At Léopold Sédar Senghor School in Paris, Atelier Pierre-Louis Gerlier transforms a former storage room into an immersive library designed as a colorful learning landscape. The library functions as a small village made up of huts arranged around a large central square, which offers communal space for group reading, discussions, and collective activities. Each hut forms an intimate retreat where a child can sit quietly and immerses themselves in a book. Designed as active elements, the hut walls integrate bookshelves, seating, and openings that function as windows overlooking the central space. These openings allow readers to observe the life of the village while remaining comfortably settled in their own nook.

the architects redefine the room as an immersive environment | all images courtesy of Atelier Pierre-Louis Gerlier

atelier pierre-louis gerlier defines immersive learning space

The project begins with a quiet, underused library at a public school in a working-class suburb of Paris. Books line the shelves, but few students engage with them. The space feels large and cold, but holds clear potential to become a place of refuge, adventure, and discovery for the children. When the French Ministry of Education launches a national fund to support innovative educational initiatives led by teachers, one teacher at the school proposes a new vision for the library. The architects join the initiative and redefine the room not as a storage space, but as an immersive environment for reading, conversation, learning, and imagination. The studio sets a clear goal: create a place that nourishes children’s curiosity while respecting a limited budget.

each hut forms an intimate retreat where a child can sit quietly and immerses themselves in a book

village layout creates varied scales and toolS for curiosity

The varied layout of the huts creates spaces of different scales, from open gathering areas to smaller, more secluded corners for quiet reading. Through this design, the architects turn the library into an educational tool that encourages exploration and curiosity through space itself. Recognizing the strength of the proposal, the Ministry of Education fully funds the project and positions it as a prototype for other schools. As part of the transformation, the studio also develops the library’s visual identity and logo, giving the new space a distinct presence and recognizable image within the school.

the clear goal: create a place that nourishes children’s curiosity while respecting a limited budget

the library functions as a small village made up of huts arranged around a large central square

the hut walls integrate bookshelves, seating, and openings that function as windows

the layout of the huts creates spaces of different scales, from open gathering areas to smaller, more secluded corners

the central square offers communal space for group reading, discussions, and collective activities

the project functions as a prototype for other schools

openings allow readers to observe the life of the village while remaining comfortably settled in their own nook

project info:

name: Transformation of a library in a school in the Paris suburbs
architects: Atelier Pierre-Louis Gerlier | @pierrelouisgerlier

location: Paris, France

designboom has received this project from our DIY submissions feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

edited by: claire brodka | designboom

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On a high floor of a 1966 residential building in Paris’ 11th arrondissement, Cyrus Ardalan reworks a 65-square-meter through-apartment. The architect reframes a standard postwar layout through a contemporary lens.

From the entrance, the two-bedroom home opens directly onto a generous, west-facing living area that brings together lounge, dining, and workspace in a single volume. Transitions are marked with precision, most notably through a glass-paste frame that references modern architectural traditions but is treated here less as an ornament than as a functional device. Used on the kitchen island, dining table, and within the shower, the material helps articulate surfaces and edges.

a modernist-inspired renovation by Cyrus Ardalan |  all images © Ludovic Balay

Built-in systems shape everyday use

A hallway leads away from the main living area toward two quieter bedrooms overlooking the courtyard. Along this axis, the plan regains a more conventional calm, with access to a shower room and a separate toilet. Storage is absorbed into the architecture throughout, embedded within bespoke furniture elements rather than added as afterthoughts.

Material choice functions as the project’s primary organizing principle. Plywood plays a central role, a recurring element in Ardalan’s work, and here it establishes both visual coherence and spatial hierarchy. Its tone is drawn from the existing window frames, allowing the new interventions to converse with the original fabric of the apartment. The material runs continuously from the living room into the hallway and bedrooms, structuring volumes without relying on excess partitioning. Through careful cutting and alignment, drawer fronts and storage elements are integrated almost invisibly, producing homogeneous volumes that read as continuous planes.

One of the most defining pieces of the property, exclusively listed by Architecture de Collection, whose practice centers on identifying and safeguarding significant examples of 20th- and 21st-century architecture, is the plywood bookshelf in the living area, which extends into a sideboard and a workspace. A 180-degree pivoting door allows the office to open fully toward the living room or disappear when not in use, reinforcing the adaptability of the apartment. 

Cyrus Ardalan reworks a 65-square-meter through-apartment ιn Paris

Working within the limits of the existing building

Completed with a cellar in the basement and supported by a building caretaker, the apartment sits within a dense, lived-in neighborhood known for its markets, restaurants, cultural venues, and proximity to green spaces. Original single-glazed window frames and collective gas heating remain in place, anchoring the renovation within the realities of the existing building rather than erasing them. Some of the custom furniture is included in the sale, reinforcing the idea that the project is conceived as a complete, inhabitable system. At 65 square meters, the apartment functions as an experimental ground for exploring how material logic and spatial economy can reshape daily life. 

