While most Parisians dream of living in the city's classic Haussmannian buildings with their ornate architectural details, Iranian-born architect Alireza Razavi has chosen a completely different path. The 55-year-old architect, who runs a multidisciplinary practice spanning architecture, interiors, furniture and objects, has transformed his 1968 modernist apartment in Paris's 17th arrondissement into a stunning example of contemporary living that seamlessly blends his professional modernist aesthetic with deeply personal art collection.
Razavi moved into the top-floor duplex with his wife Vanessa, a hotelier, 15 years ago, drawn to its concrete construction and expansive floor-to-ceiling windows that frame sweeping views of the neighborhood's zinc rooftops. The 90-square-meter space initially suffered from partition walls that divided the central living area, but Razavi quickly removed these non-load-bearing barriers to restore the pure rectangular lines of the modernist design. "None is load bearing, which is one of the amazing things about this building – there are no beams," he explains.
As the family expanded to include two daughters, Razavi undertook a major renovation project two years ago, adding a new lightweight construction of concrete and wood to the top floor. This addition, featuring a sedum green roof system, doubled their floor plan and provided three bedrooms, two bathrooms and a study. The original residence's first floor was completely reconfigured and is now entirely dedicated to living spaces, creating a seamless flow throughout the home.
The renovation philosophy focused on creating timeless ambiguity. "I wanted something that would be ambiguous, as if it was built yesterday or 50 years ago," Razavi says of his approach to merging the two floors. The result is a space filled with natural light, featuring a restrained color palette enhanced by Hungarian oak-wood cabinetry and block-colored tiled feature walls that add tonal contrast throughout the residence.
In the main open-plan living and dining area, Razavi installed dark basaltina flooring and added a single steel column to cover a chimney flue, creating a visual echo of the original column in the building's foyer. The furniture selection reflects his commitment to 20th-century modernism, with Pierre Chapo S28A dining chairs surrounding the iconic "6" dining table designed by Le Corbusier, Pierre Jeanneret and Charlotte Perriand. A Mario Marenco sofa set from the 1970s sits atop an early-19th-century Tabriz rug, while a large black and white linoleum-cut work by contemporary German artist Christoph Ruckhäberle dominates the wall above.
"First and foremost I like things that are well-built," Razavi emphasizes. "These chairs might crack, but that's perfectly OK – they're probably going to last another 100 years. And the rug is from my family. I'm interested in permanence in materials aging." This philosophy extends throughout the home, where an LC1 chair by Le Corbusier sits alongside a table by Eric Buchli on a late-20th-century Iranian rug.
The expanded floor plan allowed for a larger kitchen, while the former kitchen space was transformed into an intimate nook featuring a daybed clad in the same rectangular black tiling used throughout the home. This cozy space, which Razavi describes as an homage to modernist architect Richard Neutra's house in Silver Lake, Los Angeles, serves as both a family gathering spot and a showcase for his art collection approach. "It filled a necessity for a more intimate, compact space in which we invariably all feel good," he notes.
Razavi's passion for art collecting, which began during his student days at the Beaux-Arts in Paris, is evident throughout the apartment. Vividly colorful paintings by Iranian artist Mostafa Sarabi hang alongside tonal floral works by Glenn Sorensen. The couple's collecting interests complement each other, with Vanessa focusing on contemporary ceramic artists including Matthew Chambers, Turi Heisselberg Pedersen and Réjean Peytavin. Their shared aesthetic is informed by Razavi's professional work on projects for major art world figures including Larry Gagosian, Sotheby's and most recently the David Zwirner gallery.
The home's connection to Razavi's Iranian heritage runs deep, reflecting both personal history and cultural identity. The bookshelf displays ceramic sculptures alongside family heirlooms including Amlash pottery dating from 2,000 BC, a Nishapur ceramic from the 11th century, a wooden sarcophagus mask from the first millennium BC, and a Roman head fragment. "These are pretty much the only pieces my parents could get out of Iran," Razavi recalls, referring to his family's overnight emigration to France when he was just nine years old.
The transition from Tehran to Paris was difficult for young Razavi. "It was sort of a secular upbringing, and Tehran was a modern city, so I was depressed when we moved to Paris – it was January, and the buildings were so dark," he remembers. Despite never returning to Iran, he has maintained a connection to his birthplace through art that spans 4,000 years of history, from ancient Amlash culture to contemporary works by artists like Manoucher Yektai from the New York School art movement, modernist Behjat Sadr, and young Iranian artist Sarabi, whose work he discovered through the Tehran-based Delgosha Gallery.
In the main bedroom upstairs, an early-19th-century oil painting portrays a young man who was the son of Fath Ali Shah Qajar – Razavi is a descendant on his maternal side. The room also features a 12th-century tile fragment and a framed antique Iranian textile whose warm, earthy, time-faded tones echo the room's color scheme. These historical pieces create an intriguing contrast with Razavi's appreciation for modernist function, form and industrial materials.
The apartment also serves as a canvas for playful artistic touches, including what Razavi jokingly calls "our Duchamp" – the building's original square steel garbage chute that he left exposed as a found-art element. This blend of high art, historical artifacts, and architectural honesty reflects his philosophy that "architecture is probably the midpoint between technique and the arts – this is why I was drawn to it in the first place."
Razavi's approach to living in this modernist masterpiece represents more than just aesthetic choices – it's a meditation on permanence, cultural identity, and the intersection of art and daily life. "There's nothing certain about architecture. You could argue there's nothing certain about science or arts – a lot of it is intuition," he reflects. This uncertainty and intuitive approach have recently led him to his first commission in his birth region, a residential project in Azerbaijan, suggesting that his architectural journey may be coming full circle while continuing to evolve.
