The Loft of the Innocents / Frédéric Flanquart

Architects: frédéric flanquart
Location: Paris, France
Project Year: 2011
Project Area: 80 sqm
Photographs: Ludo Martin  & Pascal Otlinghaus 

It all started on a September night in 2009 when we all settled up there, on the roof, or at least what remained of it. The building had been through a major fire a year before. The scene was set. The outlook of this area quickly turned into a crazy challenge: design and achieve a shell-free space with, as reference marks, only half-burned out staircases leading to the lower level, a huge scaffolding structure used as a roof, and a 360° view over Paris.

To turn over a new leaf after 10 years spent at the loft, the client wanted something new, ambitious and creative. He was both concerned about the quality of implementation and about the layout and fitting details, and he enabled us to make a true fulfilling experience out of this project.

The goal was to conceive an open and welcoming space with as much stowage as possible, while allowing a comfortable circulation. We quickly came up with the idea of a quiet and relaxing place by day switching to a genuine place of mystery and pleasure by night.

The dream came true 18 months later, on December 31st, and the leaf naturally turned over. A space where the filtered, aimed, tamed light designs the volume. Straight or slanting, geometrically random at times, the work of lines highlights every detail. The loft, a project filled with emotions, combining complexity, simplicity and lightness.