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For several years now, Lola has lived in the attic of a building at the end of a courtyard, in the heart of the 11th arrondissement of Paris, and feels a little cramped between the walls of her apartment and the facades of neighboring buildings. However, she’s not thinking of moving out and giving up the conveniences of her neighborhood!
While the location of the apartment has obvious qualities, the interior space is sorely lacking. With a surface area of 48 m², low ceilings, cramped and dark, Lola’s apartment was in dire need of more volume and light. The owner therefore turned to Christophe Bente to extend her property by one level. After outlining the project and applying for a building permit in his own name, the architect put his client in touch with Clara Hernandez, from the Mura Scala studio, whom he judged to be more at ease than he was with this type of commission, where interior design plays a key role. Clara quickly took over from her colleague and gave the project its definitive form: a 20 m² timber-framed extension. “Part of the existing building dates back to the 17th century. We had to be extremely careful about the loads we added to avoid weakening it. The choice of a timber structure was therefore the right one to reduce the weight of our intervention.”
But getting the framing elements to site was no easy task! “The configuration of the building, located at the end of a courtyard, proved to be very restrictive during the construction phase,” explains Clara Hernandez. “We couldn’t use a crane because of work being carried out in the street at the same time, while the condominium corridors were too narrow to allow us to transport the structural elements. We therefore had to pass all the sections through a small window in the stairwell. We then installed a platform at the apartment’s level to store the materials. As the first part of the project took place in summer, the platform acted as an umbrella for the neighbors!”
While the extension changes the appearance of the courtyard, it also radically transforms Lola’s apartment, creating a spectacular double-height living room dominated by a glass roof with an unobstructed view of the Paris skyline. In stark contrast to Lola’s previous sense of confinement! Adjacent to a large library wall, a suspended metal staircase and walkway, the key elements of the project, set the scene for the ascent to the upper floor, where two bedrooms are now located. A very appreciated luxury is that the largest bedroom is extended by a small terrace. “The Plan Local d’Urbanisme imposed a setback from the main facade in this little corner. So we decided to create a terrace, directly accessible from the master bedroom.” Opportunity born of constraint!
