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      Curves and colour blocking feature in JJ16 apartment by Lucas y Hernández-Gil

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      Madrid studio Lucas y Hernández-Gil has completed a family home that makes the most of every inch, with details including a yellow storage wall, a corridor kitchen and a hidden closet.

      JJ16 is a three-bedroom apartment in Madrid’s Salamanca district, but until recently it had been used as an office.
      JJ16 is a three-bedroom apartment for a family of fourLucas y Hernández-Gil, a specialist in interior architecture, converted the property back into a residence for a family that includes a mother, three teenage children and their dog.
      The challenge was not only to make it feel like a home again but also to create space for everyone’s personality within the 165 square-metre footprint.
      The kitchen occupies a corridor space between the entrance lobby and the living roomThe designers achieved this by combining space-saving strategies with statement details, providing both functionality and character.

      “Everyone had a clear idea of what they needed, which translated directly into the spaces,” said studio founders Cristina Domínguez Lucas and Fernando Hernández-Gil Ruano.
      “Far from generating a conflict, different colours and materials give the house a richness, a harmonic heterogeneity,” they told Dezeen.
      The room is defined by shades of soft pink and greyOptimising JJ16’s layout was crucial but difficult given the irregularity of the floor plan.
      Lucas y Hernández-Gil’s strategy was to make every space, including the corridors, as useful as possible.
      The utility area also occupies a corridor spaceThe kitchen now occupies a connecting space between the entrance lobby and the living room, freeing up space at the front of the apartment for a spacious main bedroom.
      Meanwhile, the corridor leading to the main bathroom and the third bedroom incorporates a mini library and a utility area.

      Lucas y Hernández-Gil splits moods inside Madrid duplex apartment

      “The main challenge was the deep layout and long corridor,” said the architects.
      “We provided circulation with content by creating spaces within it. This turned out to be one of the best design decisions of the project.”
      A curved wall frames the main bedroomCurved partitions create variety within JJ16’s layout. The largest of these separates the living room from the main bedroom, but other curves can be found in the second bedroom and a shower room.
      Many spaces have their own colours, which contrast with the bright white tones that otherwise dominate the interior.
      The third bedroom is a twin room with a hidden walk-in closetThe bright yellow bookshelf wall is the most striking, while the adjacent kitchen offers a two-tone effect with shades of soft pink and grey, and matt chrome finishes.
      Bedrooms have a minimal feel, but they boast colourful dressing rooms and en-suites. Bright orange was chosen for the hidden walk-in closet, located in the twin third bedroom, while deep purple adds a luxury feel in the main bedroom.
      Patterned tiles feature in the bathroom and en-suite areasFloor surfaces provide more visual interest. Living spaces feature oak parquet, while bathrooms are all finished with patterned cement tiles.
      This bold approach to colour and texture is a common feature in the work of Lucas y Hernández-Gil, whose other recent projects include the sunset-inspired Naked and Famous bar and the stylish Casa A12.
      The main bathroom also features a curved shower room”The approach to colour is a constant in our design process,” said Lucas and Hernández-Gil Ruano.
      “It is about activating spaces and achieving a warm and joyful domestic atmosphere.”
      The photography is by Jose Hevia.
      Project credits
      Architecture: Lucas y Hernández-GilCollaborators: Lucía Balboa, María Domínguez, Sara Urriza

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      Wine-red kitchen forms centrepiece of Paris apartment by Hauvette & Madani

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      Interior design studio Hauvette & Madani has made a sumptuous wine-red kitchen the focus of this otherwise neutral apartment in Paris.

      The Republique apartment is set within a typical Haussmann-era building in the French capital’s 11th arrondissement and belongs to a family with two children.
      From the outset of the renovation, the clients called for the home to orbit around a “spectacular” atmospheric kitchen.
      A wine-red kitchen is the focal point of the Republique apartmentHauvette & Madani responded by using a striking colour scheme, rendering all of the kitchen’s linoleum cabinets and its curved breakfast island in a wine-red colour. The same shade was also applied to the ceiling but in a glossy lacquer.
      “We wanted a dark but joyful colour and ended up deciding on this substantial red,” founders Samantha Hauvette and Lucas Madani told Dezeen. “We also love the fact [the colour’s] eccentricity matches the rest of the calm and soft apartment.”

