32 Bagnolet | Gruit Architect

The apartment is located in a building from the 2000s, in the heart of Bagnolet.
The project transforms two apartments stacked one above the other into a duplex. The space is stripped back entirely and reconfigured in a more radical way.
The concrete beam supporting the slab opening is left exposed to make the structural organization legible and reveal the structural interventions.
Running diagonally through the spaces to bear onto the load-bearing walls, it creates a triangular opening in the slab that is intentionally left visible.

The contrast between the two concretes white aggregate for the additions and dark for the existing slab distinguishes old from new and highlights the construction process.
On the lower level, the beam remains exposed and passes through the walls, maintaining a continuous structural presence across the bedroom, corridor, and bathroom. Rather than concealing these transformations, it reveals their logic.

Color operates as an additional system, organizing space, defining thresholds, and structuring circulation. A yellow volume marks the vertical circulation and transforms the stair into a spatial core. It asserts the living space as the point of departure, from which one descends towards the bedrooms.

In the background, a blue horizontal ceiling organizes everyday uses entrance, sanitary spaces, kitchen and defines their relationships.
The kitchen is made of polyethylene, a material commonly used for cutting boards in professional kitchens. Its yellow color refers to food preparation codes, where it is typically associated with poultry. Here, the material shifts from object to architecture, defining the
space through color.

On the lower level, the beam defines the upper limit of the space, allowing the peach-colored volume to exist as a precise spatial condition. Color does not describe space, it produces it.