the metal rack apartment

Andrea Marcante and Adelaide Testa, founders of Turin-based practice UdA Architects, recently refurbished a 180 sqm apartment in Paris for Isis Colombe Combréas, the editor-in-chief of the magazines MilK and MilK decoration, her husband the photographer Karel Balas, and two children Hiroko and Aliocha.

The apartment is located in a 1930s building bordering on Saint Germain. Before the restructuring project, the apartment contained a number of important pieces from the history of design and was still divided up as it was when the property was first built.

Apart from minor alterations to the walls, the project was based on a rack system made of metal sections and perforated sheet metal, which, due to the way the materials are used architecturally, paid tribute to the work of the French designer, Mathiew Matégot.

A stimulating and synergic exchange of ideas and research into the history of French and Italian design carried out with the clients guide the choice of standard furniture and custom-designed furnishing.