Among the narrow streets and shared gardens, a neglected 30-square-meter space is reinvented under the vision of Quentin Sommervogel. In this corner of the capital’s 20th arrondissement, the architect turned constraints into an intimate manifesto for everyday living.
“I was primarily looking for a great exposure, a view, and a project to transform,” says Quentin Sommervogel, founder of QSA, Quentin Sommervogel Architecture. When he discovered this apartment, nestled at the back of a leafy courtyard on one end of Rue de Bagnolet, he immediately saw its potential. A former workers’ housing complex from the early 20th century, it is located in an area that retains the memory of working-class Paris, with its workshops, warehouses, and rowhouses. Even today, the co-owned property, with its gardens and diverse neighborhood, preserves its village atmosphere.
But time sometimes makes fools of us all. Behind the charm of the place, the apartment itself bore the scars of decades. Two separate rooms connected by a rickety hallway, a ceiling so low it stifled the light, an outdated kitchenette, and above it all, an attic that had never been visited.
“Nothing was usable,” recalls the architect. The entire space was stripped down, from the walls to the floors, ceilings to the fireplace, revealing beams hidden beneath the plaster. And suddenly, high above, nearly 12 feet below the roof ridge, an unexpected space offered the promise of light.
From this newly found spaciousness, Quentin Sommervogel drew a clear principle: to create a single volume, bathed in light, where each function fits precisely into even the most constrained corner. The bedroom and bathroom are thus concentrated in the north, while living space extends southwards, beneath the exposed slope. For the architect, it’s all about proportion: “The more cramped the space, the more precise you have to be in terms of function and design.” The whole project thus became an exercise in rigor, serving both light and everyday life.