a glass-paste frame references modern architectural traditions

the architect reframes a standard postwar layout through a contemporary lens

a generous, west-facing living area that brings together lounge, dining, and workspace

a hallway leads away from the main living area toward two quieter bedrooms

plywood plays a central role

exploring how material logic and spatial economy can reshape daily life

project info:

name: Modernist-inspired apartment renovation in Paris

renovation architect: Cyrus Ardalan | @cyrus_ardalan

building architects: Christian de Galéa & Saczewski

location: Paris 11th arrondissement, France

area: 65 square meters

original building year: 1966

photographer: Ludovic Balay | @ludovicbalay

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Renzo Piano Building Workshop (RPBW) unveils a new vision for the Ensemble Immobilier Tour Maine-Montparnasse, a large-scale urban retrofit that transforms a closed 1970s retail complex into an open, pedestrian-focused piece of Paris. Commissioned by the co-owners of the Montparnasse Commercial Centre and the CIT Tower, the project unfolds in parallel with the ongoing redevelopment of the adjacent Montparnasse Tower, led by Nouvelle AOM. The two interventions aim to recalibrate one of the most contested sites of the city, shifting it from an inward-looking megastructure to a permeable urban district grounded in daily life, movement, and public space.

The architects aim to open the site back to the city. New pedestrian routes cut through the block, linking Rue de Rennes, the Montparnasse station, and neighboring streets across three Parisian arrondissements. Ground floors become transparent and permeable, allowing visual and physical continuity through the site.

A large planted piazza anchors this plan. Conceived as a protected civic space, shaded and removed from traffic, it is designed to host everyday activities rather than monumental gestures. Cafés, terraces, cultural programs, and sports facilities activate the square throughout the day, positioning it as a shared living room for the neighborhood.

images courtesy of RPBW

From inward retail complex to Parisian city block

Originally designed by AOM and built between 1969 and 1973, the Ensemble Immobilier Tour Maine-Montparnasse occupies the former Montparnasse train station site, composed of the tower, the commercial center, and the CIT Tower set above it. Conceived during an era of slab-based urban planning, the complex was focused on separation, elevation, and internal circulation. Over time, these strategies produced a fragmented condition, detached from the surrounding neighborhoods.

RPBW’s proposal responds directly to this legacy, reframing the commercial center as a contemporary Parisian block, one that reconnects streets, restores ground-level continuity, and reintroduces public life where it had been pushed aside. New buildings are scaled to harmonize with the surrounding urban fabric, reinforcing the perception of a coherent block instead of a megastructure. Programmatically, the architects introduce a mix of cultural, residential, commercial, and sports uses, including student housing, offices, and local retail. This diversity supports proximity-based daily life and extends activity beyond retail hours, contributing to a more inclusive and walkable environment. Architecture here operates more as a framework for encounter, movement, and coexistence, aligning with broader shifts in how Paris approaches large inner-city transformations.

a large-scale urban retrofit that transforms a closed 1970s retail complex into an open, pedestrian-focused piece

Reuse as structural and environmental logic of the project

RPBW retains the existing structural grid as the backbone of the intervention, reducing material consumption and embodied carbon and positioning reuse as a central design driver. Where new volumes are introduced, they take the form of lightweight timber structures, allowing additional programs to be integrated with minimal structural intervention. Conservation, transformation, and selective demolition result in a project that treats the inherited fabric as a resource.

Commissioned in 2022, the project experienced a pause in 2023 as amendments to Paris’s Land Use Plan were debated. Design work resumed in 2025, with discussions aligning planning, environmental, and client objectives into a unified vision for both the commercial center and the CIT Tower. In late 2025, the Council of Paris voted in favor of the project in a bipartisan decision, followed by the signing of a protocol agreement between the City of Paris and the EITMM in January 2026.

the project unfolds in parallel with the ongoing redevelopment of the adjacent Montparnasse Tower

a large planted piazza anchors this plan

RPBW retains the existing structural grid as the backbone of the intervention

project info:

name: Ensemble Immobilier Tour Maine-Montparnasse (EITMM)

architect: Renzo Piano Building Workshop | @rpbw_architects

project: Montparnasse Commercial Centre and CIT Tower

location: Paris, France

client: EITMM Commercial Centre owners’ association; EITMM CIT Tower owners’ association

design team: A. Giralt, P. Colonna, J. B. Mothes (partner and associates in charge)

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From January 15 to 19, 2026, Maison&Objet Paris opens its January edition, inviting the design community to explore a landscape where innovation enters a direct dialogue with tradition. The event unveils its theme, ‘Past Reveals Future,’ spanning seven halls and six sectors with a curated experience through immersive spaces and exclusive scenography. Returning for its second season with a significantly expanded presence is the CURATIO installation, curated by German designer and interior architect Thomas Haarmann. Showcased at the heart of the Signature sector, this immersive installation has evolved from its 18-brand debut in 2025 to a vibrant showcase featuring 60 signed pieces, each carefully selected.

‘The first edition was an introduction of the new concept—a delicate conversation between space, object, and intention,’ explains Haarmann. ‘The second edition explores the art of reposition, maintaining the same atmosphere but expanding it into a larger, more immersive experience that feels even calmer and more contemplative.’

CURATIO installation by Thomas Haarmann returns to Maison&Objet in 2026 | all images © Piet-Albert Goethals, courtesy of Maison&Objet, unless stated otherwise

A MEETING POINT FOR CRAFTSMANSHIP AND CONTEMPORARY DESIGN

From limited-editions in the Signature sector to decoding upcoming trends in decor, hospitality, and retail in the ‘What’s New?’ showcases, Maison&Objet reinforces Paris as the global capital of design. Serving as a vital meeting point for fine craftsmanship and contemporary design for over thirty years, the event continues to cultivate an environment where transmission fuels new creation. This spirit is personified by Designer of the Year Harry Nuriev, founder of Crosby Studio, whose ‘Transformism’ manifesto echoes the broader theme by giving existing objects a second life. His immersive scenography, alongside curated showcases by Elizabeth Leriche, François Delclaux and Rudy Guénaire, set the stage for the fair’s most exclusive offering: the CURATIO village, exploring the art of rarity.

