Le Trocadéro: from law firm to a 227 m² apartment.

The starting point.

On paper: 227 Haussmann square metres a few steps from the Trocadéro, rare volumes, light from two orientations. In reality: a floor carved into offices, partitioned into meeting rooms, wired for IT, carpeted wall to wall. Decades of office use had erased the apartment — what remained were the address and the potential.

The brief entrusted to W.A.R.D: return this floor to its original calling, as a family residence of the highest standard. Not a renovation — a change of use, with everything that implies.

The real challenge: rebuilding everything within.

Changing the use of a floor means starting again from the structure. Concretely, on this project:

• A complete redistribution of volumes — meeting rooms and open spaces gave way to an enfilade of reception rooms, suites, a family kitchen: a plan designed for living, not for an org chart.
• All services rebuilt from scratch — electrical, plumbing, heating: office infrastructure bears no relation to the needs of a residence. Everything was redone from the risers.
• Bathrooms created from nothing — a law firm has no bathrooms: drainage, supply, waterproofing, everything had to be invented within an old building.
• The Haussmann signature restored — beneath the false ceilings and carpets, finding and restoring what gives these apartments their value: ceiling heights, mouldings, parquet.

10 months, and every week counted.

A transformation of this scale is won on the schedule. Ten months to hand over 227 m² entirely rebuilt is precision machinery: trades follow one another without idle time, procurement is anticipated, client sign-offs are set on precise milestones. This is where the single contract protects the owner: the deadline is not an intention — it is a commitment.

What this project taught us.

• Potential reads beneath the fit-out — a tired office floor can hide the finest apartment in the building. The eye that matters is the one that sees through.
• A change of use is as much administrative as technical — designation, co-ownership, declarations: support must cover both.
• The value created exceeds the cost of the works — changing a property's use repositions it on another market. For an investor, it is the most value-creating operation there is.

See the full project page with the before/after comparison: Le Trocadéro — 227 m², Paris 16th.