After the designers at FREAKS freearchitects completed the renovation of a downtown Paris home, they decided to have a little fun with the "after" shots. No, they didn't follow a grumpy-looking cat as some other fanciful architects did; rather, they, uh, dressed up like France's most famous military leader. Duh.
It doesn't make perfect sense, but there's still a reason for it: the apartment perches above Rue de Rivoli, a road built by Napoleon Bonaparte. The empire-builder did supposedly own a property at the start of the street, facing the Jardin des Tuileries, so it's possible, technically, that Bonaparte lived in some iteration of this 1,830-square-foot apartment. That possibility became a running joke among the architects, and so they decided to don Napoleon-style headwear for the photo shoot, infusing playful frivolity where there is usually just high-glossed perfection. "We're getting more and more bored by the nice shots where everything is so clean, with the perfect Scandinavian-design chair, the perfect white orchid, the perfect art book on the table," firm partner Guillaume Aubry says.
Anyway, the architects refurbished the parquet-floored abode to incorporate two kids' rooms, a loft accessible via a crinoline ladder, and scant modern touches like a super-sleek kitchen and fluorescent tube lights. More below.
· Napoléon Apartment by FREAKS freearchitects [Dezeen]
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