Renovation of a 57 m² Apartment

Apartment Renovation | Bagnolet, France | 2023
[Dumont-Zéphir]

This renovation project of a 57 m² apartment from the 1970s reinvents the original plan, which was initially based around the entrance room, which served all the rooms in the apartment.

This initial “dead-end” layout had many qualities, but changing lifestyles and the very monofunctional role of each of the rooms led us to rethink the different spaces in order to offer more possible uses for each of the rooms.

The project recreates a central core at the heart of the apartment, which forms a library in the entrance hall, adjacent to a dressing room. This central core now serves all the rooms in the apartment, allowing fluid movement through the space.

The bedroom and workshop are separated by a thick acoustic curtain, allowing these two spaces to be divided or opened up at will. As a nod to the history of the apartment, the porcelain stoneware floor in the studio (formerly the kitchen) has been retained.

The kitchen has been moved into the living area and installed along a wall that, stripped of its plaster, reveals the structural reinforced concrete.

The renovated shower rooms now separate the toilet from the bathroom, while allowing natural light through polycarbonate transoms. A wooden hatch opens the view from the bathroom.

The project seeks to eliminate superfluous elements in order to achieve a certain timelessness. The design of the elements is sober, with minimal use of materials. The partitions are made entirely of wood, avoiding the use of plasterboard or other composite materials. Similarly, the floor is only a reinforced concrete leveling, as is the kitchen credenza, a simple stripped wall. All the colors of the apartment are neutral. White for all existing elements. The natural tones of wood and concrete for the added elements. The intervention is not concealed, but continues the absorption of the tendencies of the original plan, leaving the role of animation of the space to the individual objects. In this way, the project seeks to preserve the power of its original modernity in a world that needs to decarbonize. Text description by the architects.