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De la création de produits originaux aux nouvelles technologies de l’information et la communication, les entreprises azuréennes sont un véritable atout de la région. Economie, banque, immobilier, urbanisme, architecture… cette rubrique se place au plus près des initiatives et transformations de nos villes. Ici, le concours ArchiCOTE vient également tous les ans récompenser les projets d’architectes les plus engagés et inscrits dans leur territoire.

March 2017

Sami-Georges Ben Haim

  • The pleasure of home

 

 
 archi sami benailme

Salon de l’appartement familial niçois repensé par l’architecte, avec une nouvelle harmonie crée à partir des éléments structurels de la pièce.

The winner of the ArchiCOTE 2016 Less is More Prize configured a pied-à-terre with consulting room in Nice. Interview with a promising young architect.

 

How does the idea of fluidity influence your work?
First come the plans; the end result depends on their clarity. It's very easy to make an impression by opening everything up like in a loft. Personally I prefer to work on the transitions between rooms, so the eye is drawn to what comes after without being distracted by angles. You can have a partition between two rooms and leave it open at both sides. I try to put myself in my client's place, create ways of moving around. I don't believe in beauty for beauty's sake.

 

Are there buildings you particularly admire?
I've visited Tel Aviv several times, it has an entire district built by Bauhaus students. I'm very keen too on Philip Johnson and Mies van der Rohe, who took that research further with their glass-cube architecture. But I'm not so radical in my work; my prime aim is to incite pleasure, create warmth.

 

Tell us about the first apartment you redesigned from A to Z.
That was a 175m² apartment in Nice, the first project for which I had a free rein – clients often do the fitting out themselves. I didn't move things about much, save for the kitchen, bathroom and utility room where I completely altered some very convoluted partitioning. By creating an alcove or moving a door you can completely alter the physiognomy of a place. I turned an enclosed corridor into a living area with two alcoves for the children's desks and all the rooms leading off. The doors were lined up along the wall so I offset them and also worked on the lighting so you're aware of it but no more.

 

What about the pied-à-terre for which you won the ArchiCOTE prize?
That started off as an old apartment with fabric-covered walls and very uneven floors. First we had to knock everything down and do some serious structural reinforcing. As is usual in those bourgeois apartments, the living area and master bedroom were on the street side. But this pied-à-terre had to have a consulting room too, so my idea was to transition from public to private from the entrance: first the lobby and office, then the living area that doubles up as a meeting space, then the dining room and kitchen for socialising and on to the bathroom and finally the bedroom.

 

You describe this as an "artisan apartment". Why?
Because everything inside was specially made. I work­ed with a marble craftsman, a potter, an Italian joiner and other artisans. In the office I installed two wall-to-wall bookcases with invisible fixings, because I'm keen on things being discreet. I like to design everything, such as the living-room partition that is also a bookcase, giving the room character. I work with a lighting designer too, we think about the lighting right from the start. I try to utilise the smallest corners, seen or unseen, to create family living spaces that each in their own way produce a sense of wellbeing. Because coming home and feeling comfortable there, that's luxury.

 

By Tanja Stojanov

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