Two rooms represent almost one third of housing units in the French capital (31.8%), as they can accommodate a wide range of profiles, including couples, young retirees, singles, single-parent families, first-time buyers, flatshares, students, freelance workers, commuters, and so on. However, their layouts, size, and amenities do not properly address the diverse needs of their occupants.

Bearing these facts in mind, Susanne Eliasson and Anthony Jammes, founders of the architectural studio GRAU, question the two rooms flat type in the light of contemporary challenges. Using a simple vocabulary and line drawings, their study, which was conducted as part of the FAIRE research platform, draws on an analysis of Paris’ existing housing stock and new developments. It is also informed by interviews with various public and private developers.

This study is not a celebration of the one-bedroom home as a small surface, but rather a celebration of the city. In the context of the current health crisis, and more generally of the climate crisis, we need to be looking at how we’ll be living with one another in the near future .

In order for these housing units to offer the domestic qualities of a large flat, the two architects re-examined their size and optimum layout based on the price per square meter and the needs of future residents. They pursued optimizations aiming to achieve more open and flexible spaces and investigated possibilities uncovered through the outsourcing of certain constraints. Their proposals open new perspectives and, through real-life scenarios, demonstrate both the potential of two rooms to accommodate a variety of lifestyles and the need for change.

For Susanne Eliasson and Anthony Jammes, this study “is not a celebration of the two rooms as a small surface, but rather a celebration of the city. In the context of the current health crisis, and more generally of the climate crisis, we need to be looking at how we’ll be living with one another in the near future. We believe the adequate response is to be found in the city, with all the opportunities it offers to people of all different ages. A two rooms offers a more open lifestyle, flexibility, considerable freedom within one’s dwelling, as well as opportunities to meet people and create social ties in the common areas.”

GRAU is an architecture and urban planning practice based in Paris, led by partners Susanne Eliasson and Anthony Jammes, architects and urban planners with more than ten years’ experience in architectural and urban projects in France and Europe.

The studio has developed an expertise on housing issues through numerous urban renewal projects, strategic studies on densification, masterplanning of new districts, residential projects and ongoing research on horizontal urbanism.

GRAU is a recipient of the 2016 Palmarès des Jeunes Urbanistes (Emerging Urban Planners Awards) and has been featured on the Choiseul Ville de Demain list of the top 100 young leaders shaping the city of the future since 2018.

GRAU regularly takes part in round tables and lectures around the world (New York, Rotterdam, Tokyo, Göteborg, Mendrisio, Budapest, Brussels, Louvain, and Toulouse, among other places) and has been invited to exhibit at the Venice Biennale of Architecture, the International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam, the Louisiana Art Museum, Pavillon de l’Arsenal, and at Bordeaux’s arc en rêve centre d’architecture. The studio has published books and articles on topics including public role of the Parisian ground floor (Rez-de-ville, Rez-de-vie, 2013), the productive city (Design = Economy, 2012), and Bordeaux’s nature city (Apprendre de Caudéran, 2017).

© Arnold Pasquier