Architect Julie Nabucet had already garnered attention for her design of a 16m2 apartment (with then-partner Marc Baillargeon), but for her most recent project she was tasked with something even more challenging: to fit the rooms of a full-sized apartment in a 129-square-foot (12 m2) flat (in the very central Montorgueil quarter).

Nabucet decided to stack functions: she elevated the kitchen and rolled a bed-slash-sofa underneath (pulled out halfway, it’s a couch; pulled out fully, it’s a bed). To separate the cooking area from the sleeping/living room she used plywood boxes stacked as a wall. The boxes facing the kitchen are used as cabinets; those facing the bedroom are used as bookshelves.

In the two-square-meter bathroom (21-square-feet), she squeezed an “Italian shower” (wet bath). There wasn’t enough space for a sink so she placed this outside the bathroom. To separate it from the kitchen she created a wooden netting that gives a sense of isolation, but allows light to pass through.