When Marion Mouny and Katia Naouri of architecture studio MMNK first cast eyes on this a 592-square-foot courtyard apartment tucked off a major thoroughfare in Paris’s well-heeled Marais district, it suffered from lack of light, humidity damage, and a convoluted floor plan. The owners—four siblings dispersed across Europe and Asia—had commissioned the firm to rehabilitate the space into a comfortable place where they could stay while visiting family in their hometown.

The building as a whole encapsulated the time-worn charm of its surroundings, but equally bore the burdens of its age—and it contained a warren of ground-floor residential and commercial spaces. “When we first saw the place, it was very dark, unwelcoming, and quite humid,” says Mouny. “The apartment, the cellars, the shop...all the volumes were interwoven. It was a complete treasure hunt to take measurements and to understand how all these spaces connect to each other.”

“It’s twisted, which made it quite complicated to organize,” adds Naouri. “But it’s also what gives the place its character and its charm. So, one aspect of the work was to simplify the space: to give unity to the rooms, and to organize the volumes with pure lines.”

“For each line, we try to have a function that is matching, and that can be appropriated by the inhabitants,” says Mouny. “If you have clear lines designing the space, it’s easy for the person living there to understand it, and to have a kind of harmony.” Naouri chimes in to say: “It’s more restful to see something that’s organized.”

MMNK’s practice revolves around the “architecture of territory,” which they define as “responding to context: the climate, the history of the place, and also sustainability....working with what we already have to give the place the sense that it belongs here naturally.” Accordingly, the duo took their initial cues from the apartment’s existing materials—rustic stone walls and dark wooden ceiling beams—with a view to highlight their qualities.

Their first step was to make the space healthy again. The apartment’s high humidity, heightened by the climate of the cellars downstairs, had tarnished the walls, which required a full renovation. Next came the task of restoring the space’s original features to their original quality. The design team renovated the stone walls with a light, locally sourced plaster, and sanded the beams to soften the wood’s natural color.

“Materiality is at the center of our work,” says Naouri. “We always try to use natural, sustainable, or beautiful materials that are going to age well. And we give a lot of thought to the question of reuse, conserving as much as possible,” she continues. “With each project, we have to adapt—to find the right balance between what is new, what is good, what we keep, and how we respond to the situation.”

In this case, the duo applied a limewash throughout the apartment to improve the air quality and reflect daylight. The apartment’s new Mortex floor has an earthen quality, and the warm, unifying appearance of waxed concrete. A strategic arrangement of skylights optimize indirect illumination, supplemented with carefully considered artificial lighting.

“We wanted to create a space that feels a bit like an art gallery,” explains Mouny, “so that it would be easy for clients to settle there without feeling like they’re living in their sister’s or brother’s home.” To that end, the apartment’s more “antique” elements are offset with modern and contemporary details, like the custom cabinetry and a staircase partition done in toffee-colored MDF, and furniture including Marcel Breuer’s Cesca chairs and Faye Toogood’s Roly-Poly sofa.

Reflecting on the outcome, Naouri says, “With our work, even if it sometimes can appear very simple—not extravagant—we want to make harmonious spaces that almost feel obvious; like they’ve been there all the time. I feel like we managed to do this here—to create a place where people want to stay, which feels coherent, and that anchors this area in the space.”

Related Reading:

This Live/Work Duplex in Paris Is Full of Kid- and Cat-Friendly Details

A 540-Square-Foot Apartment Becomes a Forever Home for a Family of Five

Project Credits:

Architect of Record: MMNK / @mmnk_archi

Builder/General Contractor: EMM

Photographer: Agnès Clotis / @agnesclotis