A Sculptural Micro-Volume Apartment in Paris by Studio Pauline Borgia

In Paris’ 5th arrondissement, architect Pauline Borgia has reimagined a 230-square-foot studio apartment on Rue de la Bûcherie for a pair of young Americans studying in Paris. Known for her sculptural approach to small spaces, Borgia transformed the one-room apartment into a series of distinct yet fluid areas: a kitchen, bathroom, office, library, bedroom, and generous storage are all folded into the compact L-shaped footprint through custom built-ins and curved walls.

Borgia, who founded her Paris studio in 2015 after working for larger firms in Paris and Hong Kong, approaches renovation with restraint, reducing the amount of demolition and removal where possible while employing built-in solutions as part of the architecture itself. Here, plaster, light oak, and colored concrete make up a “micro-volume” interior, where even the furniture feels embedded into the space. Join us for a look inside.

Photography by BCDF Studio for Studio Pauline Borgia.

Above: A French door opens into a pocket-sized kitchen with a colored concrete floor and kitchen cabinets designed in dark-stained oak.
Above: A pair of half-cylinder sconces light the kitchen above a small built-in table. The chair is an antique walnut country chair from France. Vintage furniture throughout the apartment was sourced from Emmaüs.
Above: A 19th-century Rebus antique plate and a tulip dessert cup.
Above: Curved walls soften the apartment’s boxy shell. Borgia designed custom built-in storage throughout the apartment in light oak and plaster.
Above: The floors are newly laid oak planks.
Above: A half-circle desk in oak is built into the wall and paired with a vintage chair sourced from China. Above is a vintage two-tone Stilnovo Diablo Sconce.
Above: Borgia grew up in her family’s house in Corsica, where every room was designed in a different color. In that same spirit, she looks to color to create identities for smaller rooms. Case in point is the compact bathroom, designed in green-colored concrete and paint. Here, the bathroom is styled with ceramics from Bordallo Pinheiro. The sconce is by Alex and Manel Lluscà.
Above: The console is also built of colored concrete and set with a simple stainless steel sink.
Above: The schematic shows a flow from the entrance through living area and into the bath and kitchen. Also shown here are the lofted sleeping space and outdoor terrace.

For more small Parisian spaces see our posts:

• 269 Square Feet in Paris: Design Ideas from a Shoebox Apartment Reinvented By Marianne Evennou
• Making Space: A 350-Square-Foot Parisian Pied-à-Terre Studio from Corpus Studio
• Small-Space Soirées: 8 Tips from a Paris Apartment, Courtesy of Rebekah Peppler
• Order and Pattern in a Spirited Paris Apartment Remodel by Two Young Architects
• A Paris Apartment with Artful, Architectural Interventions from Corpus Studio