The new Moët Hennessy office in Paris is set in an appropriately glamorous location. The 10,000 sq m space is located on the upper floors of Le Bon Marché, the pioneering department store that was brought to prominence by the skills of Aristide Boucicaut, an entrepreneur who became a partner in the store in 1852.
Boucicaut transformed its fortunes, filling the structurally audacious and architecturally elaborate building with thousands of employees and all manner of goods. Le Bon Marché on rue de Sèvres was one of the first and greatest temples of consumption. It is still going strong, a major revamp having refined and restored the interiors in 2013.
As the ‘MH’ in LVMH, Moët Hennessy has earned the right to occupy this spectacular space within a landmark building that, after all, now belongs to its parent company.
The new Moët Hennessy workspaces were created by Parisian firm Barbarito Bancel Architectes, working in close collaboration with MH’s president, Philippe Schaus. Architects Ivana Barbarito and Benjamin Bancel set up their studio in 2011 and have done extensive work for Dior.
For MH, the main aim was to tailor the space to the company’s ethos, using the spacious attic spaces – once home to dormitories for the store’s female workers – to create a variety of different zones, from formal boardrooms, to meeting rooms, a dedicated bar, and a spectacular main space for working, reading, and conversation.
The art deco qualities of the original building have been overhauled, restored, and taken to new levels of elegance. From the tall arched windows set into the mansard roof, to the large light features that give the ceilings a flowing, sculptural quality, through to bespoke elements like the boardroom table and marble bar, the new offices evoke the grandeur of a bygone era.
The architects describe the result as an architectural space that ‘touches the sphere of the invisible, relating to individual feelings and favouring wellbeing that goes well beyond immediate comfort’.
Craft and quality are evident in every surface, with bespoke rugs underfoot, above carefully laid parquet flooring and alongside unique pieces of furniture, ceramics and stone finishes, as well as movable steel-framed glass partitions.
‘Moët Hennessy’s values have been a source of inspiration,’ say the architects, going on to list ‘excellence, know-how, craftsmanship, attention to detail, authenticity of materials, nobility without ostentation, the festive spirit, the pleasure of celebrating, the art of living, and the art of tasting’.
As well as views out across the Parisian skyline, the new offices overlook the department store’s inner courtyard, with its restored original steel structure supplemented by new planting.
Companies are under increasing pressure to lure workers back to their desks, meaning that office design plays a bigger role than ever before. As befits the world of their clients, Barbarito Bancel Architectes have gone all out to embrace richness, charm, and effortless class
INFORMATION
-
‘I wanted to create a sanctuary’ – discover a nature-conscious take on Balinese architectureUmah Tsuki by Colvin Haven is an idyllic Balinese family home rooted in the island's crafts culture
-
‘Concrete Dreams’: rethinking Newcastle’s brutalist pastA new project and exhibition at the Farrell Centre in Newcastle revisits the radical urban ideas that changed Tyneside in the 1960s and 1970s
-
Mexican designers show their metal at Gallery Collectional, Dubai‘Unearthing’ at Dubai’s Gallery Collectional sees Ewe Studio designers Manu Bañó and Héctor Esrawe celebrate Mexican craftsmanship with contemporary forms
-
Explore wood architecture, Paris' new timber tower and how to make sustainable construction look ‘iconic’A new timber tower brings wood architecture into sharp focus in Paris and highlights ways to craft buildings that are both sustainable and look great: we spoke to project architects LAN, and explore the genre through further examples
-
A transformed chalet by Studio Razavi redesigns an existing structure into a well-crafted Alpine retreatThis overhauled chalet in the French Alps blends traditional forms with a highly bespoke interior
-
La Grande Motte: touring the 20th-century modernist dream of a French paradise resortLa Grande Motte and its utopian modernist dreams, as seen through the lens of photographers Laurent Kronental and Charly Broyez, who spectacularly captured the 20th-century resort community in the south of France
-
Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain unveils plans for new Jean Nouvel buildingFondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain has plans for a new building in Paris, working with architect Jean Nouvel
-
Discover Tempe à Pailla, a lesser-known Eileen Gray gem nestled in the French RivieraTempe à Pailla is a modernist villa in the French Riviera brimming with history, originally designed by architect Eileen Gray and extended by late British painter Graham Sutherland
-
At Lee Ufan Arles, tension and calm guide relationships between space and artLee Ufan Arles opens in the south of France, a collaboration between the famed Korean artist and Japanese architect Tadao Ando
-
A new era: Centre Pompidou architects discuss their bold 2030 plansPlans for the Centre Pompidou 2030 vision were recently announced, revealing a design refresh of the iconic Paris structure; we caught up with its lead architects Moreau Kusunoki to hear more
-
The Grand Paris Express, Europe’s largest urban design project, is en route to successThe Grand Paris Express is a system of new rapid transit lines across the French capital, with each station designed by a different architect – and it's currently under construction