      Spaces are connected by travertine-framed doorwaysLustrous decorative elements such as an aged-mirror splashback and brass light were also introduced to the space, and a support column was wrapped in stainless steel.
      The room’s original wooden flooring was overlaid with travertine and Emperador marble tiling.
      Shades of beige can be seen throughout the living roomA travertine-framed doorway looks through to the adjacent living room, where walls were painted an oatmeal beige, matching a bean-shaped velvet sofa from French brand Pierre Augustin Rose.
      A pair of wriggly-edged oak coffee tables and a terracotta-coloured edition of French designer Pierre Paulin’s Ribbon chair were also used to dress the space.

      Six renovated Parisian apartments in historical Haussmann-era buildings

      The dining room next door is centred by an oval travertine table, around which steel-framed leather seats have been arranged. At the rear of the room is a tall white dresser inset with oak-lined niches where ornaments or artworks can be displayed.
      A Murano glass chandelier hangs from the ceiling, where ornate moulding was carefully preserved.
      The nearby dining room has a travertine table at its centreThe project also saw Hauvette & Madani refresh the parents’ bedroom, which now features 1930s-style lighting and a bespoke oak headboard. This winds around the back of the room and has arched cut-outs that accommodate bedside tables.
      A walnut-wood vanity cabinet and vintage Italian mirror were also fitted in its en-suite bathroom.
      A bespoke oak headboard was installed in the parents’ bedroomOften considered the heart of the home, the kitchen is where architects and designers enjoy getting playful with colour.
      Other examples include the kitchen inside Sans-Arc Studio’s Plaster Fun House, where a pink terrazzo breakfast island contrasts duck egg-blue cabinetry.
      And the kitchen within this Belgian apartment by Carmine Van Der Linden and Thomas Geldof features birch wood cupboards that were stained a murky hue of green.
      The photography is by Yannick Labrousse. 

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      Trellick Tower apartment revamped in line with Japanese design principles

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      German interior designer Peter Heimer and joinery studio Buchholzberlin used a restrained material palette of concrete, oak and aluminium when renovating this flat inside London’s brutalist Trellick Tower.

      The Grade II-listed building, designed by architect Ernö Goldfinger, originally opened in 1972 to provide social housing for the neighbourhood of Kensal Rise but has since become a landmark of brutalist architecture thanks to its distinctive lift tower.
      Peter Heimer and Buchholzberlin have renovated a Trellick Tower flatThe renovation works were carried out in a privately owned apartment on Trellick Tower’s 21st floor that had not been significantly altered in several years and as a result, was host to narrow rooms and lacklustre white walls.
      Its owners wanted the open up the 86-square-metre floorplan to create the impression of a “cool concrete loft” while offering better views of the surrounding cityscape.
      Views of the London skyline took centre stage”Their taste was also trained by contemporary Japanese design, so they wanted to use a reduced range of pure materials,” Buchholzberlin told Dezeen.

      “Since Trellick Tower is subject to strict preservation requirements, our hands were tied so to speak. But we were able to push through with small improvements.”
      Oak was used to form the kitchen’s cabinetry and breakfast counterThe wall separating two former children’s bedrooms was knocked through to create a larger unified space that now serves as the living area.
      The team also exposed the building’s original concrete walls, laid oak flooring and installed slender aluminium lights across the ceiling.
      A bench seat with inbuilt storage boxes was fitted beneath a row of windows at the front of the room, allowing for uninterrupted vistas of northwest London and beyond.
      A pull-out guest bed is concealed within the desk in the studyThe two doors that previously led to the respective children’s bedrooms were left in place. Between them now stands a huge, double-faced oak sideboard.
      An inlaid mirrored panel reflects the distant skyline and in turn “brings an impression of the city into the apartment’s centre”, according to the team.

