Casa Raspail

Apartment Renovation in Paris

Located on the top floor of a residential building in Paris’ 7th arrondissement, this project transforms a 43 m² attic apartment into a bright and generous one-bedroom dwelling designed for long-term rental. Conceived as a real estate investment, the brief called for an apartment where living, cooking, working and sleeping could coexist within a single open space while maintaining clear functional separation.

The apartment occupied the entire volume beneath the pitched roof, where a mezzanine extended across almost the whole dwelling. Combined with a fragmented layout, this considerably reduced the perception of height, natural light and spatial continuity.

The intervention sought to recover the full volume beneath the roof by removing the existing mezzanine and internal partitions. The timber roof structure was reinforced, insulated and finished in white, while the existing beams were carefully restored and left exposed, allowing the character of the attic to become the defining feature of the new interior.

Rather than rebuilding the mezzanine across the whole apartment, a new suspended volume was inserted over only half of the floor area. This strategy concentrates the bedroom above the entrance and service spaces, freeing the area adjacent to the windows to create a generous double-height living space filled with natural light.

The new volume is conceived as a freestanding architectural element that organizes the apartment. A continuous anthracite-painted steel structure incorporates the staircase, wardrobes, storage, laundry and the enclosure of the bedroom, defining the transition between the two levels while remaining visually lightweight. Vertical timber battens provide privacy to the bedroom without completely separating it from the living space, reinforcing the dialogue between openness and intimacy.

The material palette deliberately remains restrained. The restored original oak parquet introduces warmth throughout the apartment, contrasting with white walls and the dark steel structure that gives identity to the intervention. Bespoke kitchen and bathroom elements continue the same language of carefully detailed, integrated furniture.

Natural light enters from both façades and through new roof windows, emphasizing the recovered volume of the attic and reinforcing the sense of openness that defines the project.

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