In Istanbul, Pierre Yovanovitch Crafts a Minimalist Masterpiece Right on the Bosphorus | Architectural Digest

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For Pierre Yovanovitch there is something almost Venetian about this house on the Bosphorus in a tony residential district of Istanbul: the way it sits on the water, the way its windows take in expansive views of the storied strait, the way the watery light wrinkles on the walls over the course of the day. In fact, the first time the AD100 designer visited, he arrived by boat. “I love cities where one moves about by this means of transportation,” he says, and adds that he leaned into the setting in formulating his vision for the project. “The Bosphorus is not tidal, so the water level is always very near the level of the garden, making it feel a bit like an agitated lake. It is always very busy with both local traffic and large cargo vessels transiting between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean. It is a mesmerizing view.”

A bridge spanning the Bosphorus can be seen from the house.

A sculptural steel staircase spirals up through the house. Floors of Ceppo Di Gré marble.

In the dining area a custom light hangs above a grouping of bespoke tables surrounded by Mr. Oops chairs by Pierre Yovanovitch Mobilier. Mirror artwork by Anish Kapoor and painting by Alex Katz.

Yovanovitch-designed crescent-shaped sofas, steel-and-fabric stools, and green ceramic-topped side tables and coffee tables by Matthias Kohn Gather in the living room. A sculpture by Antony Gormley stands near the staircase.

Designed for a young bachelor whose parents live in a classical wooden house nearby, this new structure—built on the site of a 1960s apartment building—is modern in comparison with most of its neighbors. When Yovanovitch arrived on the scene, the big structural work had already been done. His mandate was to create a youthful, contemporary space that would serve the client’s lifestyle now—lots of room for parties and hosting friends—that, in time, could shift into a family home as life progressed.

Paintings by Chantal Joffe (left) and Leilah Babirye and a bench by Kwangho Lee in the entrance hall.

A mosaic tile floor by Delphine Messmer embellishes a guest bath. Marble tub by Apaiser with Dornbracht fittings, mirrors, sconces, and vanity, all by Yovanovitch.

Over the course of the three-year-long process, the designer’s main challenge was to infuse energy and warmth into the architecture. “A house like this could be cold,” he says. “So you need to bring in coziness.” To that end, he suffused the interiors with textural materials and interesting geometry. Yovanovitch always tries to offer his clients more than they hoped for or could even foresee on their own. He aims to help them get to a “happy place” that answers their brief, but then allows them to entertain a few things that might feel a tad “risky.”

A word sculpture by Jack Pierson and a stack sculpture by Annie Morris are displayed in the living room. The dining area can be seen in the back.

Here, such statement moments include the double-height living room’s gently waved brown wood ceiling, a pattern designed to subtly “rhyme” with the water outside, the designer notes. The client had resisted the gesture at first, but opted to go with the flow after a bit of proverbial back and forth. To run your eyes along it now is to see the logic of the flourish. Another focal point is the steel staircase that spirals up the four stories, embodying the house’s “colonne vertébrale,” or spine, Yovanovitch says. (He’s admittedly “obsessed” with staircases.) Lit from above by an oculus-style skylight, it is a smooth, sensual, and strong sculptural organizing element.

A sculpture by Elmgreen & Dragset stands poolside.

Also a furniture designer, Yovanovitch is uniquely qualified to outfit a space from the ground up. Furnishings include items from his ever-growing collection, Pierre Yovanovitch Mobilier, as well as bespoke creations crafted to suit specific needs. In the living room two custom bouclé-cushioned banquettes arc toward each other like crescent moons encircling armchairs, stools, and a selection of low tables to form an embracing set-up for gatherings. In the primary bedroom, the bed is announced by a woolly upholstered headboard in a shade resembling dried sumac. Paris-based mosaic artist Delphine Messmer—a longtime Yovanovitch collaborator—was commissioned to fabricate original designs for the bathroom floors, creations that quietly echo traditional Turkish tilework.

In the main bath, a niche is clad in Verder St.Lucia marble crafted by Tasca Stone. Iranian red travertine outlines the custom resin tub by Istone. Mosaic floor by Delphine Messmer.

Yovanovitch designed the guest room's headboard and nightstand. The sconce is by Paola Napoleone, and the rug is by S2G Atelier.

Another view of the living room looking toward the sculptural spiral staircase.

Another view of the office. Artwork by Alaettin Aksoy.

No spot is too small for Yovanovitch’s notice. A custom blonde oak wall-hung console in the entrance echoes the wavelike ceiling of the living room beyond. The cloud-evoking pattern of the Ceppo di Gré marble floors conjures the changeable skies outside. The living room’s custom side tables topped with forest-green enamel nod to the dense grove that fronts the dwelling. Three conjoined angular dining tables are surrounded by Yovanovitch’s popular “Mr. Oops” chairs, whose cobalt upholstery speaks to the reflective finish of a steel mirror by Anish Kapoor and the dresses in a painting by Alex Katz that hang in the room. (The armature of the custom hanging light overhead is colored the same bold hue, a shade that also recalls the color of the Iznik tiles cladding the interior walls of the city’s famed Blue Mosque.)

Designer Pierre Yovanovitch on-site at the Istanbul residence.

But you don’t want to compete with the Bosphorus’s vibe, Yovanovitch explains. From wherever you look—out the windows of the living and dining areas and bedrooms, beyond the bar that’s a brassier moment, and over Yovanovitch’s “Otto” desk in the office—the water is “omnipresent” in the house, and Yovanovitch bowed to it. As the client and his family are great art collectors, they all decided to let artworks perform most of the coloration: well-placed paintings by Anselm Kiefer, Chantal Joffe, and Leilah Babirye, a word sculpture by Jack Pierson, one of Annie Morris’s stacks of impossibly balancing balls, which seems to tease the spiral staircase across the way. The result, says the client, is a “livable art gallery.” Though it’s full of precious, carefully conceived things, “Every corner can be used comfortably,” he says, extolling his home’s easy elegance.

In the office, a chair by Pierre Jeanneret from Galerie Patrick Seguin pulls up to Pierre Yovanovitch Mobilier's Otto desk. 1013 desk lamp by Pierre Disderot from Demisch Danant; silk and natural aloe rug by S2G Atelier.

An artwork by Seckin Pirim hangs above a custom console by Pierre Yovanovitch Mobilier in the entrance hall. The sconce is also a Yovanovitch design.

An artwork by Tadashi Kawamata is displayed in the primary bedroom. Sofa, armchair, ottoman, and rug all designed by Yovanovitch.

This Pierre Yovanovitch-designed Istanbul residence is featured in AD’s June issue. Never miss a story when you subscribe to AD.