      “We couldn’t stop Balfron Tower from being privatised. In fact we probably helped it along”

      More concrete and oakwood surfaces can be seen in the kitchen, which occupies the former living area. Low-lying cabinetry was installed along the room’s back wall, while a large breakfast counter was placed at its centre.
      The counter was custom-built to stand at the exact same height as the railing of the apartment’s balcony, ensuring that sightlines aren’t compromised when the clients sit down to eat.
      The desk also discretely hides new water pipesThe former kitchen, meanwhile, was converted into a study with an oakwood desk snaking around the edges of the room.
      Its base conceals a network of water pipes that had to be redirected to serve appliances in the new cooking quarters. One side of the desk also conceals a pull-out bed that can be used when guests come to stay.
      An oak headboard wraps around the principal bedroomThe principal bedroom was left in its original place but – like the rest of the apartment – was stripped back to expose its concrete walls.
      Oakwood was used here to form the base of the bed and its lengthy headboard, which extends along the lower half of the walls.
      Heimer and Buchholzberlin also removed the time-worn laminate that once covered the small flight of stairs leading down from the apartment’s entrance, revealing the concrete steps beneath.
      Concrete steps were revealed in the apartment’s hallwayTrellick Tower is just one example of the striking council estates that can be found across the British capital, which were recently chronicled in a book by photographer Jack Young.
      Others include Holmefield House with its graphic tiled facade and the Brunel Estate, which has a monumental slide sweeping through its public pathways.
      The photography is by Heiko Prigge.

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      Atelier Caracas imbues apartment in Caracas with 1980s industrial edge

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      Interiors studio Atelier Caracas has brought industrial influences and offbeat materials into this apartment in Caracas, designed around the restrictions posed by Venezuela’s recent political and economic crisis.

      Set in the capital’s Campo Alegre district, Apartamento N.1 belongs to a relative of Atelier Caracas co-founder Julio Kowalenko, who gave the studio a rare carte blanche for the renovation of the 400-square-metre interior.
      Atelier Caracas has renovated an apartment in Caracas”He’s a corporate, traditional Oxford type of guy,” the duo explained.
      “We said to ourselves, there are two ways in which we can approach this project,” they added. “We could either play it safe or go nuts.”
      Ultimately, Kowalenko and his co-founder Rodrigo Armas used the opportunity to experiment with applying industrial design principles at an architectural scale and enhanced the apartment’s loft-like qualities in a nod to the architecture of 1980s Los Angeles.

      Overhead lights are mounted on a system of perforated metal sheets”We’ve always been fascinated with a sort of robotic, mechanical aesthetic that accompanies 80s LA architecture,” the studio said.
      “This popular mechanics approach, as we call it, can be seen in the early works of Frank Gehry and later on in the experimental houses and appendixes of Eric Owen Moss and Morphosis among others,” the duo added.
      “There is a finesse in this artisanal slash industrial approach, which we always like to pay homage to in our designs.”
      The same sheet metal was also used to form room dividersThese influences are seen most clearly across the home’s experimental material palette.
      The studio decided to completely expose the raw concrete slab structure of the ceiling, celebrating it with a textural finish rather than hiding it away.
      The duo avoided the use of pre-fabricated components, instead carefully designing the majority of the elements themselves.
      The kitchen is fronted with unfinished wooden panelsTo preserve the integrity and simplicity of the ceiling, the lighting is mounted on a black-coated perforated metal structure – a reference to the 1980s aesthetic and custom-designed for this apartment by Atelier Caracas.
      The studio also utilised the same perforated sheet metal to create a number of versatile room dividers that break up the largely open-plan space.
      Set on wheels and attached to the ceiling via matching rails, they can be easily moved around to separate the kitchen from the living areas.
      “Microperforated sheet seemed a clever option to generate both permeable and ephemeral separations between private and public spaces within the apartment,” Atelier Caracas said.