‘In a space defined by harmony rather than competition, rarity is revealed as an ethos, not a status,’ explains curator Thomas Haarmann. ‘Objects converse with one another, supporting and amplifying each other’s narratives, uncovering patterns of thought, aesthetic dialogues, and quiet contrasts.’ 

Royal Houses Exhibition by Harry Nuriev of Crosby Studio; M&O Designer of the Year 2026

EXPANDED CURATIO INSTALLATION FOR COLLECTIBLE DESIGN

The CURATIO installation is structured as a dual experience, blending a village of harmonized spaces with a minimalist exhibition gallery. According to Haarmann, this layout is essential for deep engagement. ‘The gallery space offers clarity and quiet — a canvas on which each piece can speak for itself, free from distraction,’ he states. ‘It invites slow, attentive looking, allowing visitors to trace the subtle gestures of material and craft. Here, design is not merely observed; it is felt.’

By favoring harmony over competition, the CURATIO environment allows rarity to be revealed as an ethos rather than a mere spectacle. Featured signatures for 2026 include solid oak furniture by Van Rossum, functional art by Zieta, and the suspended universes of Verter Turroni. ‘In this collective frame, visitors can perceive rarity as the product of intention, integrity, and devotion — the quiet power of design realized fully,’ Haarmann concludes.

Zieta – Whispers | image ©Alka Murat

Wooden sculpture by Presence Art & Design

Wooden sculpture by Presence Art & Design and Anvil Console by Van Rossum

404 Error Lamp by James Haywood Atelier

Anvil Console by Van Rossum

Maison&Objet’s Signature sector in January 2025 | image © Anne-Emmanuelle Thion

Maison&Objet 2026 – What’s New in Decor by Elizabeth Leriche

Maison&Objet 2026 – What’s New in Retail by François Delclaux

Maison&Objet 2026 – What’s New in Hospitality by Rudy Guénaire

project info: 

name: Curatio
curator: Thomas Haarmann

event: Maison&Objet | @maisonetobjet

location: Paris, France

dates: January 15-19, 2026

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Gambey, an interior project by Paf atelier and BB architectes, occupies a compact apartment in Paris’s 11th arrondissement, where living spaces are reorganized around a central mezzanine. Rather than reading as a series of separate rooms, the dwelling is experienced as a continuous interior shaped by a single constructed volume that gathers circulation, storage, and programming into one cohesive framework.

To create distinct spaces without subdividing the apartment, the French architects introduce a freestanding steel structure that reads as a piece of interior architecture. This lightweight structure rises through two levels and establishes a strong vertical presence that organizes movement across the plan.

Gambey occupies a compact apartment in Paris’s 11th arrondissement | images © Céline Saby

the steel structure by Paf atelier and BB architectes

Designed by Paf atelier and BB architectes, the intervention is fabricated from orange-lacquered steel profiles infilled with perforated sheet metal panels. Its cross-shaped geometry extends laterally at the mezzanine level and vertically from floor to ceiling, organizing areas for sleeping, working, cooking, and living while remaining spatially open.

Perforation density varies across the panels, shifting between finer and more open patterns. These surfaces register changing light conditions throughout the day while maintaining visual continuity between spaces. From certain angles, furniture and objects appear softened behind the mesh, their outlines filtered rather than concealed.

Close views reveal the precision of the perforated panels, their circular pattern repeated across walls and railings. Light passing through these surfaces casts subtle shadows across the floors and walls.

a freestanding steel structure replaces conventional partitions within the open plan

a mezzanine guides circulation

A stair runs alongside the steel volume within Paf atelier and BB architectes’s Gambey, its handrail and guard formed from the same perforated metal and lacquered finish. The stair connects the main floor to the mezzanine, where a compact work area and seating occupy the upper level. The mezzanine edge aligns with the horizontal arms of the steel structure to reinforce its role as a spatial datum.

At the upper level, the perforated guardrail continues the visual language established below. Views extend across the apartment toward roof glazing, with daylight moving through the mesh and across white walls and pale wood flooring.

the structure forms a cross in plan and rises continuously from floor to ceiling

Living areas and furnishings

On the main floor, the living area remains open, furnished with low tables, stools, and freestanding objects arranged around the steel core. Color appears selectively. Orange steel elements contrast with white surfaces, while blue and pink furnishings introduce secondary tones without dominating the space.

Curtains mark the sleeping area, drawn across openings in the steel frame. Their soft translucency offsets the rigidity of the metal structure and provides privacy within the open plan. When pulled back, the bed sits visibly within the larger room, framed by the mesh panels.

kitchen cabinetry finished in muted metallic tones punctuated by small blue hardware

Kitchen integration and material continuity

Meanwhile, the kitchen sits alongside the central structure, its cabinetry finished in muted metallic tones punctuated by small blue hardware. A structural column, painted the same orange as the steel framework, passes through the kitchen island and visually links the fixed building elements to the inserted volume.

