{"id":258541,"date":"2025-10-29T11:00:21","date_gmt":"2025-10-29T11:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/258541\/"},"modified":"2025-10-29T11:00:21","modified_gmt":"2025-10-29T11:00:21","slug":"alireza-razavi-on-living-in-a-modernist-masterpiece-in-paris","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/258541\/","title":{"rendered":"Alireza Razavi on living in a modernist masterpiece in Paris"},"content":{"rendered":"

Unlock the Editor\u2019s Digest for free<\/p>\n

Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.<\/p>\n

While many Parisians covet a\u00a0home emblematic of the city\u2019s architecture \u2013 stately, Haussmannian, or even older replete with the classic flourishes \u2013 Iranian-born, Paris-based architect Alireza Razavi has different ideas. His professional practice and personal taste lean towards modernist style. The building he most admires in the French capital is the Australian embassy, an imposing example of Harry Seidler\u2019s 1970s brutalism. \u201cI prefer to design and build something from scratch and ensure that the interior has\u00a0a\u00a0conversation with the shell,\u201d he says of his multidisciplinary practice, which spans architecture, interiors, furniture and objects.<\/p>\n

\"Peonies,Peonies, 1966, by Manoucher Yektai, behind S28A chairs by Pierre Chapo and a 6 table by Le Corbusier, Pierre Jeanneret and Charlotte Perriand \u00a9 Eve Campestrini\"Untitled,Untitled, 1999, by Sharon Lockhart hangs above Multicolor Twist 1, 2016, by Matthew Chambers, in Razavi\u2019s Paris home \u00a9 Eve Campestrini<\/p>\n

Razavi, 55, has stayed close to this philosophy for the recent renovation of his own apartment<\/a>: a top-floor duplex in a concrete 1968 modernist building in the city\u2019s\u00a017th arrondissement. He moved into the 90sq m space with his wife Vanessa 15 years ago, and while the bones were good \u2013 including an expanse of floor-to-ceiling windows on one side framing a sweeping view of the neighbourhood\u2019s surrounding zinc rooftops \u2013 the central living area, from which all other rooms flow, was\u00a0divided by partitions. Free from the restrictions of regulations governing historic buildings, those were the first to be knocked down, restoring the pure lines of the rectangular-shaped living room. \u201cNone is load bearing, which is one of the amazing things about this building \u2013 there are no beams,\u201d says Razavi.<\/p>\n

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As his family has expanded (he and Vanessa, a\u00a0hotelier, have two daughters), Razavi\u2019s modernist<\/a> preferences have paid off further. Two years ago, he added a new-build to the top floor \u2013 a lightweight construction of concrete and wood, with a sedum green roof system \u2013 doubling their floorplan and gaining three bedrooms, two bathrooms and a study. The original residence\u2019s first floor was reconfigured and is now entirely dedicated to living. <\/p>\n

\"AA painting by Al Taylor, Razavi\u2019s portraits of his daughters and a midcentury Iranian workers\u2019 poster behind the\u00a0double-helix staircase \u00a9 Eve Campestrini\"TheThe master bathroom gives onto a dressing area \u00a9 Eve Campestrini\"InIn the bedroom is an early-19th-century portrait of a young prince, son of Fath Ali Shah Qajar, and bedside tables by Eileen Gray \u00a9 Eve Campestrini<\/p>\n

The renovation was a complete refurb, yet nothing feels \u201cnew\u201d. \u201cI wanted something that would be ambiguous, as if it was built yesterday or 50 years ago,\u201d Razavi says of the work that went into creating a seamless transition between the two floors. There is an abundance of natural light; the palette is restrained, while Hungarian oak-wood cabinetry and block-coloured tiled feature walls add tonal contrast. In the main open-plan living and dining area, he laid down dark basaltina flooring and installed a single steel column to cover a chimney flue \u2013 a facsimile of an original column in the foyer. <\/p>\n

