The idea of living in a flat above your workplace might raise questions about the pitfalls of being in constant proximity to your job. But French architect Jacques Moussafir couldn’t resist the chance to renovate a 10-storey structure in Paris’s Haut Marais neighbourhood, combining his home and office life in a single building.

Does he mourn his commute or cherish its abolition? And does he miss the mental separation between life and work that physical distance brings? “I find it very practical,” Moussafir tells Monocle with a smile when we meet him at his Parisian base. “There are some inconveniences, such as the temptation to go downstairs and work just a little longer – the boundary can become porous. But it’s my way of working as an architect. I can’t separate the two.”

With its aluminium-and-glass exterior, the imposing building on Rue du Vertbois stands in stark contrast to the historic structures that surround it. “We were already living in the area when the opportunity to take over the building came about,” says Moussafir. “We were looking for somewhere with a terrace and space for an office. What we ended up with was a little bigger than we had anticipated.” Originally designed in the 1970s by French firm Biro Fernier as a commercial building, the concrete behemoth exemplifies the architecture of France’s three-decade postwar economic boom and comprises seven storeys that sit atop a three-level underground car park.

When the building came up for auction in 2012, it required a complete renovation of the façade and the insertion of structural and safety elements, including staircases and guardrails, as well as floor and ceiling coverings. The works were completed in 2022 and the building is now mixed-use, with different areas sectioned off and rented out. Meanwhile, Moussafir occupies the top three floors with his family; another level houses his architecture firm.

Having already worked on significant projects, including the Museum of Fine Arts in Dijon and the Institute of Civilizations in Paris, Moussafir didn’t hesitate to commission himself. “It can be difficult to be your own client,” he says. “I have a friend who is also an architect and when it came to her own apartment she chose to hire someone else. It was easier, mostly for her partner, I think.”

For the exterior, Moussafir chose glass and aluminium planes that jut out at unexpected angles to create an intriguing play of light and shade. Entering an elevator in the building’s lobby, you make your way to an upper floor, where Moussafir’s open-plan office can be found through floor-to-ceiling glass doors. Here, oak finishings and wooden ceiling panels arranged in a grid formation soften the effect of the exposed stone walls, concrete beams and steel shelves.

“I like materiality,” says Moussafir. “When we moved in, I removed all of the paints and varnishes to emphasise the raw concrete.” For the carpentry, he enlisted Martin Bereuter, an Austrian cabinet-maker and longstanding collaborator. His use of honey-hued oak across every level brings visual harmony to the large-scale project. Northeast features a Japanese maple, bamboo and a fig tree that bears fruit twice a year (once in June and again in September). As Monocle takes a seat outside on woven-rope Ami chairs by Paola Lenti, the view from our perch is typically Parisian, with zinc-grey roofs, sand-tone walls and curlicue wrought-iron balconies extending as far as the eye can see.

Moussafir opens the sliding doors and windows on either side of the living room to catch a cross breeze and a continuity between the indoor and outdoor spaces is quickly established. From here, the family’s tennis-ball-yellow On the Rocks sofa by Italian furniture company Edra is an unexpected injection of brightness amid the cooling palette of concrete and oak. Behind it, a statue by Antony Gormley sits in dialogue with an Isamu Noguchi-designed Akari UF3-H paper floor lamp and vintage armchairs inherited from Aubépine’s parents. Aside from these pieces, the decoration of the space is mostly provided by bespoke, minimal black-steel shelves stacked with books ranging from a hefty volume on Bob Dylan’s lyrics to works by Molière and some cookbooks.

It’s a varied combination partly inspired by Moussafir’s peripatetic life – one that spans the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Greece, England and France. “My childhood in these places was no doubt important but I’m more influenced by remarkable architects,” he says, citing Estonian-born American master Louis Kahn, Swiss Pritzker Architecture Prize-winner Peter Zumthor and Australia’s Sean Godsell as sources of inspiration.

“I look to Nordic architecture but my main interests are materials and details,” he says. “Even without a budget, you can create beauty from raw materials, thanks to expert joinery and some contrast.” A case in point is the undulating wooden bench on one side of the kitchen table that Moussafir asked Bereuter to install as a space-saving solution.

“We’re actually on the second iteration of our kitchen,” says Moussafir. “My first idea was very conceptual: it was contained within a round structure and the dining area surrounded its perimeter. It was beautiful but sadly impractical. That’s the challenge when you’re your own architect: you have to live with the mistakes that you make.”

The final stop on Monocle’s visit is to the top floor of the building that can be accessed via a grey-metal spiral staircase. In this concrete attic, Moussafir and his wife’s bedroom is cradled between angled beams. A bed takes pride of place, with blue linen that matches a vertical headboard, while more bookshelves and oak finishings echo the other floors. But the secluded nature of the space brings a layer of intimacy to Moussafir’s home. “I love the separation between the floors,” he says. “In the morning, when I go down to the kitchen and the living room, it feels totally different. The rooms that are used throughout the day and those that I occupy at night feel cut off from each other.”

Ultimately, the configuration of the different levels that house the office and the various areas of the home is the trick to successfully balancing work and personal life when these two coexist closely. “I have friends who are able to disconnect at the weekend but, for me, the two parts of my life are interlinked and I like it that way,” says Moussafir. “It’s a luxury just to go downstairs in the morning and get to work. And if I have a little free time, I can also go upstairs and see my children for lunch. The absence of limits goes both ways.”
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