This continuity of color and material extends across levels, connecting stair, guardrails, and vertical supports. The steel surfaces show bolts, edges, and joints without concealment. These details serve to emphasize assembly and construction at a domestic scale.

a structural column is painted the same orange as the steel framework

circulation and handrails integrate the same perforated metal language

orange-lacquered steel and perforated sheet metal define the intervention

the orange elements contrast with blue and pink furnishings

project info:

name: 

architect: Paf atelier | @paf_atelier, BB architectes | @bb_architectes

location: Paris, France

completion: 2025

photographer: © Céline Saby | @celinesaby

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Just southwest of Paris, at the intersection of Andrea Palladio and Frank Lloyd Wright streets in the suburb of Guyancourt, 18 colossal female figures stand together to support one of the most surreal manifestations of postmodernist architecture.

Together, the monumental replicas of the Venus de Milo compose Les Caryatides, two identical apartment blocks standing across from each other, performing their own kind of concrete theater in full view of the public. The project was designed in 1992 by architect Manuel Núñez Yanowsky, who was one of the original team members of Ricardo Bofill’s Taller de Arquitectura in early 1960s Barcelona, and went on to develop several important works, including the iconic Arènes de Picasso in Noisy-le-Grand on the outskirts of Paris. More than three decades after its construction, Les Caryatides de Guyancourt remains legendary to some, absurd to others, but undeniably unforgettable. For its admirers, the project rethinks classical forms and motifs. For its critics, it’s kitsch masquerading as grandeur, a surreal eyesore amid the suburban landscape. As with much of Yanowsky’s work, this project demands attention.

The architect himself calls the building Venus 18, a title that deepens the intrigue. In an Instagram post, he plays with mystery, asking, ‘Is it because she’s 18 years old? Because she’s 2 meters and 18 centimeters tall? Or because she has 17 friends just like her?’ As big fans of the work, designboom paid a visit to Les Caryatides in Guyancourt to explore the building in person and unveil its beauty and peculiarities in the following photographic essay.

all images © designboom

venus de milo as structural element

Spanish-born architect Manuel Núñez Yanowsky’s apartment dwellings are instantly recognizable for their oversized take on classical sculpture. Equal parts theatrical and ironic, the structures critique the enduring performative power of architecture.

The rigid, modular facades of the buildings, punctuated by square windows and recessed panels, rest atop colonnades of towering sculptures, monumental replicas of the Venus de Milo, that icon of broken-limbed antiquity. Each Venus is rendered at an exaggerated scale, perched atop oversized plinths that elevate them from art object to architectural load-bearer. They hold the residential superstructures like postmodern Atlases, serene, idealized, and surreal in context. The figures face outward, indifferent to the weight above or the traffic below, wrapped in flowing drapery that echoes their classical origins. Their missing arms, a signature of the original sculpture, are left uncorrected, heightening the sense of theatrical irony.

18 massive female figures stand together

France’s grands ensembles and villes nouvelles

Set within the Villaroy district of Guyancourt, Venus 18 occupies a unique place in the timeline of French urbanism. The project forms part of the new town of Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, one of the post-war initiative ‘villes nouvelles’ developed around Paris from the 1970s onward. These satellite cities were conceived to decentralize the capital, manage population growth, and correct the failings of the earlier ‘grands ensembles’ housing boom.

While Les Caryatides emerge from the same lineage, they mark a definitive stylistic and conceptual departure. Unlike the austere, repetitive blocks typical of the grands ensembles era, Yanowsky’s design embraces ornament, irony, and historical reference, reimagining the caryatid, borrowed from ancient Greek architecture, as a postmodern load-bearing icon.

With just 110 apartments, the scale of Les Caryatides is more intimate than its mid-century predecessors, yet its ambition is no less radical. The project reflects the goals of the villes nouvelles: to humanize suburban life, inject architectural diversity, and create urban environments rich in meaning and memory. Set within this context, Les Caryatides questions the assumptions underlying post-war housing. These were never meant to be faceless dormitory suburbs; they were envisioned as vibrant urban futures. Yanowsky’s intervention revives that ambition. Why shouldn’t social housing be monumental? Why can’t everyday architecture embrace theatricality? These provocations are etched into the very fabric of the building.

Venus 18 was designed by Manuel Núñez Yanowsky in 1992

monumental housing before les caryatides

Les Caryatides isn’t Yanowsky’s only foray into urban mythology. Just a few years earlier, he completed another monumental housing complex outside Paris: Les Arènes de Picasso in Noisy-le-Grand (1980–1984). Nicknamed le Camembert by locals, supposedly because Yanowsky showed Jean Nouvel a round of the famous cheese during a site visit,  the building is made up of 540 social housing units clad in boldly patterned, precast concrete. The elevation panels were designed to override the regular grid with a strong visual identity, a tactic Yanowsky used to mask repetition with theatricality. The structure’s circular form and sculptural flourishes seem almost extraterrestrial. In a tongue-in-cheek anecdote relayed by critic Philip Jodidio, Yanowsky joked that the rotating disc of the central structure tilts 15° every morning at 7:00 a.m., launching residents from their beds to the toilet, then to the kitchen, and finally into their cars on the way to work. It’s a myth, of course, but like much of his architecture, it blurs the line between satire and speculation.

each sculpture is rendered at an exaggerated scale

irony becomes infrastructure

Postmodernism looms large over Les Caryatides, bringing with it the era’s embrace of irony, ornament, and symbolic form. But while many postmodern facades stop at surface-level play, Manuel Núñez Yanowsky embeds his classical references deep into the structure.

