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      Hotel Rosalie encourages nature to “reclaim its rightful place in the urban landscape”

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      French interior designer Marion Mailaender has worked with hotelier Joris Bruneel to create a hotel in Paris informed by overgrown and abandoned buildings.

      Conceived as a hidden oasis in the city, Hotel Rosalie is set in a courtyard behind a tall iron gate on a tree-lined street in the 13th arrondissement.
      Marion Mailaender has designed nature-informed interiors for Hotel RosalieGreenery is incorporated into every aspect of Mailaender’s design for the 60-room hotel, including a plant-filled terrace and a hidden roof garden.
      Parisian urban gardening collective Merci Raymond was brought on board by Bruneel to make the hotel’s outdoor spaces seem “overgrown” and help nature “reclaim its rightful place in the urban landscape”.
      The hotel’s terrace features outdoor furniture by the Bouroullec brothersBruneel was particularly influenced by Urbex, a series of images by French photographer Romain Chancel that is displayed in the hotel’s guest rooms and depicts abandoned urban buildings that have slowly been reclaimed by plants.

      In a nod to this work, Merci Raymond encouraged lichen and moss to grow and seeds to germinate in the hotel’s nooks and crannies. Meanwhile, Mailaender incorporated urban design elements into the scheme ranging from “Roman-style statues” to an old Peugeot 205 car that is seemingly left abandoned on the rooftop.
      Mirrored yellow columns traverse the lobbyOn the ground floor, the hotel’s Open Garden is accessible to the local community and features steel outdoor furniture by Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec set across a two-level terrace linked by a little staircase.
      A towering six-metre hop plant provides shade while its flowers will be used by a microbrewery in the 11th arrondissement to make beer.
      A Gae Aulenti sofa in the lobby is upholstered in clover-patterned fabricThe hotel’s Secret Garden lies behind a hidden door on the third floor. This is furnished with deck chairs, wooden benches and planters, offering a space where guests can read, relax in the sun, do yoga classes or participate in workshops organised by the hotel.
      Inside, Mailaender has included plenty of nature-inspired elements. In the lobby, a giant coconut-fibre rug leads guests inside while armchairs and couches by Italian architect Gae Aulenti are upholstered in clover-patterned pop art fabric.

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      Meanwhile, guest rooms feature galvanised steel furniture, which is typically used outdoors, and floral William Morris carpet that extends up from the floor and across the headboards.
      The interior blends new and reclaimed pieces in an approach that Mailaender describes as “intentional ambivalence”.
      In the bathrooms, for instance, traditional baths are paired with counters made from terrazzo-style recycled plastic.
      Floral William Morris carpet covers floors and headboards in the guest roomsAll materials were chosen for their aesthetic as well as their environmental impact, according to Mailaender.
      For example, the carpet in the guest rooms is made from recycled fishing nets and wood offcuts were used to make a marquetry tabletop in the lobby.
      Bathrooms feature counters made from recycled plasticCork clads the restaurant’s floor and the walls of the elevator, and many of the chairs are pre-owned pieces that were carefully restored.
      “I believe that we can mix furniture designed by the Bouroullec brothers with random pieces from a gardening catalogue,” explained Mailaender. “Embracing current concerns means selecting sustainable materials alongside aesthetically pleasing design pieces.”
      Planting surrounds an old Peugeot 205 in the hotel’s rooftop gardenThe hotel has its own coffee shop The Common, finished in a distinctive blue hue that nods to 90s air hostess uniforms.
      This colour is echoed on a glossy pillar in the bar, a trellis in the secret garden and on the guest room doors, where it offsets the grass-green carpet that winds through the hotel corridors.
      Dezeen recently rounded up ten verdant hotel interiors from our archive that show how adding greenery to public spaces can help give them a friendlier, more organic feel.
      The photography is by Christophe Coenon unless stated otherwise.

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      Concrete infrastructure informs Acne Studios' limestone-clad Rue Saint Honoré store

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      Fashion brand Acne Studios has opened a “monolithic” store on Paris’ Rue Saint Honoré, designed in collaboration with architecture studio Arquitectura-G, that references a Stockholm skatepark and its Parisian setting.

      Located on Rue Saint Honoré, a historic street and renowned shopping destination in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, the store was created by Acne Studios founder Jonny Johansson in collaboration with architecture studio Arquitectura-G.
      Acne Studios Rue Saint Honoré store was created in collaboration with Arquitectura-GJohansson explained that after spending time in a skate park situated beneath a concrete bridge in Stockholm, he wanted to replicate the look and feel of sitting under a piece of concrete infrastructure within its Paris store.
      “It’s finding these poetic spots – under a bridge, where you have sort of like a beautiful concrete wave motion, and this whole idea of being under a bridge where nobody wants to be, where it’s beautiful, I thought was quite a beautiful idea,” he said.
      “I want it to feel like you’re sitting under the bridge. So that’s when the whole idea – because I like that, sort of like a secret society – I thought it was good for us as a brand on the big fashion street.”

