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In an interview with Livingetc, Michaelis Boyd partner Christina Gregoriou advised homeowners and designers to tackle awkward spaces early rather than leave them until the end of a project. She described how the studio turned a structural column at the Miiro Paris hotel into the setting for a custom love seat, and said constraints can help define a room’s character.
Michaelis Boyd partner Christina Gregoriou says designers should address awkward corners, narrow corridors and exposed structural features early in a renovation, rather than leave them until the rest of the project is finished. In an interview with Livingetc, she described how the studio turned an awkward niche around a column at the Miiro Paris hotel into a custom love seat, making a constraint part of the space’s design.
Gregoriou said difficult areas often appear in both home and commercial design briefs: unused corners, long corridors, and rooms whose plans change when walls come down or structural elements are revealed. She said teams may be tempted to postpone decisions about these spaces, expecting them to fade into the background once the main rooms are complete. Her advice is to give them primary consideration from day one, since leaving them unresolved can make them feel like afterthoughts.
She pointed to the renovation of Miiro Paris, a hotel formed from two heritage Haussmann-era buildings connected from different streets. According to Gregoriou, the secondary entrance had been dark and narrow and was used for back-of-house functions, offices and windowless meeting rooms. The team recast the area as a moody, intimate speakeasy rather than treating its proportions and lack of natural light solely as problems.
During the project’s strip-out, the team found a structural column that left a small pocket with no obvious functional use. Gregoriou said the designers placed a custom love seat in the niche. The interview also mentions a separate Michaelis Boyd bathroom project for WOW!house, created with House of Rohl, where the team chose a statement round bathtub as the room’s focal point. The supplied report cuts off before Gregoriou’s full explanation of that project.
Turning Constraints Into Design Features
The advice is relevant to homeowners planning renovations because awkward areas can affect how a floor plan works and feels, even when they occupy little space. Gregoriou’s examples suggest that making decisions about those areas early may give them a purposeful role, instead of leaving residents with a corner, corridor or structural element that appears disconnected from the rest of the design.
The Miiro Paris example also shows the limits of treating a design challenge as a purely cosmetic problem. The column was a structural feature, not a removable obstruction, and the design response worked around it. For renovation clients, identifying what cannot be changed—and planning around it—can shape decisions about layout, use and atmosphere. The interview offers professional design guidance, not evidence that every constraint can be resolved in the same way or at the same cost.
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The Miiro Paris Renovation
Michaelis Boyd is a London-founded architecture and design practice established in 1995 by Tim Boyd and Alex Michaelis, according to the Livingetc report. Its work includes hospitality, residential and commercial projects. The article uses that practice experience to connect large-scale design lessons with smaller home renovations.
At Miiro Paris, Gregoriou described a plan involving two heritage buildings linked from separate streets. The secondary entrance’s dark, narrow character had led to service and office uses. The studio’s decision to make the area an intimate bar setting preceded the discovery of the column niche that later accommodated the custom seating. The source does not give a project completion date or details of the renovation budget.
What the Interview Leaves Open
The supplied Livingetc material does not specify when the interview was published, how much the Miiro Paris work cost, or whether the design changed the hotel’s use or guest experience in measurable ways. It also does not provide technical details about the column or explain what structural options were considered; Gregoriou’s account describes the design response, not an engineering assessment.
The source text ends partway through the section about the WOW!house bathroom, so Gregoriou’s complete advice for that project is unavailable here. The interview presents examples and professional opinion; it does not establish that an awkward feature will always become a project’s standout element.
Applying the Advice at Home
The source does not announce a new project, deadline or follow-up from Michaelis Boyd. For readers planning a renovation, Gregoriou’s stated next step is practical: identify awkward corners, corridors and fixed structural features during early planning, then decide how they can fit the layout and design concept. Any proposed changes involving structural elements should be reviewed by qualified professionals; the interview does not suggest removing or altering a column.
Further details about the WOW!house bathroom and the publication date would be needed to provide a fuller account of the interview’s examples. Until then, the confirmed takeaway is limited to Gregoriou’s design advice and the studio’s reported Miiro Paris case study.
Key Questions
What is Christina Gregoriou’s main advice for difficult spaces?
She advises identifying and planning for awkward areas from the start, rather than leaving them until the end of a renovation.
How did Michaelis Boyd use the column at Miiro Paris?
Gregoriou said the studio designed a custom love seat for the small niche created by the column, incorporating the feature into the hotel’s design.
What was the secondary entrance at Miiro Paris used for before the redesign?
According to Gregoriou, its dark, narrow rooms were used for back-of-house operations, administrative offices and windowless meeting rooms. The team reimagined the area as an intimate speakeasy.
Does the interview give advice on removing structural columns?
No. Gregoriou described designing around a column, but the source does not provide engineering advice or recommend removing structural elements. Structural changes require review by qualified professionals.
Source: livingetc.com