The project sits squarely within the wave of French postmodernism that crested in the early 1990s. Architects like Ricardo Bofill and Christian de Portzamparc were reintroducing historical motifs, geometric symbolism, and theatrical scale into a landscape dominated by functionalism. Yanowsky aligns with this ethos but pushes it further with a literal, more surreal, and deliberately more provocative approach.

At first glance, the sculptural colonnade may seem like a whimsical gesture. But these stylized Venus de Milo figures serve a structural purpose, bearing the weight of the apartments above. Echoing ancient Greek caryatids, they are reimagined through the lens of late-20th-century monumentalism, transformed into hyperbolic load-bearers that are both expressive and functional.

a project that refuses to go unnoticed

Cult classic or suburban spectacle?

More than 30 years on, Les Caryatides endures as a landmark dressed in enigma. Tourists stumble across it with disbelief. Locals pass it by without fanfare. Architecture students dissect it as an example of how far and how oddly public architecture can go. Whether loved or dismissed, the building continues to perform.

Public response has always been mixed. For some, it’s a refreshing break from the sterile rationalism of post-war planning. For others, its scale and visual language feel jarring, even alien, within the suburban fabric. But this friction is exactly what gives the project its vitality. Yanowsky refuses the notion that public housing must be modest or invisible, arguing for grandeur in the everyday. 

Today, Les Caryatides has achieved a kind of cult status among architecture fans and urban explorers. Its arresting imagery circulates widely on social media, often labeled one of France’s most unexpected buildings. Yet beneath the spectacle lies a serious architectural proposition: that form can provoke thought, that symbolism can enrich lived experience, and that history, handled with both rigor and irreverence, still has the power to shape the city.

monumental replicas of the Venus de Milo

Les Caryatides has aged into a landmark that provokes memory and debate

the project rethinks classical forms and motifs

with their supporting role, the female forms evoke ancient Greek caryatids

circular openings punctuate the building

a building that refuses to go unnoticed

oversized plinths elevate them from art object to architectural load-bearer

the figures face outward, indifferent to the weight above or the traffic below

project info:

name: Les Caryatides / Venus 18

architect: Manuel Núñez Yanowsky | @manolonunezyanowsky

location: Guyancourt, Île-de-France, France

year: 1992

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At a moment when independent cinemas across Europe are dimming their lights for good, Louis Denavaut breathes new life into the historic venue of the Elysées Lincoln in Paris, France. The architect creates a sequence of atmospheres for this project, reflected in three distinct interior worlds that are clad in various materials and colors, from hushed velvet greens to saturated pinks and soft pastel tones. Hints of Wes Anderson–like palettes, precise geometries, and textures surface across the three rooms, as a way of heightening the sensorial charge of the cinema experience.

The hybrid cultural and event space gets a new identity, one where color, texture, and atmosphere set the stage for the act of gathering to watch stories together. Across L’Audito, Le Studio, and Le Club, Denavaut treats each room almost like a film genre, establishing a different mood, a different palette, and a different tempo, all contributing to a renewed sense of cinematic presence.

images courtesy of Paris Society Events, unless stated otherwise

three chromatic worlds for contemporary cinema in paris

Part of the Multiciné network of independent Parisian theaters, art-cinema Elysées Lincoln operates as both a cultural venue and an event platform. Louis Denavaut’s renovation reorganizes the space through three spatial typologies, featuring an auditorium for large shared screenings, a small-format premium room for intimate projections, and an adaptable lounge for social or professional gatherings. Technical upgrades, including 4K laser projection, a fully equipped catering office, and a customizable LED facade visible from the avenue, support this expanded program. Through his revamp, the French architect suggests that the survival of independent cinemas may no longer lie in competing with big-chain comfort but in crafting atmospheres that feel specific and sensorially rich.

The main auditorium, L’Audito, establishes the quietest atmosphere of the three. Rows of deep olive-green velvet seats sit within walls patterned in a muted pink harlequin motif, giving the room a steady visual rhythm. The carpet, a dense botanical print, hints at the past of the cinema without sliding into nostalgia. Oversized black wall-mounted speakers punctuate the geometry, becoming sculptural elements rather than concealed equipment. A thin LED line washes the lower wall in green, producing a soft underglow that subtly floats the seating volume. The overall effect is enveloping and slightly retro, a room tuned to calm the viewer’s attention before the film begins.

Le Club is bathed in baby-pink tones | image via paris.fr

hot-pink immersion and pastel curves

The walls, ceiling, and floor of Le Studio shift between reds and hot pinks, creating a monolithic chamber. Plush magenta seating introduces a softer layer, almost domestic in scale but heightened through repetition. The space is designed for small audiences, private screenings, or strategic meetings where light, comfort, and acoustic clarity operate as a single system.

The third room, Le Club, is bathed in baby-pink tones. The space uses arches, rounded wall niches, and glowing circular sconces to create a softer, more social environment. A grid of circular relief panels, echoing speaker cones, turns one wall into a glowing sculptural surface, while round ceiling fixtures amplify the spatial rhythm. It can shift between cocktails and seated events, supported by a bar area and a separate entrance. Reflective surfaces catch the soft lighting, introducing subtle golden highlights that echo the festive, lounge-like character of the room.