The furniture leans towards 20th-century modernism. A set of Pierre Chapo<\/a> S28A dining chairs surrounds the \u201c6\u201d dining table by Le Corbusier, Pierre Jeanneret and Charlotte Perriand, while a Mario Marenco sofa set from the 1970s sits atop an early-19th-century Tabriz rug. Above the sofa hangs a large, graphic black and white linoleum-cut work by the contemporary German artist Christoph Ruckh\u00e4berle. \u201cFirst and foremost I like things that are well-built,\u201d he says. \u201cThese chairs might crack, but that\u2019s perfectly OK\u2026 they\u2019re probably going to last another 100 years. And the rug is from my family. I\u2019m interested in permanence\u2026 in materials ageing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AnAn LC1 chair by Le Corbusier and table by Eric Buchli sit on a late-20th-century Iranian rug \u00a9 Eve Campestrini<\/p>\n

With the new floorplan, the family gained a bigger kitchen, transforming the former kitchen into a nook\u00a0with\u00a0a\u00a0daybed \u2013 clad in the\u00a0same rectangular black\u00a0tiling that is a feature throughout the home. Razavi\u2019s \u201cden\u201d is an homage to the modernist architect<\/a> Richard Neutra\u2019s house in Silver Lake, Los Angeles. \u201cIt filled a necessity for a more intimate, compact space in which we invariably all feel good,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n

The nook is also a microcosm of Razavi\u2019s approach to art collecting \u2013 a long-time personal passion that began in his student days at the Beaux-Arts in Paris. Vividly colourful paintings by Iranian artist Mostafa Sarabi hang alongside a tonal floral painting by Glenn Sorensen; just below those is the building\u2019s remnant square steel rubbish shoot. \u201cIt\u2019s our Duchamp,\u201d he jokes. Razavi has made his own moves in the art world, having worked on projects for Larry Gagosian, Sotheby\u2019s and most recently the David Zwirner gallery. Vanessa is also an avid collector \u2013 revealed here in the works of contemporary ceramic artists such as Matthew Chambers, Turi Heisselberg Pedersen and R\u00e9jean Peytavin.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe double-helix staircase at Razavi\u2019s home \u00a9 Eve Campestrini\"AA 12th-century decorative architectural part made from ceramic and T\u00eate polychrome by Pablo Picasso (1961) \u00a9 Eve Campestrini<\/p>\n

The bookshelf opposite displays a ceramic sculpture by Riccardo Scarpa, with a wooden sarcophagus mask from the first millennium BC and a Roman head fragment, as well\u00a0as family heirlooms, Amlash pottery dating from 2,000BC and a Nishapur ceramic from the 11th century. \u201cThese are pretty much the only pieces my parents could get out of Iran,\u201d Razavi says, recalling the family\u2019s emigration to France overnight when he was just nine. \u201cIt was sort of a secular upbringing, and Tehran was a modern city, so I was\u00a0depressed when we moved to Paris \u2013 it was January, and the buildings were so dark.\u201d <\/p>\n

Razavi has yet to return to his roots, but has created a connection to his birthplace through pieces that conjure life and colour throughout the apartment, and span 4,000 years: from Amlash culture to paintings by contemporary artists such as Manoucher Yektai from the New York School art movement, the modernist Behjat Sadr and the young Iranian artist Sarabi, whose work he discovered through the Tehran-based Delgosha Gallery. \u201cSomehow, this has been my way of staying in touch,\u201d he says. He has just started a residential project in Azerbaijan \u2013 his first-ever commission in the region.<\/p>\n

\"AA portrait of Razavi\u2019s wife Vanessa\u2019s mother on her wedding day in the kitchen \u00a9 Eve Campestrini<\/p>\n

Upstairs, in the main bedroom above the bed, is an early-19th-century oil painting, a portrait of a young man, the son of Fath Ali Shah Qajar \u2013 Razavi is a descendant on\u00a0his maternal side. There is also a fragment of tiling from\u00a0the 12th century and a framed antique Iranian textile; its warm, earthy and time-faded tones echo the room\u2019s colour scheme. This blend of history and art is an intriguing foil to Razavi\u2019s appreciation for function, form and brute materials. An unlikely dance that continues to inspire and push him forward. <\/p>\n

\u201cArchitecture is probably the midpoint between technique and the arts \u2013 this is why I was drawn to it in the\u00a0first place,\u201d he says. \u201cThere\u2019s nothing certain about architecture. You could argue there\u2019s nothing certain about science or arts \u2013 a lot of it is intuition.\u201d <\/p>\n

Recommended<\/p>\n

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