[interior] Architecture Wednesday: Apartment Madeleine

After visiting the Butterfly House last week, I was in the mood for something older, more intimate, rustic, yet modern, and, well, French. And the Apartment Madeleine suits me to a T.

Sitting on the top two floors by Paris’s Place de la Madeleine, this 1500 square foot apartment was created by combining 12--you read that right, TWELVE--maids’ rooms on two levels. 

The resulting three bedroom duplex apartment preserves both the character of the 200 year-old building in which it is located, and yet creates a very modern loft-style space in the heart of the Paris' eighth-arrondissement.

The apartment is based upon the idea of a museum: the original limestone walls and oak beams have been excavated and displayed with archaeological precision while the addition of a glass floor and walls allows each room to retain a sense of openness, to be visually connected with all the other spaces in the home, the views of the sky and rooftops of Paris.

In one corner of the apartment there is a courtyard terrace, surrounded by sixteen foot glass walls. With the addition of a marble--working--fireplace, mirror, and chandelier the terrace appears to be an interior room with a wall of living “wallpaper” that climbs the 24 foot vertical garden wall. The courtyard was conceived as a large glass display case containing a traditional salon of a mid-19th century Parisian apartment. 

In contrast, the interior fireplace, stair, and other details are contemporary and the apartment takes on a surreal feeling through this blurring of the edge between the interior and exterior, as well as the multiple layers of transparent and reflective glass surfaces. The use of glass is carried through the design, and includes the glass cabinets in the kitchen, and glass tiles, counters, and fixtures throughout the apartment. The three bedrooms are located on both levels at the opposite end of the apartment, served by private bathrooms, and organized around a separate courtyard.

It's old, and new, and French. 

Je t'aime l'appartement madeleine.

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