      Atelier Caracas models Venezuelan day spa on 2001: A Space Odyssey

      The early stages of the apartment’s design kicked off in 2017 when Venezuela faced intersecting economic and constitutional crises.
      Inevitably, Atelier Caracas says this “difficult period of turmoil” also impacted the availability of materials.
      “There was a scarcity, which in turn led the studio to a never-ending investigation on how what was available could be used differently,” the duo said. “The main goal was to make high-end architecture with simpler materials.”
      Triangular cut-outs serve as door handles for the kitchen frontsThe simple white terrazzo floor – used almost everywhere across the apartment – was produced on-site and chosen for its cooling properties in the city’s tropical climate.
      “Even in high temperatures, it remains fresh and cooled,” the studio said. “Also, the reflective quality of this material was a key factor for bathing the spaces with the natural sunlight coming from the windows.”
      The kitchen is fronted with unfinished wooden panels, decorated only with geometric cutouts that double up as door handles.
      Terracotta floor tiles were repurposed for the wallsMeanwhile, the wall that borders the living room is finished in terracotta flooring tiles from a pool supply store.
      “This type of terracotta is usually found on pool terraces and public areas of middle-class Venezuelan residences,” Atelier Caracas explained. “Nowadays it’s considered to be a kitsch or outdated material.”
      “Contrast between refined and low-tech materials can generate new narratives on what luxury can be. We believe that luxury lies in the way people inhabit their spaces, and not in the number of flamboyant finishes.”
      White terrazzo floors help to reflect the lightIn terms of line and form, the apartment playfully mixes linear grids and diagonals with rounded corners and arches.
      “Monotony and routine can, sometimes, cause a stagnant state of contentment that we like to disturb through our designs,” the studio said.
      “We like to think that architecture should be uncomfortable in some sort of way, by pushing people out of their comfort zone, one can really redefine humans’ relation to design.”
      This same philosophy also inspired one of the studio’s previous projects in Caracas – a day spa modelled on Stanley Kubrick’s film 2001: A Space Odyssey.
      The photography is by Outer Vision.

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      AI-generated engravings feature in Dragon Flat by Tsuruta Architects

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      UK-studio Tsuruta Architects has combined artificial intelligence with CNC cutting in a revamp of a home in London’s Notting Hill.

      Dragon Flat features engraved wall panels and joinery incorporating AI-generated images, including a map of the River Thames and a graphic floral motif.
      AI-generated engravings feature on both floors of the homeA CNC router – a computer-controlled cutting machine – allowed these designs to be directly transferred onto wooden boards, which have been used for surfaces within the interior.
      Taro Tsuruta, founder of Tsuruta Architects, said that he decided to experiment with AI because there wasn’t room in the budget to collaborate with a graphic designer.
      A map of the River Thames features in the living spaceUsing DALL-E 2, an AI program that transforms text instructions into high-quality images, he was able to create bespoke designs for the kitchen and bedroom space.

      “I typed a series of prompts and ran a series of variations, then came up with an unexpected yet expected result,” he told Dezeen. “It was like sculpting a form with a keyboard.”
      Upstairs, a tatami room features a row of engraved peoniesTsuruta’s clients for Dragon Flat were a young Asian couple who moved to London five years ago. The property they bought was a two-level maisonette in a 1950s council block.
      The renovation sees the home subtly reconfigured.

      Tsuruta Architects incorporates 27,000 cat faces into five homes in Catford

      The lower level is opened up, allowing the kitchen to become part of the living space, while the upper level has been adapted to create more storage.
      This revamped upper level includes a walk-in wardrobe and a tatami room – a typical space in traditional Japanese homes – as well as a main bedroom.
      The designs are etched into OSB wall panelsThe River Thames image features in the new living and dining room. Engraved plywood panels front a grid of cupboards, creating an entire wall of storage.
      The floral pattern, designed to resemble “an army of peonies”, can be found in the tatami room.
      Images of these flowers are etched into white-washed oriented strand board (OSB), which forms wall panels. This creates a colour contrast that allows the design to stand out.
      Whitewashed surfaces allow the floral design to stand out”We did quite a few sample tests, changing the needle size of the CNC router to get it right,” said Tsuruta.
      The aim here, he explained, was to create a design that playfully references Arts and Crafts, a movement that embraced floral imagery but rejected the technological advances of its time.
      “Arts and Craft was very labour-intensive,” said the architect. “Our process is the opposite, but we share a common goal of enriching the lives of occupants.”
      The addition of a walk-in wardrobe frees up space in the bedroomCNC cutting has played a pivotal role in many of Tsuruta’s projects. Examples include The Queen of Catford, a group of five flats filled with cat faces, and Marie’s Wardrobe, a home with a highly intricate custom staircase.
      Dragon Flat is his first completed project to incorporate AI, a process he said provides infinite options but requires human input in order to achieve a successful result.
      A floating timber staircase allows light to filter through”This process is pretty much the same as with any tool,” he said. “At the end of the day, we were the ones to select and move on to the next variation or stop there.”
      The interior also features other playful details, including a floating timber staircase. Built in the same position as the original stairwell, this perforated volume allows more light to filter between spaces.
      OSB and marble contrast in the bathroomThe bathroom combines marble with OSB, creating an intentional contrast between luxury and low-cost materials, and also includes some small motifs showing bats.
      “The symbolic meaning of peonies, dragons and bats, together with the Thames River, is ambiguous,” added Tsuruta.
      “We want people to keep thinking and talking about them, but overall they are believed to bring prosperity and a happy life.”
      The photography is by Tim Croker.