By dividing the cinema into three moods, Louis Denavaut offers an argument for why independent cinemas remain culturally vital. They can become anchors of atmosphere, places where people return not only for the film but also for the sensorial environment that frames it. Set within one of Paris’s most commercial districts, the revamped Elysées Lincoln asserts that intimacy, texture, and careful design can still draw audiences into shared darkness and maybe even keep these kinds of spaces alive.

arches and rounded wall niches complete the room

the space can shift between cocktails and seated events

reflective surfaces catch the soft lighting

glowing circular sconces create a softer, more social environment

a thin LED line washes the lower wall in wood

L’Audito establishes the quietest atmosphere of the three spaces

rows of deep olive-green velvet seats sit within walls patterned in a muted pink harlequin motif

the carpet, a dense botanical print, hints at the past of the cinema

the overall effect is enveloping and slightly retro

the walls, ceiling, and floor of Le Studio shift between reds and hot pinks

designed for small audiences

plush magenta seating introduces a softer layer

Louis Denavaut offers an argument for why independent cinemas remain culturally vital | image via paris.fr  

art-cinema Elysées Lincoln operates as both a cultural venue and an event platform

project info:

name: Elysées Lincoln cinema renovation | @elysees_lincoln

architect: Louis Denavaut | @louis_denavaut

location: 14 rue Lincoln, 75008 Paris, France

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As Paris marks forty years since Christo and Jeanne-Claude activated the Pont Neuf with The Pont Neuf Wrapped, a landmark installation that elevated the bridge from an infrastructural icon to an ephemeral work of art, French artist JR prepares his own large-scale activation for the historic bridge. After many years in development, La Caverne du Pont Neuf will be on view from June 6th to June 28th, 2026, extending this lineage of temporary transformations into a new generation.

The original project, executed in 1985, wrapped the city’s oldest bridge in 41,800 square meters of fabric, secured by thirteen kilometers of rope and twelve tons of steel cables. This vision took a decade of planning and negotiations before it came to life. The wrapping remained on the bridge for two weeks, during which three million visitors engaged with the installation. True to Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s philosophy, the project invited the public‘s individual interpretation, embracing the transient nature of art. ‘I wanted to transform it, to turn it from an architectural object, an object of inspiration for artists, to an art object itself,’ Christo explained at the time. ‘I wanted it to become a sculpture for the first time, but an ephemeral one.’

Christo and Jeanne-Claude, The Pont Neuf Wrapped, Paris, 1975-85, photo by Wolfgang Volz © 1985 Christo and Jeanne-Claude Foundation

jr’s homage to christo and jeanne-claude

To commemorate this anniversary, contemporary artist JR will reimagine the Pont Neuf with Projet Pont Neuf, a large-scale installation inspired by Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s groundbreaking work. Collaborating with the team at the Christo and Jeanne-Claude Foundation, JR’s vision will transform the iconic bridge into a stone-like cave for two weeks in Summer 2026.

Drawing inspiration from the quarries that provided Paris with its historic stones, JR’s design juxtaposes the city’s refined elegance with raw, untamed textures. The installation will serve as a reflection on Paris’ evolving relationship with nature and architecture.

‘I’m very inspired by the artistic vision of Christo and Jeanne-Claude, and I share their idea that the mission of art is to make the public think,’ JR notes. ‘The debate that a monumental project in the public space can provoke is of equal value to its artistic realization. Art is a transformation, and a way of renewing the way we look at the world around us.’

JR, Projet Pont-Neuf (collage préparatoire), Collage 2024, paper cutout on paper, photo courtesy Atelier JR © 2024 JR

paris Continues its Legacy of Public Art

The project has received enthusiastic support from Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, who recalls her own experience with The Pont Neuf Wrapped. ‘In 1985, I was fascinated by Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s wrapping of the Pont Neuf… It was an unforgettable moment of poetry and beauty,’ the mayor says. ‘What a wonderful idea to revive this artistic gesture thanks to JR’s universe and immense talent!‘

JR and his team, supported by the Christo and Jeanne-Claude Foundation, are working with local officials to carefully plan the installation, ensuring that it resonates with the city and its residents. As with its predecessor, Projet Pont Neuf will be privately funded.

JR, Projet Pont-Neuf, Edition 2024, limited edition of 50 numbered and signed copies, photo courtesy Atelier JR © 2024 JR

Reflecting on the enduring impact of Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s work, Vladimir Yavachev, Christo’s nephew and director of projects for the late artists, highlights the evolution of public art in Paris. ‘It’s really beautiful to see how much Paris has increased its commitment to public art in the past 40 years,’ Yavachev says. ‘Knowing JR’s dedication to public art, he’s an ideal artist for this tribute to Christo and Jeanne-Claude.’

Projet Pont Neuf will invite Parisians and visitors alike to engage with the city’s beloved bridge in a completely new way, celebrating the timeless dialogue between art, architecture, and the urban landscape.

Christo and Jeanne-Claude at The Pont Neuf Wrapped, Paris, 1985, photo by Wolfgang Volz © 1985 Christo and Jeanne-Claude Foundation

The Pont Neuf Wrapped (Project for Paris), Collage 1984, pencil, wax crayon, enamel paint, photograph by Wolfgang Volz, and masking tape, private collection, photo: Archive © 1984 Christo and Jeanne-Claude Foundation

Christo and Jeanne-Claude, The Pont Neuf Wrapped, Paris, 1975-85, photo by Wolfgang Volz © 1985 Christo and Jeanne-Claude Foundation

Christo and Jeanne-Claude, The Pont Neuf Wrapped, Paris, 1975-85, photo by Wolfgang Volz © 1985 Christo and Jeanne-Claude Foundation

Christo and Jeanne-Claude, The Pont Neuf Wrapped, Paris, 1975-85, photo by Wolfgang Volz © 1985 Christo and Jeanne-Claude Foundation

project info:

name: Projet Pont Neuf

artist: JR | @jr

artist (Pont Neuf wrapped): Christo & Jeanne-Claude | @christojeanneclaude

location: Paris, France

dates: June 6th to June 28th, 2026

The post JR to sculpt stone-like cavern across paris’s pont neuf in homage to christo & jeanne-claude appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.

To celebrate its tenth anniversary, Galerie Philia presents STRATES, a large-scale exhibition staged across two of France’s most emblematic brutalist landmarks: Jacques Kalisz’s Mont d’Est car park and Ricardo Bofill’s Espaces Abraxas in Noisy-le-Grand, Grand Paris. On view until November 30th, 2025, the show reflects on a decade of curatorial exploration that has seen the gallery bring contemporary design into conversation with architecture, philosophy, and civic life.

Since its founding in 2015, Galerie Philia has become known for situating contemporary design within charged architectural settings, from Le Corbusier’s Cité Radieuse in Marseille to Oscar Niemeyer’s MAC Niterói in Brazil. STRATES continues this approach by transforming Kalisz’s monumental car park into an experimental exhibition space, reinterpreting the raw concrete geometry of the site through design. ‘Our curatorial approach has always been to place contemporary design in dialogue with charged architectural sites rather than neutral white cubes,’ says Philia’s co-founder Ygaël Attali. ‘When we encountered Jacques Kalisz’s Mont d’Est car park, we felt the same shock of recognition: an extraordinary piece of brutalist architecture, at once monumental and fragile, whose latent potential could be reactivated through design.’

all images by studio brinth

STRATES reimagines grand paris’s ruins as living narratives

Originally conceived as a vision of futuristic living on Paris’s periphery, Noisy-le-Grand continues to reflect the remnants of its post-war utopian ideals, lending symbolic weight to Philia’s decision to situate the STRATES exhibition there. ‘Our aesthetic often oscillates between brutalist geometry and wabi-sabi imperfection,’ Attali comments. ‘Noisy-le-Grand embodies this duality in a unique way: Ricardo Bofill’s Espaces Abraxas, just next door, are monumental, almost operatic — a vision of the future as a utopian theater. Jacques Kalisz’s Mont d’Est parking, by contrast, is raw, infrastructural, and today in a visibly fragile state. That fragility makes it even more compelling to us: the cracks, stains, and erosion of the concrete are not defects but traces of time, revealing the human destiny of the structure.’

Far from treating the site as a neutral container, STRATES uses its imperfections as material. ‘For us, beauty lies not only in form but in narrative,’ Attali explains. ‘The Mont d’Est car park offers both: its helicoidal ramps and raw textures are visually powerful, but equally important is the story it tells of collective ambition, decline, and potential rebirth.’ This approach continues the gallery’s long-standing refusal of the white cube model. ‘We do not mute or mutilate the site; we embrace it as part of the proposition itself,’ he adds. ‘In Noisy-le-Grand, this means that the traces of time on Kalisz’s structure are not erased but activated, allowing the works of design to resonate within a larger reflection on modernity, fragility, and continuity.’ Across the street, Bofill’s Abraxas ensemble, still layered with cinematic mythology, forms a counterpoint. ‘It offers a different yet complementary vision — monumental, theatrical, and still inhabited — forming a dialogue across the neighborhood that amplifies the resonance of the exhibition,’ Attali notes.

Galerie Philia presents STRATES, a large-scale exhibition staged across two brutalist landmarks

Site-specific commissions and dialogues with architecture

While the exhibition retraces Philia’s decade-long journey through key works from its roster of artists, several new commissions respond directly to the architecture. ‘Morghen Studio has developed a monumental light installation echoing the spiral geometry of the ramps, transforming circulation into a luminous journey,’ shares Attali. ‘Lucas and Tyra Morten have created seating elements that directly engage with the car park’s structural language. And Milla Vaahtera has designed a lamp that departs from her typically poetic and enchanted vocabulary, embracing instead a colder and more geometric expression.’

STRATES also forms part of a wider civic and cultural shift in Noisy-le-Grand, where the city and local public development company SOCAREN are rethinking how its monumental modernist fabric can evolve. ‘Noisy-le-Grand is emblematic of the late-20th-century ambition to create self-sufficient urban satellites around Paris,’  Attali points out. ‘Today, it is undergoing a process of revaluation: local officials are seeking to revitalise these iconic but underused spaces, making them more accessible to cultural and civic life.’

The exhibition is also rooted in community, involving local residents in its organization and guided visits. ‘We wanted the show not to be parachuted in from outside but truly integrated into the local fabric,’ Philia’s co-founder reflects. ‘In five years, I imagine this neighborhood as a place where architectural heritage is not demolished but reactivated, where the extraordinary vision of architects like Kalisz and Bofill becomes the foundation for new forms of urban vitality.’

