ECDM Valentin Apartment view from above

One way to think of a bedroom is as that space where you can remove yourself from the rest of the world, relax and remain disconnected from everything outside while you recharge for the next day. How better to do that than by (literally) hanging out in a box (designed by ECDM) that is physically separated from the rest of your home?

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ECDM Valentin Apartment loft from living room

Complete with bed and television, this clever box bedroom called “Valentin Apartment” is in many ways a central element within this place – defining and displacing space around it, making its presence known on all sides but also positively shaping circulation around it.

ECDM Valentin Apartment drawing
ECDM Valentin Apartment drawing lip

However, while it exists in such a central location it is also completely concealed from the primary living area below – as secluded as one could ever need to be and completely safe inside on a bed inside of a steel box hanging from the ceiling. It’s a brilliant use of space that generally goes wasted in many residential interiors, especially in open-plan layouts. It’s easy to imagine inserting a box like this into any number of spaces without fundamentally operating the flow, especially if you have higher ceilings to work with.

ECDM Valentin Apartment suspended loft

Moreover, when not in use as a sleeping space the lip of the bedroom provides comfortable-height informal bench seating for guests. Why just loft your bed when you can simply loft your entire bedroom?

According to ArchDaily, “The suspended box is made of a metallic structure (section 40 x 40 mm) covered with wooden panels. The cube – as well as the floor, the walls and the ceiling, has been painted with a white polyurethane resin.”

ECDM Valentin Apartment loft interior

About ECDM:

“Created after awarding the Albums de la Jeune Architecture in 1993 and the Villa Médicis Hors les Murs in 1996, the Emmanuel Combarel Dominique Marrec Architecture office works on the definition of the living environment through the project architectural. Landscape, uses, lifestyles, the question of materiality are all structural elements of the projects to be resonated. If a dominant can be released from the work of the office, it is the will to achieve a simple, sober, direct architecture that fits into the current environmental and societal issues of our time without a priori, nostalgia or stylistic concern, with the ultimate purpose to build well.”