Art and Nature Take Center Stage in This Aspen Residence

CCY Architects does not typically design a long entry sequence for houses in Aspen, Colorado, which gets over 12 feet of snow a year. But for a mountainside residence overlooking the Roaring Fork Vall­ey, the firm built a 90-foot path between the parking area and the front door. By local standards, “That’s a long, long walk,” says CCY principal Alex Klumb. But the clients, an art-collecting couple, sought to highlight a recent acquisition: a reflective PVD-coated stainless-steel head by the Swiss artist Not Vital. CCY placed the sculpture at the end of an allée of aspens leading to the entrance. “It frames nature, draws you to the door, and slows everybody down before releasing to an incredible view,” Klumb explains. It also establishes the home’s focus on art and the outdoors.

Besides the Not Vital sculpture, the clients hadn’t earmarked specific pieces for the house, so they worked with Kleinberg to see which fit best: a Calder over a guest-room bed, a James Rosenquist at the top of the stairs. In the dining room, a David Hockney drawing echoes the moun­tains outside the window. It hangs above three square oak tables that can be joined or separated depending on the size of the group—the sort of practical touch that makes the home livable. The paintings and views may be spectacular, Kleinberg says, “but the interiors have to hold their own.” The result is as layered as a work of art.

A Mountainside Vacation Home Designed by CCY Architects

through galerie carole decombe: mirror (entry)

apparatus studio: con­sole

11 ravens: custom billiards table (rec room)

adam otlewski: side table

soane britain: chairs (dining room)

minotti: pendant fixtures

focus fireplaces: fireplace (guest sitting room)

perennials fabrics: sectional fabric

through 1stdibs: lamp, coffee table, chair

cassina: armchair

romo fabrics: armchair fabric

scott group studio: rugs (guest sitting room, living room)

colorado pool designs: custom pool, spa (terrace)

zachary a. design: tables

knoll: sofas, lounges, chaises

a.r.s.antiqua: custom wood cocktail tables (living room)

fernando mastrangelo studio: custom square side tables

blanche jelly: round side table

through valerie goodman gallery: custom floor lamp

cowtan & tout; edelman leather: sectional fabrics

glant textiles: lounge chair fabric

wud furniture: nightstand (bedroom)

bourgeois boheme: custom sconce

dune: custom bed

nobilis paris: headboard fabric

through twentieth gallery: bench (hall)

Roll & Hill: pendant fixture (study)

warp & weft: custom rug

nada debs: side table

charles h. beckley: daybed cushions

mark alexander fabrics: cushion fabric

Design Within Reach: chairs

token: barstools (rec room)

arabel fabrics: sectional fabric

adam otlewski: side tables

arrigoni woods: wood flooring

ergon engineered stone: tile flooring

grabill windows and doors: windows, doors

lift studio: land­scape architect

ls group: lighting design

kl&a engineers: structural engineer

woody creek engineering: civil engineer

anthony lawrence-belfair: custom furniture work­shop

structural associates: general contractor

Hauvette & Madani Updates a 1980s Paris Apartment With Eclectic Accents

If there is one material the Parisian interior design duo Samantha Hauvette and Lucas Madani loves more than any other, it is wood. “Each time we do a new project, we always try to find a new type,” Madani says. In recent times, they have developed a particular passion for stained, varnished maple. “It reminds us of walnut burl,” Hauvette explains. Whatever the variety, they are mostly drawn to the interesting forms of the grain. “We don’t use many colors or patterns in our work, and wood allows us to create interiors that sing,” she adds.

Thus, in many ways, this 1,720-square-foot duplex apartment for repeat clients, a young family, in Paris’s tony 16th arrondissement was something of a godsend. Located on the top two floors of a rather commonplace 1980s building, it was decorated by its original owners in a distinctly Art Deco style and clad almost entirely in oak paneling. The lower level is home to not only the public spaces but also two bedrooms and two bathrooms; up above is a reading space on a mezzanine and a parental suite that opens directly onto a 215-square-foot terrace.

Over the decades, the wood veneer had lost something of its luster as well as its original color. “The apartment itself is very light and had been bleached by the sun over the course of nearly 40 years,” Madani notes. For the designers, there was no discussion about whether the oak should be kept. Miraculously, they managed to salvage all of the panels, sanding and then staining them a dark chestnut hue. “We love to use wood in tones that are not so obvious,” Hauvette asserts.

