La Trouée

In La Trouée, a 1970s residential building in Nogent-sur-Marne, the project turns a 125 m² apartment into a retreat for a small family of three, close to Paris, with dedicated spaces for working from home.

The apartment originally combined a one-bedroom and a three-bedroom unit, joined without removing any partitions. The plan was highly fragmented: small rooms and corridors cluttered with cupboards. Removing partitions made way for a large, bright living, kitchen and dining space.

The entrance, living room and kitchen are organised around a central service core. Redesigned, it houses a bespoke piece of furniture: shelving on the entrance and kitchen sides, and a pantry fitted into the former toilet of the smaller unit.

The former living room of the larger unit became the main bedroom. Its shower room was enlarged by taking over a cupboard that opened onto the corridor. All wet rooms were renovated.

Materials were chosen for durability: oak parquet, granite vanity tops, a zellige splashback and polished concrete in the shower rooms. Furniture and lighting come from craftspeople and makers who care about how things are made.

The renovation brings coherence and light back to an ordinary apartment, and makes it a place to both live and work.