Galeries Lafayette Champs Elysees

PARIS, FRANCE

2019

CLIENT

Groupe Galeries Lafayette

TYPOLOGY

Retail, Interiors

SIZE M2/FT2

6,800 / 73,195

STATUS

COMPLETED

Located on the iconic Avenue des Champs-Élysées in Paris, the 6,800 m2 Galeries Lafayette concept store officially opened its doors to the public in Spring 2019, welcoming local and global shoppers into a former Art Deco bank building from 1932 which BIG carefully uncovered and restored.

The generous four-story environment is the largest store on the famed Parisian boulevard and combines old world elegance with modern chic, hosting established and emerging brands, experiences and events. BIG’s design pays tribute to the tactility and texture of the historical building.

“When we inherited this incredible space from 1932, most of the beautiful materials and Art Deco elements were covered with black painted drywall, the skylight was blinded by sheetrock and the connections to the outside had disappeared. We focused on the heart of the building and preserved all of its precious materials and refined details, wrapping them in gallery-like spaces. The historical architecture is supplemented by the raw qualities of ceiling heights and abundance of daylight.”

Jakob Sand — Partner, BIG

Shoppers are invited into the building through an inverse canopy on the street level. A glowing bridge ushers life into the heart of the building: a dramatic circular atrium covered by a monumental glass cupola that has been restored and uncovered for maximum daylight.

The entire store unfolds itself on the ground floor and creates a bright new urban living room for brand activations, fashion shows and other special events. A grand staircase, which doubles as an auditorium during events, takes visitors to the mixed-use space on the first floor which features creative and emerging brands, as well as a denim lab, jewelry display, limited edition sneakers and tech products.

19_15020_webproject

19_15020_N25_webproject

GROUND FLOOR — The ground floor creates a bright new urban living room for Parisians and visitors who can continue to the food court in the basement or explore upper floors for shopping.

LEVEL 1 — A continuous golden ring of perforated metal wraps around all of the columns and creates a series of rooms and alcoves facing the atrium. Throughout the store, furniture doubles as product displays and seating.

LEVEL 2 — The upper levels of the store are more refined and continue the idea of furniture as artifact. The top floor features a series of suspended glass vitrines that look like independent objects and can host a variety of experiences and activities visible from the lower levels.

Art sculptures appear throughout the store, including, Après Vous, Le Déluge by Danish artists Superflex. The installation, made specifically for Galeries Lafayette Champs Elysees, consists of blue sculptures forming a dashed line on the walls of the building’s atrium. This discontinuous line is an indicator of an invisible border: the estimated height of sea level rise within the next century as a consequence of climate change. The height has been established according to the predictions of the 2015 Paris Agreement.

Precious materials and refined details from the past are reinterpreted and deployed in a contemporary way. Walking around the lofty gallery-like space feels as moving through a composition of architectural elements that operate at the scale of furniture and create defined experiential shopping zones.

A continuous golden ring of perforated metal wraps around all of the columns and creates a series of rooms and alcoves facing the atrium. From the ground floor, visitors are immediately able to see the upper levels enticing them to explore the different destinations and activities. The escalators are finished in warm metal and a ribbon of glass in the same material palette as the central atrium.

Exploring the store and its different levels feels like a carefully curated environment where furniture is never only storage: interweaving carpets become dressing rooms, countertops are a sculptural stack of elements, magic carpets for the shoe display double as furniture for the shoppers to sit and try the footwear. The upper levels of the store are more refined and continue the idea of furniture as artifact.

The top floor features a series of suspended glass vitrines that look like independent objects and can host a variety of experiences and activities visible from the lower levels.

On the second floor, shoppers can dine in the Oursin restaurant while enjoying views of the city or relax at the Citron coffee lounge on the 1st floor, both designed by French fashion designer Simon Porte Jacquemus and operated by Caviar Kaspia.

The entire basement floor is a Parisian food court, where groceries and eateries are divided into sweet and savory sections and where massive counters are arranged around welcoming shared tables.

“Working with a family and a company that can look back 100 years gives you – not only the possibility – but actually the responsibility to attempt to look as far ahead as you can look back. With the advent and omnipresence of online retail, the urban department store’s role and relevance must be renewed as the urban agora. We humans are social beings – and more than ever do we need a forum for collective intimacy – where we can’t just get what we want by clicking on it – but where we can engage with others in urban environments that are visually and physically stimulating to all the senses.”

Bjarke Ingels — Founder & Creative Director, BIG

Bjarke Ingels Daniel Sundlin Jakob Lange Andreas Klok Pedersen Jakob Sand Agla Egilsdottir Pauline Lavie-Luong Terrence Chew Thomas Smith Tracy Sodder Francesca Portesine Janie Green Alvaro Garcia Mendive Amro Abdelsalam Anis Souissi Aurelie Frolet Bart Ramakers Carl Pettersson Catalina Rivera Rothgaenger Clementine Huck Dimitrie Grigorescu Emily Pickett Enea Michelesio Ethan Duffey Etienne Duval Filip Milovanovic Francisco Salazar Teodor Cristian Fratila Gabrielle Nadeau Gerhard Pfeiler Hugo Yun Tong Soo Joanna M. Lesna Karim Muallem Katarzyna Swiderska Ksymena Borczynska Laurent De Carniere Lucas Stein Lucian Mihail Racovitan Marie Lancon Miguel Sousa Rebelo Monika Dauksaite Paula Domka Philip Rufus Knauf Quentin Blaising Rahul Girish Ramona Montecillo Raphael Ciriani Sergi Sauras Taylor Fulton Thomas Sebastian Krall Tomas Karl Ramstrand Tianqi Zhang Xavier Delanoue Ye Sul Cho José Carlos De Silva Hye-Min Cha Anna Juzak Christian Lopez Emine Halefoglu Gabrielė Ubarevičiūtė Josiah Poland Kyle Thomas David Tousant Stefano Zugno Malgorzata Mutkowska