      The design was informed by skateparks and concrete infrastructureThe interior of the store can be characterised by Arquitectura-G’s use of Saint Maximin stone, a French limestone sourced from a nearby quarry that is synonymous with Parisian buildings as a result of Napoleon III and Baron Haussmann’s radical reimagining of Paris, which was built from the stone.
      Rectangular slabs of the golden-hued stone cover the walls, floors and ceiling of the store blending the 19th-century, Saint Maximin stone-clad exterior with the now similarly clad interior.

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      Arquitectura-G opened up the ground floor of the store incorporating a double-height space that is connected to its first floor through glass balustrades lined between stone columns.
      Black, amorphous-shaped furniture and dyed-fabric display units by long-time collaborator Max Lamb were positioned throughout the store like soft, quarry boulders.
      It used Saint Maximin stone throughout”If you look at [Paris] as a whole, it’s beige. If you squint you see this stone, this pale colour,” Johansson said.
      “Then you have these dots of black which are like cars. And they’re moving fast, and sort of shiny and black, quite scary in one way. That’s Max’s work.”
      Furniture and display units were designed by Max LambLighting by designer Benoit Lalloz was organised throughout the store and placed across its stone-lined ceilings to mimic the effect of daylight.
      Acne’s West Hollywood store, which was opened in 2018,  features a bright yellow interior that was designed by London-based firm Geoff Crowther Architects.
      In 2019, the fashion brand relocated its headquarters to a 1970s brutalist-style building, that belonged to the former Czechoslovakian embassy, in Stockholm.
      Photography is courtesy of Acne Studios.

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      Skewed apartment by Clément Lesnoff-Rocard Architect celebrates “edges”

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      Local architect Clément Lesnoff-Rocard used clean lines, light colours and mirrors to create a bright interior within this skewed Parisian penthouse.

      Located on the top two floors of a 1980s building in Paris’ 17th arrondissement, The Edge apartment is a penthouse that looks out over the city’s rooftops.
      “This space gave me this very specific feeling that you have when you find yourself on a cliff, attracted by its edge, mesmerized by the beauty of the landscape and quietly terrified of falling down,” said Clément Lesnoff-Rocard of his first impressions of the 105-square-metre apartment.
      “This had to be a topic to work with for me, this edge.”
      The Edge is a Parisian apartment that was designed by Clément Lesnoff-Rocard ArchitectHe also noted how although the building has a flat facade, the apartment’s plan is heavily slanted with “quite a strong angle” to the boulevard below.

      “Like if someone pushed too hard on the edge of the building, bending everything inside so you can nearly never face any neighbour and creating unusual and sharp angles in the floor plan,” explained Lesnoff-Rocard. “Straight skin with twisted bones.”
      In response to these conditions, Lesnoff-Rocard created an off-white interior that celebrates edges.
      The apartment combines textural materials throughoutSpread across two floors, the two-bedroom apartment features an open-plan kitchen, living and dining area on the lower floor.
      A small toilet and built-in cupboards are hidden by mirrored doors along one of the diagonal walls. These serve to reflect the light from the windows on the opposite side of the room.
      It has an open plan arrangementHere, the architects inserted a curved platform that softens the room’s awkward angles. Running along the length of the wall, the platform forms a window seat and a small raised outdoor terrace area.
      A central column clad in fluted plaster boards sits in front of the open-plan kitchen, which features black cabinets and a mirrored splashback.

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      A marble staircase with a walk-in closet slotted beneath it is framed by raw concrete. The stair leads up to the first floor where there is a main bedroom with a shower room, two smaller bedrooms and a family bathroom.
      Using a light, tonal colour palette, Lesnoff-Rocard created interesting material junctions, such as black wood and white paint or white marble and white concrete.
      The studio used a light, tonal palette across the interior”The edge can bring the outside in with bay windows or it can take your inside thoughts out in the sky through roof windows,” he said.
      “Concrete can look soft, textured and sensual when composed with a white-painted wall, while it can look hard and slick when topped by a fluffy shaggy pillow,” he added.
      “The edge can invite you to come upstairs with a light portal or it can push you away from the center of the room with a massive angular block. The edge can close with a wall or open with a mirror.”
      Curved edges aim to soften harsh cornersPreviously, Lesnoff-Rocard’s studio has completed an apartment using mirror, brass and simple geometries to create an understated take on art deco.
      Elsewhere in Paris, Java Architecture renovated and extended a stone house adding a wooden tower that is clad in polycarbonate panels.
      Photography is by Laurent Kronental.

