On the hillside of Cap d’Antibes, a villa overlooks the glistening Mediterranean. Far removed from the sometimes ostentatious luxury of the French Riviera, this residence appears to have been hand-carved from Mediterranean limestone, rising from its privileged perch like a striking sculpture.
Built during the 1960s and 70s and typical of the space-age aesthetic of the time, with its organic shapes, the property was acquired in 1975 by Heydar Ghiaï-Chamlou, architect to the Iranian imperial court and private secretary to the Shah, who added elements of his recognisable style. Ghiaï-Chamlou’s work includes many public buildings across Iran’s capital Tehran, including the Senate House, which suffered major damage this year and, closer to this home, he contributed to the design of the Fondation Avicenne at the Cité Internationale Universitaire de Paris.
Here, his input can be seen in the generous living room with its vaulted arches and the round swimming pool that echoes the reflecting pools outside Persian palaces. After the architect’s death in 1985, the property remained in the family until 2021. Now, though, it is under new ownership.
To shape the latest chapter of this house, those owners turned to local architects Kevin Caprini and Jerry Pellerin who, fascinated by the curves of the interiors and the pool, chose to make them the central theme of their renovation. The founders of Caprini & Pellerin, which is based in nearby Cannes, are known for their contemporary take on Mediterranean style.
They believe in what they call an ‘epicurean approach’ to living, with both their residential and hospitality projects displaying an attention to the simple pleasures of materiality, local design and a sense of place. A sensual new lime-plaster skin envelops the interior and exterior walls of the property to create a seamless finish – what the duo describe as ‘a modern sandcastle’ effect – while larger arched windows open the rooms more fully to the panorama.
The furniture, much of it custom-built by artisans from the region, seems to emerge organically from the walls. As well as subtly updating the space-age nature of the architecture, Caprini and Pellerin also modernised the colour palette to a quietly luxurious symphony of brown, beige and ecru. ‘The 1970s were all about orange, yellow and Plexiglas,’ they explain. ‘Here, we kept the lines of that era, but replaced those materials with oak, lime, travertine and cotton-linen-blend fabrics.’
As for the garden, it was designed to blend seamlessly into the Mediterranean vegetation. ‘There’s a tactile imperfection to this project: the house is an organic shell, almost alive,’ the duo concludes of the home affectionately nicknamed L’Oeil du Cap (The Eye of Cap). It has a striking presence. caprinipellerin.com
