In the ninth arrondissement of Paris, just a stone’s throw from the lively rue des Martyrs, the young curator Amélie du Chalard recently inaugurated Zeuxis, an art gallery re-imagined as a townhouse. Like Maniera in Brussels, Dimore in Milan, or Salon 94 in New York, taking works out of the traditional white cube gallery context to exhibit them in a more intimate space is a strong trend in Paris; by allowing visitors to imagine themselves living in real time with the objects on display, it makes art and design just a little bit more accessible.

For Zeuxis, the two-floor house was transformed by the Parisian agency Batiik Studio. The architects preserved some original elements dating from the 19th century, such as the Eiffel beams, but in general the idea was to create a luminous and immaculate space in order to leave plenty of room for a rotating selection of works. On the first floor is a large reception area with a terrazzo floor composed from enormous, freeform fragments of pastel marble. Upstairs, the open-plan space includes a dining room, a second lounge, and an open kitchen where paintings, photographs, and art objects are scattered. The bedroom is nestled behind a wooden canopy, and the adjoining ultra-minimal, black-accented bathroom serves as a backdrop for a bronze sculpture by Nadine de Garam.

Du Chalard furnished the gallery with a mix of ’50s standards like Perriand and Le Corbusier stools, Scandinavian furniture, and limited-edition pieces by young French designers, among them Atelier Sauvage or Violaine d’ Harcourt. The public is invited to walk around this warm and inspiring house, an under-the-radar address not to be missed in Paris.