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      Ciguë imagines car-free city inside Cowboy's electric bike shop in Paris

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      Limestone blocks and crushed earth feature in this electric bike shop in Paris, designed by local studio Ciguë to visualise how a car-free city of the future might look.

      The store belongs to Cowboy, an e-bike brand aimed at urban cyclists, and is located in the department store Le Bon Marché Rive Gauche.
      Ciguë has designed an e-bike store for Cowboy in ParisFor its interior, Ciguë designed a minimalist landscape that is “organic and fluid, free from the angst-inducing presence of cars”.
      Walls and ceilings throughout the space are covered in raw earth while on the floor, a winding concrete walkway reminiscent of a cycle path is surrounded by crushed earth. Roughly hewn blocks of limestone serve as seating.
      Tooled waxed concrete forms a winding pathway through the interiorOne of Cowboy’s bikes is suspended above a circular pit of crushed earth in the centre of the store, so it is visible from the street through one of the store’s three street-facing windows.

      Overhead, a screen shows footage of clouds streaking across the horizon to create the impression that the bike is “suspended between earth and sky”.
      An e-bike hangs over a pit of crushed earth in the centre of the storeAs the outpost in Le Bon Marché is Cowboy’s first shop without direct access from the street, Ciguë wanted to create an immersive interior that makes customers feel as if they are outdoors.
      “We had to reconnect the shop with the exterior,” said Ciguë founder Alphonse Sarthout.
      “Videos of the sky conjure up the idea of movement and the passage of time. Similarly, suspending the bike in mid-air contributes to the idea of speed and effortlessness associated with electric bikes.”

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      The bike is suspended using subtle wires while other models are displayed throughout the space using narrow aluminium stands, which create the impression that the bikes are standing upright of their own accord.
      These pared-back displays were intended to reflect the seamless design of Cowboy bikes.
      “The absence of visible welds and the materials used for the bike are embodied in Ciguë’s display,” said Cowboy founder Tanguy Goretti. “The interplay of textures on the walls, the benches and the aluminium rack reflects this tactile technology.”
      Blocks of limestone serve as seatingThe warm-toned earth used throughout the interior was sourced from the Oise region of northern France.
      This could become a consistent feature across other Cowboy stores in the future, according to Ciguë, with different earth tones being used for different locations.
      Other retail environments designed by the Parisian studio include a bamboo-covered boutique for Isabel Marant in Bangkok and five different Aesop shops, among them an outpost above a record store in Nottingham.
      The photography is by Maris Mezulis.

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      OMA designs Tiffany & Co pop-up in Paris to take visitors on a “journey across time”

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      Architecture studio OMA has created a pop-up shop for Tiffany & Co in Paris that showcases an assortment of pieces from the jeweller’s 185-year history.

      The pop-up is located in the eighth arrondissement and functions as a cross between a boutique and an exhibition, spotlighting Tiffany pieces from both past and present.
      Visitors enter the Tiffany & Co pop-up in Paris through a blue rotunda”Tiffany & Co has a rich history both in making jewellery and in product design,” said OMA partner Ellen van Loon. “For us, it was important to showcase that history.”
      “More than an occasion to discover Tiffany’s latest collection, a visit to the store also becomes a journey across time.”
      The room displays archival jewellery piecesUpon entering the store, visitors walk into a deep-blue rotunda where Tiffany & Co is showcasing some of its archival jewellery designs.

      The pieces are presented within wall niches or inside pyramidal glass cases that sit on chunky plinths. Tall screens display blown-up imagery of the designs so visitors can take a look at their finer details.
      A gold-toned room showcases Tiffany’s current jewellery collectionA short corridor takes visitors through to a gold-toned room, where Tiffany & Co’s current collection is put on show. At the periphery of the space, a small seating nook provides a place to rest alongside a couple of pale-pink armchairs and poufs.
      The room is anchored by an antique stained-glass pendant light that echoes the lamps designed by Tiffany & Co’s first design director Louis Comfort Tiffany in the early 1900s.
      In keeping with this theme, faux stained-glass panelling was also added to the pop-up’s facade.
      Stained-glass lamps and pink soft furnishings decorate the spaceA velvet-lined archway looks through to the shop’s final room, where high-jewellery appointments are held.
      This smaller, more intimate space features faceted metallic walls and powder-blue carpet that, in an ombre effect, gradually deepens to a darker blue as visitors make their way back to the front of the store.
      A consultation room lies at the rear of the pop-up shopTiffany & Co’s Paris pop-up will be open until May 2023 and will be subtly updated throughout the year to reflect the brand’s new collections as they are put on display.
      OMA is also currently working on a major renovation of the jewellery brand’s flagship store on New York’s Fifth Avenue. The project will see a three-storey glass volume added to the building’s roof, providing space for exhibitions and events.
      The photography is by Benoit Florençon, courtesy of OMA.
      Project credits:
      Design: OMAPartner: Ellen van LoonProject architect: Giulio MargheriTeam: Jacopo Bellina, Sebastian Bernardy, Miguel Herreras San José, Mateusz Kiercz, Philippe Le Quellec, Mingda Zhang

