Gitai Architects has unveiled its residential project P-Flat, an innovative, minimal family home in Paris that exemplifies the future of sustainable interior design. Developing a prototype for a 'new style' of apartment, Gitai Architects has successfully transformed the habitability of the space to create a sustainable living environment that balances functionality with aesthetics.
Located in the 16th district of Paris in a traditional Haussmann building, Gitai Architects was tasked with the total redesign of the property to improve the functionality of the space, creating a modern and comfortable living environment. The understanding of architecture as a medium that connects the history with the future of a city was at the core of the design process, infusing innovative design into the long-established characteristics of the property. Through merging traditional features of late 20th and early 21st century culture with contemporary design, P-Flat is a cultural-architectural project that explores the connection between conceptual expressions of the two time periods into space.
Through the implementation of sustainable practices, the use of natural materials and working with natural form and colour, Gitai Architects works to develop all of its projects to be in keeping with the natural surroundings. With the P-Flat project, the architects created an environment achieved by the spatial synergy of both time periods, the continuity of wood running through the property and clever, built-in storage systems designed to uninterrupt the space. The main design concept was to create an illusion that the space has been formed by folding an immense piece of wood, achieved by connecting the traditional wooden flooring to the newly constructed, wooden enclosed walls.
The wooden veiled walls create a flexible spatial experience, not only serving as dividers of the space but also providing scopic storage with cupboards, shelves, and drawers concealed within. With each wall encapsulating floor-to-ceiling storage systems, the need for traditional furniture to store belongings has been eliminated, freeing up space whilst preventing any disturbance in the design. These dual-purpose structures reaffirm that every room is separated yet connected at the same time, supporting the spatial atmosphere of this project as one single architectural embodiment.
The P-Flat project is a prototype for a new style of home, that attempts to make future living more inclusive and sustainable by unifying the space whilst creating a permanent expression. Through the total remodelling of the property, we have managed to form a new equilibrium in the apartment, maximising on the space for optimal practicality, comfort, aesthetics and atmosphere.