It might be protected to imagine {that a} four-person house—full with workplace, eating space, totally outfitted kitchen, and attention-grabbing artwork assortment—would occupy a substantial quantity of house. However within the case of Katharina Holderegger and Jean-Cyril Rossier’s Parisian pied-à-terre, substantial sq. footage will not be solely nonexistent, it is completely nonessential. “The residence is small and easy, however effectively thought out,” says Katharina, who enlisted the assistance of designer Marianne Evennou for the renovation of what was as soon as her husband’s workplace (sure, it is that small). Their aim: To craft a welcoming, family-friendly residing house that might accommodate the couple, which is at the moment primarily based in Switzerland, on their frequent visits to the Metropolis of Lights—each en amoureux and with their kids, now 10 and 12.
Whereas the residence “had not been renovated for ages and was not notably attractive,” as Marianne says, it did have deserves that might function beginning factors for the redesign: A location within the metropolis’s hip Marais district knowledgeable a various aesthetic befitting its globe -trotting inhabitants, whereas excessive ceilings allowed for the development of a wood staircase and space-saving lofted bed room. (For now, the kids sleep right here whereas Holderegger and Rossier use the pullout couch downstairs.) —Shoko Wanger
What do you get whenever you take inspiration from a cuckoo clock, Japanese structure, and the charming qualities of historic Edwardian-era houses? The most recent residential mission from the geniuses at Rara Structure. Nicknamed Cuckoo Home after its clocklike kind, this two-bedroom, two-bathroom house in Footscray, Australia, a neighborhood proper exterior of the Melbourne metropolis heart, is a chief instance of taking a dated house and remodeling it into one thing new and thrilling, whereas nonetheless celebrating the material of the present construction.
In an effort to preserve the within gentle and shiny and provides the householders the additional room they desired, architect Wesley Spencer determined to maintain the overall ground plan the identical and add a lofted storage/workplace house. The brand new entryway is roofed in a lightweight blue paint and clad in timber, tying into the tranquil entrance bed room, after which the house opens as much as a fantastic, color-filled residing house, together with a shiny orange again wall, a lofted mezzanine, and an open idea kitchen. —Lauren Jones