A 31m² apartment with a 10m² mezzanine inside Villa Terrage, a former school in Paris's 10th arrondissement, steps from Canal Saint-Martin. The clients had rented the apartment for a year before buying it — so the renovation wasn't a blank slate, but a reworking of a space they already knew.
The brief: more perceived space, better air circulation, coherent materials, and smart storage — without moving the existing mezzanine structure or any plumbing, both fixed by budget. The design removed everything that fragmented the apartment — a kitchen bar, a mezzanine partition, an oversized bathtub — and unified the whole floor in beton ciré, with Okoume wood joinery, Moroccan zellige tile, and a mirrored kitchen backsplash to expand the sense of depth. The stairs were rebuilt to double as storage; a faux plafond conceals all cabling and evens out the ceiling line.
Before & After
