Counter-Space | Pascal Grasso Architectures

The owner of two neighboring apartments in an excellent 1970s building with a view over the
Eiffel Tower wanted to combine them and asked Pascal Grasso Architectures to renovate the
entire surface and suggest layout and arrangement.

Pascal Grasso conceived the project with a structuring central element: a black monolith that
integrates service areas (kitchen, sanitary facilities…). This forceful option is an opportunity
to create a functional and symbolic object to separate night and day areas.
Covered with black lacquered glass panels, it provides stunning reflections with new
perspectives to the outside while also blurring perceptions inside.

Visitors are welcome in a minimalist hallway enlivened with a play of recessed lights hinting
at the neon works of François Morellet or Dan Flavin. Usually rather dull, the entrance and
hallway become here a vibrant space that disturbs perceptions and verges on abstraction.
The light-flow spreads throughout the apartment, in every room. It becomes the unifying
element of the project. Used here as a material in its own right, light spreads on the walls as
much as across the ceilings, galvanizing the space and accentuating the depth of materials.