An unassuming apartment building in Paris’s sprawling 15th Arrondissement hides a secret: a terraced rooftop garden with undulating plant beds that run down two levels like a pastoral hillside. From here, you can hear the faint hum of everyday sounds of the city—moving traffic and pedestrian voices—along with the buzz of bees and other bits of wildlife taking refuge in the urban greenery.

The garden belongs to the top unit in what had been a three-level residential building until its owner—Eric Justman, an architect and the former publisher of design magazine Architectures à Vivre—added two new levels, each with a 645-square-foot apartment.

He tapped his son, Ary Justman, and Maria-Giulia Rotunno, cofounders of Paris firm Rotunno Justman, to design them. “He gave us a budget and said he wanted extraordinary architecture,” says Ary, who now rents the two-bedroom on the top level.

“It’s a private roof, but we wanted to make sure other people enjoy looking at it, too.”
—Maria-Giulia Rotunno, architect

The new elevation harmonizes with the original structure and those around it by sticking with a pale palette and modest scale. The fourth floor has a balcony created by a cut in the building’s exterior. The top apartment has a perforated steel veil that lets light pass through street-facing windows while maintaining privacy.

Inside, clerestory windows lining the stairs from the kitchen/living area to the private rooftop frame views of the garden, while full-height windows along the northern and southern walls let in plenty of light. “During summertime, when you open everything, you don’t feel like you’re inside,” says Rotunno.

Project Credits:

Architecture: Rotunno Justman Architects

Structural Engineering: Metz Ingénierie

Landscape Design: Atelier LJN

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A 19th-Century Paris Apartment Building Gets a Refined Addition With a Rooftop Garden