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A compact duplex feels generous when its circulation, storage, and social spaces are designed as one system. In this Montorgueil apartment, Studio Ett Hem first repaired a badly distorted shell, then turned the stair, kitchen, and upstairs dividing block into useful architecture instead of leftover space. The result is a practical lesson in making a small home work harder without making every room feel closed in.
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The project at a glance
| Detail | What the feature reports |
|---|---|
| Location | Montorgueil district, Paris |
| Floor area | 538 square feet |
| Configuration | Two-level top-floor duplex |
| Designers | Pauline Lorenzi-Boisrond and Maxence Lesueur of Studio Ett Hem |
| Client | A first-time buyer seeking a private retreat that could also host intimate dinners and gatherings |
| Publication | Architectural Digest, March 18, 2024; written by Cindy Tannoury, with photography by BCDF Studio |
The apartment is not presented as a measured experiment or a universal floor-plan formula. It is one renovation in a difficult existing building. Its value lies in the sequence of decisions: repair the envelope, clarify movement, assign several jobs to each intervention, and keep visual connections where full walls would make the home feel smaller.
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When the designers first saw the top-floor apartment, the condition was severe. Architectural Digest reports a collapsed floor and says the space appeared to have been occupied by squatters. Uneven levels, columns, immovable chimney flues, and exposed wood beams further limited what could be changed. These were not decorative inconveniences; they determined where circulation and rooms could realistically go.
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Pauline Lorenzi-Boisrond described the starting point this way: “The apartment was in horrible condition, with a collapsed floor and it looked like squatters had been living there. It was a mess,” as quoted by Cindy Tannoury in Architectural Digest.
Rather than layering furniture over the irregularities, the team established a clearer geometric base. Lorenzi-Boisrond explained, “Walls, floors, and ceilings all had to be squared to recreate the shape of a box.” A regularized shell makes later work more predictable: cabinetry can align, door openings can read as intentional, and a narrow passage does not have to accommodate several different angles at once.
This approach also shows why photographs of a finished small apartment can conceal the largest part of the work. The visual calm comes after substantial correction. The feature does not provide construction costs, structural calculations, building-code information, or independently verified safety assessments, so those aspects cannot be inferred from the images.
A social brief shaped the ground-floor plan
The owner wanted more than an efficient sleeping pied-à-terre. The apartment had to support quiet time and intimate dinners, with enough continuity for guests to move between cooking, eating, and conversation. That brief led to a central kitchen island rather than a kitchen hidden behind a separate enclosure.
The island is a work zone and a gathering point
The island incorporates a range and an integrated hood, provides a worktop, and faces the dining area. One element therefore handles food preparation, ventilation, and social orientation. Bar stools credited to BassamFellows face the island, reinforcing its role as a place to sit rather than merely a block of cabinetry.
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Openings and arches connect the living, kitchen, and dining areas. They preserve sightlines while giving each zone a recognizable edge. In a small plan, that distinction matters: a completely open room can become visually vague, while too many doors and partitions interrupt movement and reduce borrowed light.
Circulation is treated as usable floor area
The route through the apartment is not a corridor with furniture pushed out of the way. The stair, its enlarged turn, and the seating that follows it create a sequence of functions along a path people already need to use. This is a more productive strategy than reserving every square foot for a single labeled room.
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The stair zone is the clearest example of the project’s efficiency. Storage is built beneath the treads. When the staircase was enlarged to accommodate its turn, the additional footprint became a place to sit rather than a pure circulation expense.
Lorenzi-Boisrond described the sequence: “When we enlarged the staircase to accommodate its turn, the lost space offered new opportunities. I love to create levels, so the line that follows the second step of the staircase is extended to become a bench with drawers, and then, finally, it is transformed into a sofa with soft cushions,” as quoted by Tannoury in Architectural Digest.
Under-stair storage
Storage below the treads uses a low, irregular volume that is often difficult to furnish with freestanding pieces. Drawers or cupboards can be sized to the changing height, keeping everyday items close to the living area without consuming a full-height wall.
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The landing becomes a bench
At the enlarged turn, the stair line extends into a bench with drawers. The bench gives the landing a purpose: it can support a short pause, provide concealed storage, and create an informal seat near the social rooms. Its position also means that the furniture does not project randomly into a passage; it grows from the circulation geometry.
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Soft cushions transform the bench into a sofa. This transition demonstrates a useful planning test for any compact home: when a structural or access requirement takes space, ask whether its edge can become seating, shelving, a desk, or another needed function. The feature does not state how much storage the drawers hold or how the stair was engineered, so those details would require project drawings and local professional advice.
Upstairs, a partial divider separates without sealing off
The upper level uses a multi-level concrete block to organize bedroom and bathroom functions. Instead of enclosing each room with full-height walls, the block contains cupboards, a shower, a vanity, and a double-sided mirror. It is a service core and a visual boundary at once.
This arrangement protects necessary privacy while retaining a sense of continuity. The bedroom and bathroom read as distinct zones because their fixtures and storage are concentrated in the block, not because a maze of partitions cuts the floor into small rectangles.
Storage is integrated into the sleeping area
A tilting headboard and deep bedside drawers add capacity where a conventional bed might leave only narrow gaps. The headboard can adjust the bed’s relationship to the wall, while the drawers use the depth beside the mattress for clothing or personal items. These are fixed or semi-fixed interventions, so they should be planned around the bed size, ventilation, electrical access, and any required clearances before construction.
