During a two-year stint living in Paris, writer Stephen Heyman visited the house renovated by Djuric Tardio Architectes that’s featured in this issue. “Paris was in the grips of a blistering canicule, apparently one of the worst heat waves in memory,” he says. “Even the architect’s ingenious eco-friendly design—a roof that doubles as a pergola covered in vegetation, which usually keeps the house cool in summer—provided little relief.” Heyman’s column charting global cultural trends is published weekly in The New York Times’s international edition.
Would you live in a modular home? “As far as residential fantasies go, it’s definitely on the list, and far more practical than my backyard tennis court or subterranean swimming pool.”