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NOA creates tailor-made interior for pied-à-terre in Le Marais

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Window seat, Nicolai Paris by NOA

Network of Architecture has used curved lines, custom oak furniture and marble details to heighten the character of an apartment in a converted hotel in Le Marais, Paris.

NOA has created a completely custom interior for Nicolai Paris, located in the former Hotel Nicolai, which serves as a pied-à-terre for an Italian family.

Living room and window seat in Le Marais apartment, Nicolai Paris by NOANicolai Paris is located in a converted hotel

The renovation involved designing the layout of the two-level home, then adding playful furniture elements that help to optimise the functionality of each space.

"We started by defining the final atmosphere of the future apartment," explained architect and NOA co-founder Lukas Rungger.

Living room and kitchen in Le Marais apartment, Nicolai Paris by NOAThe Le Marais apartment has a completely custom interior

"It was essential that the space would feel cosy, 'hyggelig', and convey a feeling of wellbeing," he told Dezeen.

"The choice of interior layout, materials and geometry all serve this purpose."

Kitchen and dining area in Le Marais apartment, Nicolai Paris by NOAA mix of terrazzo and parquet flooring helps to define different zones

Built in the 17th century, the property has plenty of quirks. What's particularly unusual about this apartment is that it has an L-shaped layout, with most of its windows located at one end.

As a result, it made sense to locate the family living spaces here, nearest the entrance, and two large bedrooms in the back.

Nicolai Paris by NOAA curved line is defined by flooring, walls, lighting and furniture

A staircase in the centre of the floor plan leads up to a snug and a third bedroom on the smaller attic floor, which are both lit by skylights rather than windows.

To avoid creating wasteful corridors, NOA used two different floor surfaces to subtly mark the distinction between rooms and the connecting spaces in between.

Window seat, Nicolai Paris by NOACustom oak furniture pieces include an in-built window seat

A strong curve of terrazzo cuts through the living space, which is defined by bleached oak parquet in a chevron pattern, known as French herringbone. This divides the room into two "islands".

The larger island contains a lounge, dining area and kitchen, while the smaller one is occupied by a single piece of in-built furniture, providing a window seat and shelving nooks.

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The terrazzo curve is emphasised by other elements, including a screen wall beside the entrance and a partition wall that encloses a cloakroom, laundry room and toilet.

It is also matched by lighting fixtures overhead and the organically-shaped staircase.

Nicolai Paris by NOAA double-curved staircase leads up to the attic

"The layout of the interior spaces was definitely the biggest challenge," said Rungger.

"We wanted to create a space of comfort within a bigger space," he explained. "Each island is a space within a space, intimate in itself but in dialogue with the rest."

Nicolai Paris by NOABeds are set on oak platforms and defined by oak wall panelling

Custom oak furniture features in every room. The beds are set on tiered platforms, continuing the islands concept, while the dining table is framed by an upholstered L-shaped bench.

Marble is also dotted throughout. A grey-blue Bardiglio Imperiale features in the kitchen and around the fireplace, and the main bedroom boasts a bathtub carved from a single block of Botticino Fiorito.

Nicolai Paris by NOAAn attic room can be used as a snug, study or home cinema

"We wanted to reflect the elegance of the Parisian ambience in the flat," said Rungger.

"The colours of the Parisian rooftops influenced the choice of fabrics and marble colours, especially in the living area."

Nicolai Paris by NOABathrooms and washroom feature mosaic tiles in varying shades of gray

NOA has offices in Berlin and Turin, so typically works on projects in other parts of Europe. The studio recently completed a hotel and wellness centre and a glacier-top viewing platform, both in South Tyrol.

With this project, they hope to show a more craft-focused side to their practice.

"From the furniture's roundness to the staircase's double curvature, we have consistently drawn a line that fluidly touches the whole flat," added Rungger.

The photography is byAntoine Huot.

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The Whale apartment in Paris riffs on art deco design

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White armchair under spherical pendant lights in interior of The Whale apartment in Paris designed by Clément Lesnoff-Rocard

Mirror, brass and simple geometries feature inside this Parisian apartment by local architect Clément Lesnoff-Rocard, which offers an understated take on art deco.

The 65-square-metre flat, nicknamed The Whale, is tucked away in the basement of a residential building in the city's 16th arrondissement.

White armchair under spherical pendant lights in interior of The Whale apartment in Paris designed by Clément Lesnoff-RocardThe Whale apartment is located in the basement of an art deco building in Paris

According to Lesnoff-Rocard, the apartment had undergone a renovation in recent years, leaving it with "perfectly tasteless" interiors that were a pastiche of the building's original art deco style.

Most of the rooms also seemed dark and cramped, the architect explained, with unsightly plasterboard used to conceal the home's technical systems.

Concrete structural beams and column next to black watering can in The Whale apartmentKnocking through a false ceiling revealed the apartment's concrete framework

Given carte blanche by the client, Lesnoff-Rocard completely stripped back the apartment by rendering a majority of its surfaces white and tearing down its false ceiling, revealing a network of unexpectedly chunky concrete beams.

"The disproportion between the enormous size of these structural elements and the smallness of this apartment sent the space to a much larger dimension," he explained.

"It's like we were hidden inside a much larger, surreal animal."

This contrast in scale is what ultimately gave the project its name, The Whale.

Brass wardrobe next to mirrored door and baby blue marble column in Paris flat by Clément Lesnoff-RocardMarble, mirror and brass are used across the apartment's standout features

Lesnoff-Rocard used brass, mirrors, coloured marble and geometric shapes to subtly incorporate the building's art deco beginnings into the interior.

"My first intuition was obviously to work from the DNA of art deco, not by literally copying it like the previous renovation had done but by questioning it in today's context," he explained.

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The doors that lead through to the sleeping quarters are clad in mirrored panels while storage cabinets are crafted from reflective brass and one of the structural columns has been replaced with a block of pale blue marble.

In the living room, spherical pendant lights with half white, half black shades have been suspended from wires strung across the ceiling.

Baby blue marble counter in front of gridded partitions in interior of The Whale apartmentThe kitchen can be found behind gridded partitions

Behind graphic gridded partitions lies the kitchen, where the same blue marble has been used to create a breakfast island.

A number of features in the apartment also nod back to the project's name. Among them is a circular shuttered window connecting two of the rooms, which can be opened and closed to "blink" like a huge whale's eye.

Circular interior window on top of mirrored wall panels in Paris flat designed by Clément Lesnoff-RocardA shuttered circular opening is meant to resemble a whale's eye

Clément Lesnoff-Rocard established his eponymous studio in 2015.

Other projects by the architect include The Island, a double-height home in the Parisian neighbourhood of La Défense that is arranged around a central courtyard.

_The photography is bySimone Bossi. _

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