Napoléon Apartment Renovation in Paris by FREAKS freearchitects.

“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,” Guillaume Aubry, FREAKS freearchitects.

This lovely heritage apartment is equal parts beautiful, clever and fun. Recently refurbished by FREAKS freearchitects, it is located on the Rue de Rivoli in Paris, which happens to be an old address of Napoleon I. In order to celebrate this crazy historical fact, the architects dressed up as the former emperor for the photo shoot, which explains the silly hats. Completely bonkers and I just love it.

I’ve always said that, as architects and designers, we are capable of doing incredible things (and this blog serves as a place to prove this), but ultimately we are not saving lives and there’s no reason to take ourselves too seriously. I think it’s really refreshing to see architects have a bit of fun with the photos. Call it nothing more than a PR ploy is you will, and you may be right in thinking so, although I say this project is good enough to stand on it’s own two feet and when packaged with these quirky eye-catching images it’s simply dynamite. Ten points from me!

You can read more about the projects over on Dezeen.

[Photography by David Foessel, via Dezeen.]