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      FADD Studio models Bangalore duplex apartment on caterpillar curvatures

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      Indian practice FADD Studio has fused two separate apartments inside a high-rise development in Bangalore to create a multigenerational family home.

      The neighbouring four-bedroom apartments, stacked one on top of the other in the SNN Clermont residential tower, were transformed into a six-bedroom duplex for a cosmopolitan couple, their parents and two young children.
      FADD Studio has fused two apartments in Bangalore’s SNN Clermont towerFADD Studio’s interventions were driven by the owners’ desire for something new and unique.
      “Our clients wanted this home to be contemporary and free of the fuss of their previous home, which was more old-fashioned with traditional elements from the previous generation,” the studio told Dezeen.
      “They didn’t want a run-of-the-mill place that looked like any other home with straight lines and contemporary anonymity. They wanted character and they were open to exploring the language of curves and most certainly wanted something out of the box.”

      A sweeping staircase now connects the two flatsThe practice gave careful thought to how best to open up and link the two apartments before deciding on two connection points – a staircase near the entrance on the lower level and a double-height section in the adjacent living area for visual interest and ease of communication between family members.
      Knowing the clients wanted to avoid straight lines, FADD Studio carefully considered the form of these linking elements.
      “We began our usual process of looking to nature for inspiration, from shell exoskeletons to caterpillar curvatures, from topographical maps of different landscapes to fish scales and from sand dunes to waves,” the practice said.
      A “zebra border” on the floor helps to define different zonesThis research formed the basis for the curving statement staircase that sweeps into the living area.
      “It has a sculptural feel with the addition of multiple curves, carved into each riser’s deep red marble,” the studio said.
      The narrow double-height section in the living room is framed by an arched cutout in the ceiling, enveloped in white micro-cement with a soft sheen finish.
      A small double-height space was carved out in the living roomLinking the two levels, the double-height back wall is fluted in an irregular pattern, mimicking the soft ripples and waves that can be found across the ceiling in the neighbouring entrance hall.
      “It hides all the conducting and allows a smooth transition between the different ceiling heights within the apartment,” FADD Studio said.

      The Act of Quad designs multi-generational Mumbai apartment with its own temple

      The firm’s approach to the flooring was similarly inventive. In the main living space, a “zebra border” of black-and-white stones swoops and crisscrosses in seemingly abstract patterns across the floor, helping to bring definition to the different zones.
      The spaces in between are filled by a selection of heavily-veined peach-pink marbles.
      “We created an inlay pattern much like repeating fish scales or groups of overlapping wild mushrooms but more abstract,” said FADD Studio.
      The upstairs living room is organised around a circular slab of marble flooringIn the upstairs living room, the furniture is grouped around a central circle of linear-veined marble surrounded, which is inlaid into the floor and surrounded by another black-and-white border.
      “The flooring is dramatic, something bold and thoughtful, contributing to the strong visual and spatial language of the space,” the studio said.
      “The ceilings and floor defy the mundane and give us and the apartment’s inhabitants pure joy to see the lines and curves continue infinitely.”
      A black-and-white border cuts across the floorThe peach, black and white of the floor ties into the colour scheme throughout the apartment.
      “This colour palette is unusual for an Indian home,” FADD Studio said. “These colours, along with the nature-inspired curvatures and rounded forms resulted in a minimal-futuristic vibe.”
      With so many ideas at work within the space itself, the furniture has taken on a supporting role.
      The duplex now has six bedroomsThe colour palette was chosen to tie in with the walls so that the sculptural shapes and curving forms become the focal point, while boucle and textural cotton bring interest in terms of tactility.
      Another Indian studio known for its unconventional apartment interiors is The Act of Quad, which has recently completed a home with cobalt-blue accents in Thane and a Mumbai apartment with its own temple.
      The photography is by Gokul Rao Kadam.

