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“It’s a city base for a small family from Aix-en-Provence whose father often has to travel to Paris. He’s a connoisseur and aesthete who’s passionate about architecture,” says architect Céline Boclaud. “He wanted a highly functional space where he could sleep and cook and that also had a real bathroom: an apartment with the feel of a hotel suite with room for all the essentials” The client’s first request: Don’t overwhelm the space with too many different materials. Wood was used for the parquet flooring and kitchen cabinets, polished concrete for the bathroom, and white lacquer for a large wood installation. An off-white was used for the walls while the beams were painted with a pure white that managed to make the ceiling feel lighter. But, first, let’s step back and start from the beginning with the new floor plan created by Céline Boclaud and Maureen Doux of Boclaud Architecture.
In this small apartment which is oriented around the two tall windows on one wall, the challenge was, as is often the case, to figure out where to place the bedroom in relation to the living area while taking advantage of the natural light. The architects also had to decide how much they wanted to partition the space or opt for a more open plan. The designers decided to use one window for the sleeping area and another for the living space. The bedroom is not open but instead partly enclosed by a large, multi-functional unit that incorporates a desk, a pull-out bed, a space for a TV, a refrigerator, a washing machine, a dishwasher, and access to a bathroom through a hidden, almost speakeasy-like entrance that blends into the geometric lines of the divider. The custom piece creates a smooth transition between the living area and the bedroom, while preserving the view to the second window, in the sleeping area, helping to enhance the sense of space.
The kitchen area consists of a worktop incorporated into a living-room sideboard to make it as inconspicuous as possible. In stained oak, it is slightly darker than the parquet floor, which has been refinished. The colors and tones are warm and soft with the slightly creamy white of the walls paired with the velvety waxed concrete found in the bathroom. “The palette of soft hues makes the apartment feel lighter, avoiding a feeling of stuffiness,” Céline explains. “Wood provides a warm touch, as it always does, without overwhelming the space. Everything is refined, from the shape of the furniture to its upholstery, creating the lightest and simplest space possible.” This attention to the aesthetic details has a specific goal: “to make the small apartment easier to read, without any distracting visual noise.” This is why the radiators are concealed under the windows behind cabinet doors, and the custom partition wall, which doesn’t have knobs or handles, doesn’t reach to the height of the ceiling. The architects instead allowed the beams to float above the room, giving it a lighter, airier feel, like a horizontal partition resting atop the apartment.
In the bedroom, the apartment’s back wall accommodates a built-in closet, a niche, and a large bedside cabinet near the headboard. The decoration is minimal, as it is throughout the apartment, from the bathroom spotlights which are simple, small black squares integrated into the ceiling and a discreet towel dryer to curated pieces of furniture like the black sconces and Berger stools by Charlotte Perriand. An armchair, a coffee table, and a Ludovic Dhardivillé painting leaning against a wall provide contrasts with the muted white walls and wood floors. The unusual shape of the apartment, with its walls at surprising angles, and the placement of the furniture gives the space a dynamism and fluidity that leads one towards the sleeping area. There are no skirting boards to break up the walls, another visual detail that visually enlarges the room. “A small space like this is a headache, you have to think about all the different functions that have to be incorporated into the plan and then work on every last detail,” Céline says. “It’s not about trying to fill the space, it’s about finding a way to fit everything in! It can be tedious but it’s also an exciting challenge.”
This home tour was first published by AD France. It was translated by John Newton.
