This Parisian Apartment Renovation Reimagines Art Nouveau for Today.

Clément Lesnoff-Rocard has transformed a 160-square-metre Art Nouveau apartment near the Pantheon in Paris‘ 5th arrondissement into something pretty bangin’. Given carte blanche by his clients, Lesnoff-Rocard embarked on what he describes as a “complete metamorphosis” of the classical space. Each room tells its own story through interesting material selection and unexpected interventions.

The standout feature is undoubtedly the hybrid ‘Cesar’ salon, where a large marble bathtub serves triple duty as reception room, bathroom, and office—a concept the architect says “casts back to the Roman baths.”

The renovation required ambitious structural openings to achieve greater fluidity and luminosity throughout the apartment. This architectural bravery pays off in spaces that feel dramatically expanded while maintaining intimate proportions. The dialogue between contrasting materials becomes the apartment’s defining characteristic: stone revealed on the facade meets architectural concrete in circular openings, while steel beams frame views of marble surfaces and mirrored details.

Graphic Precision: Atelier HA's Colourful Pigalle Apartment.

The design strategy focuses on two key interventions: a dramatically graphic kitchen with lacquered fronts and patterned tiles, and a custom mirrored wall that amplifies natural light throughout the living areas.

Lesnoff-Rocard’s approach to materiality is striking. A cast iron oven presides over the stainless-steel kitchen, creating combinations of warm and cold, refined and raw, smooth and rough that give the project its distinctive character. The white-varnished parquet floors provide a neutral backdrop that allows these material contrasts to take centre stage.

The architect’s “quest for timelessness and imaginative storytelling” manifests in a series of playful details. Mirrors hide behind netting, a seashell banquette recalls Botticelli’s Birth of Venus, and a dollhouse window appears unexpectedly in the corridor. These references to The Adventures of Baron Munchausen and Alice in Wonderland create layers of meaning that reward closer inspection.

Contemporary art plays a crucial role in the apartment’s identity. Works by Marc Leschelier, Ira Bo, and Héloïse Piraud dialogue with design pieces from Sophie Dries, Apparatus Studio, and Kym Ellery. An original Pierre Paulin Osaka sofa anchors the living spaces alongside bespoke furniture designed specifically for the project.

The renovation succeeds in merging different periods without creating pastiche. In each room, classical ornamental elements collide with radically contemporary interventions, blurring lines between spaces and eras. The result reinterprets Art Nouveau within what Lesnoff-Rocard calls “a unique poetic space on Paris’ Left Bank”—a joyful balance between elegance, surprise, and enduring design principles.

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Working with noble materials and an old-world sensibility, Hauvette & Madani have restored this 1930s duplex to its former art deco glory.

[Images courtesy of Clément Lesnoff-Rocard. Photography by Stéphane Ruchaud.]