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      Bachmann Associés gives Belle Époque hotel in French ski resort a modern update

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      Bare brick and concrete are exposed in this renovation of a grand hotel at the foot of Mont Blanc by French architecture practice Bachmann Associés.

      Set in the ski resort of Chamonix, La Folie Douce Hôtel Chamonix occupies the former Savoy Palace – an 18,000-square-metre Belle Époque building with 250 rooms and five restaurants that was originally constructed in 1904.
      La Folie Douce Hôtel Chamonix is set in the renovated Savoy Palace hotelIn the 1920s, the hotel hosted lavish balls and tennis tournaments. But it later fell into disrepair and was abandoned by French travel operator Club Med in 2018 after it stated that “the site simply no longer meets our criteria”.
      Commissioned by the hotel’s new operators – hotel groups La Folie Douce and Les Hôtels Très Particuliers – Bachmann Associés wanted to reconnect the hotel with its opulent heritage and create spaces that would appeal to an “eclectic clientele”.
      Concrete and brick are exposed throughout the interiorThe Dinard-based studio, founded by architects Christophe Bachmann and Jérôme Gesret, left many of the hotel’s walls and ceilings intentionally rough, using lighting to accentuate any cracks and uneven textures.

      These raw surfaces are contrasted with opulent antique furnishings and finishes, including velvet-upholstered chaises longues, bespoke patterned carpets and brass fixtures.
      Modern fixtures replace old-school chandeliers in the atriumIn the public areas, dark and intimate spaces are alternated with generous light-filled rooms blessed with expansive Alpine views.
      In the lobby, partitions and false ceilings were stripped out to create a grand atrium with a sweeping staircase and a series of contemporary suspension lights that replace the hotel’s old-fashioned chandeliers.
      On the first floor, a cocktail lounge called Le Janssen is anchored by a brass-fronted bar and surrounded by arched floor-to-ceiling windows.

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      “For this project, we had an exciting playground,” Gesret and Bachmann explained. “It was demanding because we had to bring an old palace back to life by completely reinventing the codes of the classic hotel industry. But that is really what appealed to us.”
      “We really like to shake up and reinvent places and we had a lot of fun exploiting the volumes, imagining spaces of freedom and conviviality in the very spirit of La Folie Douce.”
      The cocktail lounge has a brass-fronted barWith a similar aim, Snøhetta recently updated another Belle Époque hotel set in a tiny mountain village in Norway, while Roman and Williams converted a historic London police station into the first international outpost from American hospitality chain NoMad.
      The photography is by Gaelle Le Boulicaut.

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      Galerie Philia presents design exhibition informed by Le Corbusier at Cité Radieuse

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      Galerie Philia has unveiled Héritages, an exhibition at the Le Corbusier-designed Cité Radieuse building featuring work by designers such as Rick Owens that respond to the Swiss-French architect’s theories of modernism.

      Héritages presents work by eight international designers and seven visual artists that reference the modernist theories pioneered by Le Corbusier, whose designs are known for their functionality and minimalism.
      A daybed by Arno Declercq features in the “resonances” room. Photo is by Maison Mounton NoirGalerie Philia joined forces with the Parisian arts magazine Eclipse to curate the exhibition at Le Corbusier’s iconic Cité Radieuse building in Marseille, which includes a range of both design and art.
      Spread across two rooms in an apartment, the exhibited designers respond to the theme of “resonances” with work that is heavily influenced by Le Corbusier’s theories, while the artists are guided by the theme of “dissonances” and present work that opposes the theories.
      Fabrice Hyber created an oil painting for the “dissonances” space. Photo is by Maison Mounton NoirIn the first room, a brutalist yellow chair by Italian designer Pietro Franceschini is displayed alongside other work, including a geometric bronze candlestick crafted with clean lines by Californian fashion designer Owens.