Bofill’s Abraxas ensemble is still layered with cinematic mythology

the show reflects on a decade of curatorial exploration

Silver Light by Henry Wilson

Galerie Philia has become known for situating contemporary design within charged architectural settings

transforming Kalisz’s monumental car park into an experimental exhibition

Nautile by Elsa Foulon

several new commissions respond directly to the architecture

Folds by Laura Pasquino

the exhibition is also rooted in community, involving local residents in its organization and guided visits

STRATES also forms part of a wider civic and cultural shift in Noisy-le-Grand

project info:

name: STRATES – Galerie Philia’s 10th Anniversary Exhibition

dates: October 28th – November 30th, 2025

locations: Espaces d’Abraxas & Parking Jacques Kalisz (Mont d’Est), Noisy-le-Grand, Grand Paris, France

curation: Galerie Philia | @galerie.philia (Ygaël and Yaïr Attali)

The post galerie philia activates two brutalist landmarks in grand paris for its 10th anniversary show appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.

France’s Ministry of Culture unveils the five finalist teams competing to reimagine the most visited museum in the world as part of the ambitious Louvre – Nouvelle Renaissance project (find designboom’s previous coverage here). Following an international call that attracted more than a hundred submissions, two-thirds of which came from abroad, the shortlist announced marks a milestone in the transformation of the museum.

The jury of twenty-one members reviewed the proposals before naming the five finalist teams. These are Amanda Levete Architects (AL_A) with NC Nathalie Crinière, Carole Bénaiteau, VDLA, and Atelier SOIL; Architecture Studio with Diller Scofidio + Renfro, Atelier Brückner, LAMA YA, and TER; Dubuisson Architecture with SANAA and Dan Pearson Studio; Sou Fujimoto Ateliers Paris with Sou Fujimoto Architects, Ducks Scéno, and Vogt Paysage; and STUDIOS Architecture with Selldorf Architects, Scénarchie, and BASE.

reimagining the most visited museum in the world | image courtesy of Musée du Louvre

Nouvelle Renaissance reimagines the museum’s visitor experience

Announced by Emmanuel Macron in January 2025, Louvre – Nouvelle Renaissance represents a vast scientific, cultural, architectural, and environmental undertaking. The project envisions a renewal of the museum’s infrastructure and the creation of new spaces and access points that will redefine how visitors experience the Louvre.

The first component, titled Louvre – Grande Colonnade, focuses on creating new public entrances through the eastern section of the palace, restoring the original intent behind Louis XIV’s monumental facade.

These new access points will ease congestion at I. M. Pei’s glass pyramid and improve circulation throughout the museum, while offering visitors a more comfortable and inclusive welcome. Beneath the Cour Carrée and the surrounding gardens, a new underground expansion will introduce an additional museum wing, including a dedicated gallery for the Mona Lisa. This so-called Parcours Joconde aims to recontextualize Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece and to redistribute the intense flow of visitors that currently converges on the Denon Wing.

A new grand exhibition hall will also be built, enabling the Louvre to host larger and more varied temporary shows and strengthening its role as a contemporary cultural venue. The broader aim is to reconnect the museum with its surrounding urban landscape, from the moats of the Grande Colonnade to the facades overlooking Place du Louvre.

the shortlist announced marks a milestone in Louvre’s transformation | image courtesy of Musée du Louvre

preserving heritage while building for the future

The second component, Louvre Demain, introduces a long-term masterplan for renovating the infrastructures and technical systems of the museum, ensuring that the monumental site meets 21st-century standards of sustainability and accessibility. The architectural interventions will be carried out under the supervision of François Chatillon, Chief Architect of Historical Monuments.

Through Louvre – Nouvelle Renaissance, the museum seeks to balance historic grandeur with contemporary needs, expanding the legacy of Pei’s Grand Louvre project of the 1980s and 1990s, which transformed the Cour Napoléon and Richelieu Wing but left the eastern facade largely untouched. The initiative sets out to complete that vision, reuniting the classical architecture of the palace with the city that surrounds it.

Nouvelle Renaissance represents a vast undertaking | image courtesy of Musée du Louvre

redefining how visitors experience the Louvre | image © Franck Bohbot

a new grand exhibition hall will also be built | image © Franck Bohbot

21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art in Kanazawa (2004) by SANAA | image courtesy of the architects

L’Arbre Blanc by Sou Fujimoto | image by Iwan Baan

Central Embassy by Amanda Levete Architects (AL_A) in Thailand | image © Hufton + Crow 

Garden Court, The Frick Collection, New York, led by Selldorf Architects | image © Joseph Coscia Jr.

Community Swimming Pool, Châteaulin by Dubuisson Architecture | image courtesy of the architects

project info:

name: Louvre – Nouvelle Renaissance

location: Musée du Louvre | @museelouvre, Paris, France

shortlisted teams:  Amanda Levete Architects / AL_A | @amandalevetearchitects, Architecture Studio with Diller Scofidio + Renfro | @diller_scofidio_renfro, Dubuisson Architecture | @dubuissonarchitecture with SANAA | @sanaa_jimusho, Sou Fujimoto | @sou_fujimoto, STUDIOS Architecture | @studiosarchitecture with Selldorf Architects

The post SANAA, sou fujimoto, and DS+R among five teams shortlisted for the louvre’s transformation appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.