When the architecture firm Calori Azimi Botineau discuss their newly completed project in the idyllic Mediterranean town of Eze, France, they pay homage to the usual suspects of international style: Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Le Corbusier. Also among their influences are two painters who seem to have little to do with turn-of-the-21st-century design: Henri Matisse and Pierre Bonnard. The architects reference Matisse’s and Bonnard’s captivation with the region’s light, evident in paintings which exploit its qualities as it filters into indoor space.

Love of Bonnard (of which we’re also guilty) aside, the window screens that the architects devised for their Strip of Six Apartments are far more sculptural than painterly. The galvanized steel, louvered shades were designed to open like eyelids—we love the idea of an apartment squinting—allowing residents to control the amount of light coming in. The façade is always in flux, imbuing the building’s skin with an active, ever-changing quality.

Though the screens make a bold statement, the siting of the apartments is just as audacious, giving the whole place an air of sophisticated derring-do. Perched perilously on a cliff that looks out onto the sea, extreme plots of land such as this are often the only places left to build on France’s very popular southern coast. With outdoor space at a premium, Calori Azimi Botineau turned to the roof. Accessed by private staircase, each unit is furnished with a solarium avec une vue incroyable. And in true French Riviera fashion, the rooftop has become a prime social spot to dine, sip pastis, and of course, sunbathe.