Valentin apartment / ECDM

Apr 2009

By Nico Saieh — Filed under: Interiors ,Refurbishment , ECDM, France

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French architects Emmanuel Combarel Dominique Marrec sent us the transformation of this small apartment, with a clear strategy: Decompartmentalise the place so as to fit out an open plan and elude the demand of an extra room by conceiving in the center of the volume a suspended white cube which generates comic and disconcerting use situations.

Plugging the bedroom under the ceiling

This former artist studio caracterised by a difference in height which shares the volume from a simple to a fake double height (3.70 m under ceiling in the main room) had been originally marqued by a awkward mezzanine under which one couldn’t be up and had, to get on it, to pass through a small doorway managed into a separating wall existing between the 2 volumes.

First step the plan is freed from all occurrences. The matter is to work on a 50 sqm apartment in which the variety of orientations, volumes make possible unusual, uncommon living situations.

The restraint of the demand of the client to fit out an independant bedroom has been turned into an advantage by putting this intermediary room in a central position, straddling the two floor levels, disconected from the floor. The bedroom becomes an islet in the heart of the appartment around which you can turn, experimenting different moods : up / down, below / above, on / under and revealing unseemly uses.

The bedroom, connoted as the archetype of privacy, intimacy, becomes an object of curiosity by transgressing his symbolic value, appearing like an anomaly. Open and visible from the entry, it stands for a huge inhabited furniture. Facing the dining room, it can be used as a “bumrest” or a bench.

The bedroom as a hut in the middle of the flat

Suspended right in the center of the apartment, leaving untouched the floor and the circulations around, it divides the space, reversing the perception of the atmosphere in the apartment by making private what is usually not : the living room.

Wherever you stand below or above, it truncates the perception of the occupiers bodies of whom one only sees the legs sitting, crossing or walking around in the place.

The suspended bos is made of a metallic structure (section 40 x 40 mm) covered with wooden panels. The cube – as well as the floor, the walls and the ceiling, has been painted with a white polyurethane resin.

credit photo : Gaston Bergeret

: floor plan

: section 01

Cite:
Saieh , Nico . "Valentin apartment / ECDM" 09 Apr 2009. ArchDaily. Accessed 07 Feb 2012. <http://www.archdaily.com/19005>

Comments (27)
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z.jj says:

This is very creative!

# April 9, 2009 at 07:19

Nomads Architects says:

Pas mal pensé mais bonjour les odeurs de la cuisine directement dans la chambre

# April 9, 2009 at 07:24

餐厅和客厅的功能位置换一下或许会更好，的确，卧室的开口对着餐厅厨房有点别扭。

# April 9, 2009 at 08:18

sullka says:

I’ve saw this already somewhere else.

Excellent project.

My only 2 comments would be:

1- The bed box would look awesome in another color but white.

2- It looks lik ethe architect wanted a “service block” appearance with eth bathrrom and kitchen, but It might look better with an open kichen and no door.

Still excellent project.

# April 9, 2009 at 09:26

jon says:

nice. but i dont know if i could enjoy laying in bed while looking into the kitchen…

# April 9, 2009 at 09:32

yukilin says:

what a joke to the clients,
please make soft love.

# April 9, 2009 at 11:09

april_d says:

Daily “I want to live there” post http://tinyurl.com/dhq7wq

# April 9, 2009 at 12:40

bolongo says:

the floating box is great, but jon is right, why would you want to look at your kitchen, while laying in bed?

# April 9, 2009 at 13:06

Lucas Gray says:

I like this project a lot…it’s so clean and white. The bed should not look at the kitchen though. Maybe they could put in a cool curtain or something.

# April 9, 2009 at 14:08

provecho says:

I love this one. The bedroom looks like a diorama in a museum. The space underneath looks like it’d be a cozy space once you got comfortable with having a massive box hanging over you. Love the collection of Hella Jongerius vases and the “shadow” side table, too.

# April 9, 2009 at 21:23

norman says:

totally loved it

# April 9, 2009 at 23:24

Steven says:

Let’s see how long it takes to crack the finish on that bed box.

# April 10, 2009 at 08:49

jaqui says:

maybe a floatation rectangle instead of a square, love it!

# April 10, 2009 at 20:57

Mr. Cheap says:

ECDM is a great office from France. Sometimes they go too much into design, but I do like this appartment project, although I would have brought out some paint pretty quick.

# April 11, 2009 at 03:46

Etty says: