January 16, 2025 from 7pm

Exhibition from January 16, 2025 to March 16, 2025

Open Monday to Friday, 10 am to 6.30 pm, by appointment only

Maison ARCHIK Paris

Designers Instagram

@hejustudio

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 …

Transforming a commercial space, using light, space and raw materials in a way that respects the existing building.

Before …

Target

Convert a commercial space on the first floor of a 1980s building into living space, while revealing the qualities of the existing building.

Course of action

The building’s orientation (East-West), its relationship to the exterior (garden and street) and its structure (reinforced concrete) were the three characteristics that guided the design process.

The plan expresses this orientation, allowing the building to “follow the sun” throughout the day, and thus to have a living space that changes atmosphere according to the light. The existing reinforced concrete structure organizes the apartment and creates sequences. It is also the starting point for the materiality. The brutality of concrete contrasts with the warmth of oak and the preciousness of stainless steel. The painted oak floor is deliberately neutral and light, like a backdrop for the furniture. Framing is used to reveal, give depth, set the scene or escape. They create transversal relationships between the reception and service areas.

Achievement

To make the transition from commercial to residential use, the street entrance was modified to create a new relationship with the street, and to distance the building from it by opening onto the garden.

A new street façade was created, and the first floor was turned into a living space by “inhabiting” the windows: in the kitchen in the living area and the dressing room in the bedroom.

On the garden side, a generous bench was created to encourage contemplation.

The building presented a number of technical constraints, notably the presence of water and air drainage systems. Meticulous work had to be carried out on site on the false ceilings to keep the volumes uncluttered and make them a strength of the project.

Original plans & project

An ambience combining raw elegance and luminous warmth.

L'ARCHITECTE Louis EISENLHOR

architectes@archik.fr
  • Crédits photosPhilippe Billard
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