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      Brazilian architects renovate Brigadeiro Apartment for themselves

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      Architect couple Leandro Garcia and Amanda Dalla-Bona have renovated a 1970s apartment in Curitiba, Brazil, for themselves, reconfiguring the layout and choosing eclectic furniture.

      All of the electrics and plumbing needed to be replaced, and the floor plan was rethought to create “a place to pause and retreat”.
      The couple remodelled the apartment to suit their needsThree bedrooms were replaced with two to make room for a larger living and dining area, which could be integrated with the existing kitchen.
      Original features including the window frames and the imbuia parquet floor were retained and restored, while a variety of new materials were introduced.
      The living space with brightened by white walls, large rugs and translucent curtainsThe Brigadeiro Apartment has been in Dalla-Bona’s family since the 1980s – it was her parents’ home as newlyweds and where her older sister was born.

      After moving out when they planned their second child, the parents rented out the 108-square-metre space for 30 years.
      A concrete column was exposed while reconfiguring the floor planDue to its central location, Dalla-Bona always discouraged them from selling it, as she had intentions to move in herself one day.
      When that time came recently, she and her partner Garcia decided to remodel the interiors to better align with their needs.
      The architects custom-designed a 4.5-metre-long dining table for themselves”From the apartment the view is expansive, a rare characteristic in the city centre, and we were both captivated by the natural light, the sun and wind streaming in through the windows,” said the couple.
      “Walking a few blocks, we arrive at our favorite cafes and restaurants and in our studio, where we work together,” they added.
      Removing a bedroom allowed the living space to be opened up to the kitchenTerrazzo countertops and a backsplash of hydraulic tiles were added in the kitchen, while a concrete column in the living room was exposed.
      The remainder of the lounge area is brightened by white walls, textured rugs and translucent curtains.
      Terrazzo countertops and hydraulic tiles were introduced in the kitchenAn assortment of vintage modernist and newer furniture pieces – mostly by Brazilian designers – add colour and character to the interiors.
      Mid-century seating by Percival Lafer, Flavio de Carvalho and Geraldo de Barros are among the couple’s choices, along with a collection of lamps, stools and tables.

      Leandro Garcia renovates compact flat in Curitiba for hosting guests

      “In the living room, the furniture – not only the armchairs, but also the carpets, must be soft to sit on the ground – was chosen, thrifted and positioned for conversations and readings,” they said.
      Garcia and Dalla-Bona also custom-designed a 4.5-metre-long wood dining table to accommodate their various daily activities, and host their friends and family for meals.
      A variety of vintage furniture pieces were sourced for the interiorsBesides the cabinetry in the kitchen and bathroom, all of the storage and furniture is moveable.
      In the bathroom, the floor and walls are covered in small white mosaic tiles, affixed with matching grout for a clean, minimalist appearance.
      White mosaic tiles and grout create a minimalistic look in the bathroomCuritiba, in the southern Brazilian state of Paraná, is the site of several projects completed by Garcia, Dalla-Bona and their team, including the renovation of a compact apartment renovated for a journalist.
      The studio has also overhauled a family’s holiday home near the beach in Matinhos, and filled it with vintage Brazilian furniture.
      The photography is by Fran Parente.

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      Six renovated Parisian apartments in historical Haussmann-era buildings

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      Period details are mixed with contemporary interventions inside these renovated apartments in Paris, built in the mid-19th century during Georges-Eugène Haussmann’s reconstruction of the French capital.