      “For the ‘resonances’ room, I selected sculptural designers that are deeply influenced by Le Corbusier,” Galerie Philia co-founder Ygaël Attali told Dezeen.
      “Le Corbusier’s theory, especially in his writings published in the 1920s, was provocative and militant both in his refusal of decoration without functionality, his industrial-inspired aesthetic, and his clear and marked difference between fine arts and design.”
      A brutalist yellow chair by Pietro Franceschini features. Photo is by LodoclickAlso featured in this space are pieces such as a chunky daybed by Belgian designer Arno Declercq crafted from patinated and raw steel with sheep’s wool.
      Contrastingly, the “dissonances” room includes pieces by artists that intend to question Le Corbusier’s theories. For example, artist Flora Temnouche created three abstract oil paintings featuring organic or curved forms with soft lines.

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      “Le Corbusier’s theory almost denies a particular relationship with nature,” Temnouche told Dezeen. “My paintings show the inertia of the plant, diminished under the influence of humans.”
      “I was inspired by the idea of this meager relationship that persists despite everything in Le Corbusier’s work and theories.”
      Jojo Corväiá designed a table using volcanic clay. Photo is by Maison Mounton NoirOther works in this room range from an eclectic table by visual artist Jojo Corväiá crafted from volcanic clay and an ethereal, blown-glass light sculpture by Jérôme Pereira.
      “All of the works in one way or another are an answer to Le Corbusier’s theoretical and aesthetic heritage, either as a mark of resistance or a touching homage to his legacy,” concluded Attali.
      The exhibition intends to echo its location. Photo is by Maison Mounton NoirHéritages takes place until July at Le Corbusier’s modernist housing complex Cité Radieuse to coincide with the building’s 70th anniversary.
      Galerie Philia is an international contemporary design and art gallery with locations in Geneva, New York City and Singapore.
      Previous Galerie Philia exhibitions include a show that presented Latin American and European sculptural design and an exhibition of furniture by emerging Italian designers created in response to the work of Owens.
      The photography is by Lodoclick and Maison Mouton Noir.
      Héritages takes place at Kolektiv Cité Radieuse, Unité d’Habitation Le Corbusier, Marseille, France, until 2 July 2022. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

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      Masquespacio puts colourful spin on traditional Italian restaurant concept

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      Colourful marble accents and looming arches characterise this restaurant by Spanish studio Masquespacio, which takes cues from traditional Italian eateries.

      Called Piada, the restaurant sells Italian flatbreads and is the second of its kind to be designed by Masquespacio in the French city of Lyon.
      Piada is a restaurant in LyonThe interiors of the latest Piada blends retro design elements borrowed from traditional Italian restaurants, such as marble and gold finishes, with colours and materials that were chosen to echo the eatery’s healthy food menu.
      “First, we investigated ancient Italian restaurants and bars to bring the traditional concept into the design,” Masquespacio co-founder Christophe Penasse told Dezeen.
      Masquespacio took cues from traditional Italian eateries”Then, we sought elements that could represent a sort of healthy aspect, which at the same time have a splashy and young colour concept that represents the brand’s identity,” he added.

      A garland of lush plants and flowers is suspended above the entrance to the two-storey restaurant, under which floor-to-ceiling arched windows were designed to draw visitors in from the street.
      Bold blocks of colour define the spaceInside, guests are met with a collection of booth-like tables that offer a mixture of built-in seating, including banquette benches and rounded wooden stools.
      This area is defined by a bold palette of sugary pastel colours, ranging from pale lilac seat cushions to mint-green walls.

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      Piada’s external arch motif is also continued in its interiors, where curved alcoves have been outlined with columns of bulbous sconce lights that resemble oversized Hollywood-style mirrors.
      “We used five elements to represent the traditional Italian bar and restaurant – arches, light bulbs with gold finishes, marble and mirrored menus,” explained Penasse.
      Piada’s design is also influenced by its healthy food menuIn a nod to Piada’s healthy food concept, Masquespacio added clusters of plants that spill out of backlit rounded nooks behind the seating areas both upstairs and downstairs.
      The studio also incorporated stucco on the walls and tiles with a handmade effect to create a more organic feel to the restaurant interior. All of Piada’s furniture was custom-made by Masquespacio to match the restaurant’s eclectic themes.
      The restaurant is the second of its kind in the French cityFounded in 2010 by Penasse and Ana Milena Hernández Palacios, the Spanish studio has completed a number of other interior projects with designs rooted in bright colour.
      These include a playful burger joint in Turin, multi-hued student housing in Bilbao and a colour-clashing phone repair shop in Valencia.
      The photography is by Gregory Abbate.

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