Project: Apartment XVIII
Architects: Studio Razavi Architecture
Location: Paris, France
Area: 225 m² (2.390 SF)
Photography: Vincent Leroux
Text by Studio Razavi Architecture
Overlooking the Luxembourg Gardens, this apartment is located in a former XVIIIth century mansion, largely remodeled in the years following the French revolution. Because so little was left of the original features and important structural reinforcements were required, we opted to fully demolish the existing and create a project from the feelings the place inspired.
This being one of the oldest areas of Paris (the street was recorded as a Roman road) and surrounded by a fantastic landscape of private buildings, churches, convents, squares… our inspiration drove us to envision a monastic space. Natural light was our material of choice (it comes in from 3 different directions) and the quality of the building could be expressed inside by generously celebrating the load bearing walls and columns, highlighting their materiality furthermore by applying a plaster stucco against which the light would rub.
A restrained selection of finishes and a formal strategy making abundant use of curved shapes to avoid hard shadows all contribute in creating a peaceful space, where sound, light & vision all become part of a coherent whole.
The design & selection of furniture as well as hand-picking all the artworks in the apartment XVIII become part of a single spatial narrative and experience.