      In his role as the prefect of the Seine département under Napoleon III, Baron Haussmann was responsible for creating the network of boulevards that still define the city’s urban landscape today.
      The homogenous apartment buildings flanking these boulevards were designed to strict guidelines, all made from cream-coloured stone with a steep four-sided mansard roof and no more than six storeys.
      Although Haussmann was less prescriptive about the building’s interiors, they generally feature high ceilings and parquet floors alongside elaborate mouldings and boiserie.
      Read on for six examples of how architects and interior designers have brought these apartments into the 21st century, including a book lover’s loft and two flats combined to form a family home in the Marais.

      This is the latest in our lookbooks series, which provides visual inspiration from Dezeen’s archive. For more inspiration see previous lookbooks featuring bedrooms with minimalist interiors, concrete kitchens and marble-lined bathrooms.
      Photo by Salem MostefaouiWood Ribbon apartment by Toledano + Architects
      Original details such as parquet floors and ornate ceiling plasterwork were retained in the renovation of this apartment, which had been left largely untouched since the end of the 19th century.
      But local studio Toledano + Architects tore down several partition walls to create a more open floorplan, traversed by a snaking plywood wall that roughly divides the apartment into three zones while providing tactical storage in the living room and kitchen.
      “I really wanted to enhance this dichotomy between ancient and contemporary,” founder Gabrielle Toledano told Dezeen. “It’s very relevant in a city like Paris where both are in a constant dialogue.”
      Find out more about Wood Ribbon apartment ›
      Photo by Giulio GhirardiApartment Canal Saint Martin by Rodolphe Parente
      French interior designer Rodolphe Parente made only a few minor architectural interventions when overhauling this apartment in Canal Saint-Martin, exposing long sealed-off doorways and creating a hybrid dining room and kitchen.
      Instead, he modernised the apartment by contrasting original details such as mouldings with unexpected contemporary details, colours and the “radical” art collection of the owner.
      In the bedroom, a vivid purple rug clashes with caramel-coloured walls while in the living room, period wall panelling highlights the modernity of the sofa and the glossy coffee table.
      Find out more about Apartment Canal Saint Martin ›
      Photo by Olivier Martin GambierApartment XIV by Studio Razavi
      With several partition walls removed, French office Studio Razavi created a new layout for this apartment by slotting a multi-faceted furniture block made from wood-fibre panels into the remaining gaps.
      Its staggered profile creates sightlines between the different areas of the house while framing some of the building’s original Hausmann-style ceiling mouldings.
      Painted in a muted slate grey, the furniture block performs a different function in every room – acting as a storage cabinet in the kitchen, a TV mount in the living room and a desk in the study.
      Find out more about Apartment XIV ›
      Photo by Stephan JulliardMarais apartment by Sophie Dries
      Two flats become one 100-square-metre residence in this renovation project that French architect Sophie Dries completed in trendy Marais for a family of four.
      Period details were painted in simple white, providing a contrast with new additions such as the Hans J Wegner chairs and the dyed linen curtains in the living room
      “The Haussmannian style was refined and pared down, in order to introduce minimal lines better suited to a modern family,” Dries explained.
      Find out more about Marais apartment ›

      Enter the Diamond by Atelier 37.2
      An additional bathroom is housed inside the three-metre-high birchwood volume at the centre of this residence in the French capital, designed by local studio Atelier 37.2.
      The sharp lines of the diamond-shaped structure contrast with the apartment’s ornate ceiling mouldings and white-painted walls.
      “This tension generates a fictional potential that plays with the imagination of the inhabitants,” said the studio.
      Find out more about Enter the Diamond ›
      Photo by Stéphane ChalmeauArsenal loft by h2o Architectes
      This three-room loft is set inside the mansard roof of a Haussmann-era building in the Arsenale district, which originally served as servant’s quarters for the apartments below.
      Parisian firm h2o Architectes opened up its floor plan to make the most of the top-floor views while installing wooden bookshelves to define different areas and house the extensive library of the apartment’s book-loving owner.
      Their timber construction creates a visual connection with the original parquet floors, while the white paint used to brighten walls and other structural elements continues onto some sections of the floor.
      Find out more about Arsenal loft ›
      This is the latest in our lookbooks series, which provides visual inspiration from Dezeen’s archive. For more inspiration see previous lookbooks featuring bedrooms with minimalist interiors, concrete kitchens and marble-lined bathrooms.

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