An old workshop with no natural light has been turned into a spectacular minimalist Mediterranean-style loft. Natural materials and built-in furniture, the right choice of few details, and a beautiful staircase – all together reflect the signature of Heju Studio.
The studio reconstructed the basement of a building from the early 19th century. 162 sq. meter, located in Asnières-sur-Seine, in a fashionable suburb of Paris, occupied two floors, and the third, the lowest, served as a warehouse. Almost all levels were deprived of natural light. The customer, a father living with his son, wanted to achieve the feeling of a “light loft”.
“The room was in poor condition, there was no natural light, so we tried to find tricks so that the light was on all floors,” the designers say. “On the first floor, we removed all the partitions to give life to a large volume, clean and flooded with light. The “opening” of the facade and the creation of a glass roof had to be done to connect the interior with the exterior and fill the heart of the apartment with natural light.” The most original “trick”, without a doubt, is the round hatches in the floor of the living room, through which light passes to the lower levels.
There is another very interesting find: the creation of a patio, made in the form of a small English garden, in the master bedroom. A feature of this house is also the large amount of built-in furniture, typical of Mediterranean decor, along with the curves they display. Sofa, bed, bathroom furniture… everything is made of brick and cement.
“To give the space a personality, many pieces of furniture have been literally carved into the walls, such as the curved sofa bench in the living room or the terracotta-lined sideboard in the dining room. Thus, thanks to the interaction of volumes, shapes and shades, the loft materializes, emphasizing the emptiness. Typical of the Mediterranean is the use of natural materials and textures: wood, clay slabs under the fireplace, stone floor in the bathroom…
Many items will be developed by the studio specifically for the project – for example, kitchen cabinets, a dining table that turns into a billiard table. “We focus our approach on the senses, creating an immersive, minimalistic and intimate space. The atypical structure of the rooms is mixed with rounded details and draws the main lines of a new repertoire, a new timeless style between minimalism and the Mediterranean. Thus, the old workshop became an unexpected place inspired by the folk architecture of Southern Europe: with curves and stone furniture.” Precise work with materials, competent lighting and thought out to the smallest detail, the interior (from the transparent waxed concrete floor to brass taps and marble handles) makes this home feel like a solid work of art.
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