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Wet areas require local verification
The shower and vanity are shown as parts of the concrete block, but the feature does not publish waterproofing details, plumbing routes, ventilation performance, or approvals. In another building, the position of stacks, fire separation, ceiling height, and condominium rules could make the same arrangement impossible or expensive. Treat the block as a planning idea, not a ready-made specification.
Hard materials are balanced by curves and upholstery
The palette combines concrete, folded black metal, and dark or stained oak with rounded corners and curved joinery. The contrast is deliberate: mineral and metal surfaces provide visual weight, while softened edges prevent a tight plan from feeling aggressively angular.
Lorenzi-Boisrond said, “We tried to avoid protruding corners.” In a narrow route, that decision affects both perception and movement. A rounded cabinet end or curved partition gives the eye a continuous line and reduces the number of sharp points beside shoulders and knees.
How the material mix works
- Concrete: establishes a solid architectural mass around the upstairs functions.
- Folded black metal: introduces a thin, graphic element that can define edges without adding bulky volume.
- Dark or stained oak: brings warmth to built-ins and balances the harder surfaces.
- Velvet and cushions: soften seating, especially the banquette and sofa elements formed around the circulation zone.
- Curved joinery: reduces visual and physical interruption at corners.
For a painting or finishing plan, the lesson is to coordinate sheen and color with the architecture rather than treating every surface independently. A dark built-in can read as one continuous volume when adjacent planes are kept quiet; a lighter value around an opening can emphasize the path between rooms. Those are adaptation strategies, not documented measurements from this apartment.
Furniture remains selective rather than crowded
The feature credits two BassamFellows bar stools, a DCW Éditions wall sconce, a HAY table lamp, a Popus Editions round coffee table, and a vintage Togo armchair. It also identifies Dedar velvet on the banquette, a Lindell & Co cushion by Chiara Colombini, and vintage Tobia Scarpa chairs. These credits identify the pieces shown; the article does not provide complete model names, dimensions, prices, current stock, or verified purchase links.
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The important spatial principle is not a particular label. A round coffee table can remove the hard corners created by a rectangular route, while one substantial armchair can define a living area without filling it with matching pieces. Movable furniture should finish the zones established by the architecture, not compete with the stair, island, or upstairs block.
Four planning comparisons for a small duplex
| Decision | Approach used in the project | When the alternative may make sense |
|---|---|---|
| Storage | Fixed drawers, cupboards, and integrated elements use awkward or structural volumes. | Movable furniture suits renters, changing needs, or a plan that cannot be altered. |
| Furniture function | The stair zone combines circulation, storage, a bench, and a sofa. | Single-purpose pieces are easier to replace and may be preferable when access or maintenance is uncertain. |
| Room separation | Openings, arches, and a partial upstairs block preserve visual connection. | Full enclosures are better where acoustic separation, privacy, fire protection, or humidity control takes priority. |
| Circulation | The stair turn is enlarged so the path also creates seating and storage. | A minimal stair footprint may preserve maximum open floor area when no seating or storage is needed nearby. |
None of these choices is automatically superior. The right answer depends on ownership, structure, services, accessibility, fire rules, and how often the home hosts people.
How to adapt the lessons without copying the plan
- Survey the existing shell first. Record level changes, ceiling slopes, columns, beams, chimney flues, plumbing stacks, windows, and electrical routes. Do not assume a wall or flue can move because it looks inconvenient.
- Map daily and social circulation. Draw the route from entry to kitchen, table, living seat, stair, bed, and bathroom. Mark where doors, stools, and drawers would conflict.
- Assign each fixed intervention at least two jobs. Test whether a stair edge can hold storage, whether a divider can contain plumbing and cupboards, or whether an island can support preparation and dining.
- Choose where openness is valuable. Keep openings toward the areas that benefit from shared light and conversation. Close spaces where privacy, sound, moisture, or safety requires it.
- Design the negative space around furniture. Check walking clearances with doors and drawers open, not only on a plan with empty rectangles.
- Use a restrained material hierarchy. Select one or two dominant architectural materials, then add warmer wood and soft textiles so the compact interior does not become a collection of unrelated surfaces.
- Verify technical feasibility before detailing. A local architect, engineer, contractor, or building authority must confirm structure, waterproofing, ventilation, electrical work, fire requirements, and permissions for the specific property.
What this Paris example can—and cannot—prove
The Architectural Digest feature demonstrates a coherent design strategy in one 538-square-foot duplex. It shows how a corrected shell, a multi-use stair, a service block, and controlled visual openness can make a constrained home support both privacy and hosting.
It does not establish measured square-foot savings, renovation cost, energy performance, construction duration, structural safety, or the long-term durability of the credited products. It also does not compare this layout with other plans under controlled conditions. Those questions require drawings, specifications, budgets, and inspections for the individual building.
The practical verdict
The loft’s efficiency comes from treating constraints as a coordinated framework. The stair becomes storage and seating; the island becomes kitchen and gathering point; the upstairs block becomes bathroom infrastructure, cupboards, and a boundary; curves and tactile materials keep those interventions from feeling harsh. For another small home, the transferable lesson is to make every unavoidable element useful while preserving the sightlines and movement that make a compact plan feel larger.
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