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Architects: AAVP Architecture
- Area: 160 m²
- Year: 2016
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Photographs:Luc Boegly
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Manufacturers: Locksmith's, Philippe Buns Menuiserie
Text description provided by the architects. The renovation of an old 19th century photography studio in the heart of the Opera Madeleine haussmannian district, into two prestigious private apartments disrupted the uses of its distribution of the Second Empire.
Access to it is via the service staircase and the narrow corridor leading to the rooms once reserved for the servants.
Each of the apartments is a duplex with the bedrooms and bathrooms on the lower level, reception areas, as the living room and kitchen, being found at the upper level under a contemporary glazing, re-designed meticulously for the occasion.
It also offers a breathtaking view of the roofs of Paris.
The superior levels are both crossing with two distinct panoramas:
The prestigious ornementation of the Opera Garnier situated on both side of the living room and the kitchen.
The other side of the decor concerns an urban scenery of accessories such as fire escape, air conditioning units, and ventilation systems hidden in the rear facade of the haussmannian buildings. Haussmannian, by nature, support repetitive changes.
Few superfluous elements are contained within it but a setting of exceptional interventions is included : transparent glass walls and curtains for a room, mirror blocks masking or unveiling a generous shower, curtains of leather mystifying a kitchen, concrete benches, whose usage is for seating and “to be carried by the sky”.The most remarkable work remains within the glass that places the inhabitant in a form of showcase, dominating both the urban area and the atmosphere.
It's definitely an experience.