Penthouse apartment, Paris
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Project description
Our client purchased a small building that sat on top of a large expanse of flat roof above an eight storey 1930's apartment building in Paris's Fifth Arrondissement. This roofscape has to be crossed to reach the building.
With a total size of only 8m x 4m and a brief requiring a separate bedroom, we needed to look at planning arrangements that could maintain the full visual dimensions of the envelope. The brief was further complicated by the likelihood that friends and relatives would want to stay.
The solution was achieved by the use of three free-standing `boxes', a pivoting door and a number of sliding doors. The apartment is a `transformable space'. The bedroom can be open plan or separated. The bathroom can be en-suite or accessed separately from the living space. A sofa bed in the living space provides accommodation for the occasional guest.
The free-standing boxes contain the washing machine, fridge, wardrobes, TV and towel hanging, the towels being exposed when the bathroom door is shut. A storage wall surrounds the stainless steel kitchen, the worktop projecting into the bathroom separated by `Priva-lite' glass. Closing the bathroom door activates the glass changing it from clear to opaque.
The west wall of the building was removed and replaced by a folding glass wall and glass canopy. The canopy allows the doors to remain open in the summer rain. A French limestone floor is laid throughout the apartment and taken out onto the terrace where one has spectacular views of the historic core of Paris.
Modern technology allows the client, whose main residence is in London, to activate the underfloor heating and the water heaters by telephone prior to his arrival in Paris. Metal shutters secure the building when he is away.
The project was completed in July 1994. The apartment was shortlisted for the 1997 Stirling Prize for Architecture, and won the 1997 RIBA/Ibstock Award for Houses and Housing.