DANS LE NOIR

Equipped for short stays and treated like a personal capsule hotel unit, the studio apartment was completely rearranged in order to adapt to the client' specific needs. Deeply involved in his career, he mostly demanded an efficient refuge matching with his hectic life style. Without an hesitation, the owner agreed to sacrifice the existing kitchen to turn it into a modular capsule bedroom. The surface being quite limited, such a decision definitely influenced the project as it upgraded from a classic studio to an hybrid 2 rooms apartment. Integrally covered with a tailored mattress, the whole room is a bed floating 1,05m high from the ground, creating an decent storage volume underneath integrating a wardrobe and a cellar. As the capsule is directly connected to the winter garden in the loggia, feeling claustrophobic within it is not likely. Subdivided in multiple sub-spaces, the dwelling holds as many surprises as it conceals trap doors, secret drawers or hiding places. Every single activity of the client is located in a specific spot, ergonomic as can be, so that the combination of all the functions forms a scale one 3D puzzle. Preferring the softness of half-light to the brightness of day-light, the owner was highly satisfied by the implementation of dark materials (slate, naturally tainted oak) associated to black varnish (plywood boards). What appears to be for some an atypical place to settle came to be, for him, a genuine custom-made earthly paradise. ' ECHOING SENSORY AND PERCEPTIVE EXPERIMENTS LED BY JAMES TURRELL*, THE APPARENT DARKNESS REQUIRES AN ADAPTION PERIOD, TO TAME THE MATTER AND OPENLY REVEAL ITS CHARMS.' * Art House Project, collaboration with Tadao Ando - Naoshima island, Kagawa prefecture, Japan. Besides, the night gives a new dimension to the living room, right at the intersection between a cosy jazz club and a primitive art gallery (client's private collections). Won over by his investment and curious by nature, the owner asked a real estate agent to reevaluate his property, and got for only answer a note saying it was now «unique and priceless»!