Due to their decision to maintain the paneling, few structural changes could be made. The pair simply removed a sliding partition between the dining room and kitchen. Most of the architectural elements also predate their intervention, whether it be the cursive brass staircase banister, the marble-and-brick fireplace, or the building’s elevator shaft whose cubelike top pops up next to the mezzanine. Among the few modifications they made to the interior envelope are the trumeau mirror in the sitting room and a full makeover of the primary bathroom, with its new 1930s-style oak vanity.

Rather fittingly, one of the duo’s greatest design inspirations is Art Deco maestro Jean-Michel Frank. Others include the Grace Kelly and Bing Crosby movie High Society and the spirit of the Seventies. “We don’t necessarily like objects in orange plastic,” Madani points out. “It’s more the approach to lifestyle and the freedom we associate with the decade.” One designer whose work they were particularly keen to integrate was Pierre Paulin—an alumnus of the prestigious École Camondo in Paris, where Hauvette and Madani first met as students. They set up their eponymous practice in 2010 shortly after graduation. “We love the curves of Paulin’s furniture and his irreverence,” Madani enthuses. “He created forms that had never been seen before.” Shapes that provide a perfect counterpoint to the more rigid, rectilinear nature of the apartment’s shell.

The notion of contrast is inherent to Hauvette & Madani’s work in general. One word that constantly crops up in conversation with them is équilibre—French for equilibrium. They achieve that balance partly by combining furniture from different eras—not an original concept per se, but they do so with particular flair, creating intriguing juxtapositions and dialogues between different pieces. “Sometimes we even take pieces that don’t look so great solo, but they really come into their own once they’re combined in the right way,” Madani notes.

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In the sitting room, a painted-wood vintage console by André Sornay converses with Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec’s angular Facett sofa, while a parchment-clad ’70s cocktail table by Aldo Tura sits on a traditional Mauritanian reed-and-leather rug. One of the apartment’s most bravura gestures, meanwhile, is perhaps one of the simplest: the huge Isamu Noguchi paper pendant over the dining room table. “We tried lots of other things beforehand and they sort of just disappeared,” Hauvette recalls. “We needed something that was both large and light in order not to weigh down the atmosphere. The wood paneling is already very present.”

Pale tones throughout help to freshen things up further. A cool blue was chosen for the main bedroom. The décor in the small kitchen, a moodier tone of blue, was created in collaboration with the Parisian decorative painters Austin Redfield Tondini and Violette Bonis Dattner, who are famous for their custom patinated finishes. “There’s something a little dated to their creations,” Madani asserts. “They give the impression they’ve been there forever, which is exactly what we were looking for. We hate interiors that look spick-and-span, extremely new. Once we hand over the keys to each of our projects, the goal is for people to imagine, This is how things have always been.”

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through twenty first gallery: ceramic plate (mezzanine)

atelier areti: bookshelf

servomuto: sconces (entry); floor lamp (sitting room)

india mahdavi: vase (entry)

through valerie goodman gallery: ceramic dishes (entry, dining room)

wever & ducré: sconces (sitting room)

through galerie philia: light sculpture

ligne roset: sofa

through the invisible collection: accent pillow

dust and form through boon: white ceramics

through galerie negropontes: candlesticks

monoprix: stool

shut up and relax through boon: jug

abid javed through boon: vase, monolith

maison de vacances: armchair fabric (sitting room); blanket, pillows (bedroom)

through le vide dressing d’une parisienne: vintage wood bowl (sitting room); teapot (kitchen)

redfield & dattner: custom painting (kitchen)

heerenhuis: table (dining room)

fratelli levaggi: chairs (dining room, bedroom)

through theoreme editions: vase (dining room)

through galerie mcde: sconce (bedroom)

cassiom: sculptures

couleur chanvre: bed linens

pretziada through boon: rug

the socialite family: headboard

dcw éditions: mirror-mount sconce

vitra: swing-arm sconce

astro lighting: sconces (bathroom)

jean roger through the invisible collection: candlestick

frama: stool

through galerie française: artwork

trudon: candles