“The owner of this small 430-square-foot apartment, who works in events, truly gave me a free hand,” says Anthony Authié, the head of Zyva Studio. As any architect will tell you, it’s not often that they are given so much room to create. But why hire Authié, if not for a chance to enter his inimitable universe? As the building didn’t have any history that was especially remarkable, Authié chose to create one from scratch. He decided to immerse himself in the late 1980s and 1990s and the animated films from the time, including Roger Rabbit and Space Jam, which included cartoon characters moving through the “real” world. “In interior design, it generates a kind of crazy contrast that makes you feel like you’re watching a film. Suddenly, completely fantastic elements become part of the real world. It’s great fun.”
In this former loft space, Zyva Studio has recreated a neutral shell made of concrete, plastered walls, and a polished concrete floor. The kitchen, which is where one would enter the unit, is made of stainless steel. All the walls are painted in greige. This backdrop balances the many cartoon-like elements integrated into this three-level home, where the living room can be seen from the kitchen and the bedroom from the living room, which is protected by a glass-block wall. The staircase is the focal point of the project and the first element designed by the architect. This metal element is the bridge between two parts of the flat. Thin and light, it seems to float in space. Authié painted it in an intense swimming pool blue and added a curved banister, exaggerating the curve. We are in a cartoon world, specifically the cartoons of the 1950s, with an aesthetic that the glass-block wall emphasizes. The shape of these bricks—squares with circular centers, brings to mind Pierre Chareau’s glass house—as in many films, there are often multiple references in the same shot.
