THIERRY COSTES' BOUTIQUE HOTEL BROUGHT .PSLAB AND INDIA MADHAVI TOGETHER FOR ANOTHER PROJECT MAISON THOUMIEUX
Paris, France
Design Practice – India Madhavi

• Site-specific response with custom products by .PSLAB for Thierry Costes and Jean-François Piège's project
• Latest project in series of collaborations between .PSLAB and architect & designer India Mahdavi

With hotelier Thierry Costes, .PSLAB has collaborated again with India Mahdavi to light the rooms and dining area of a newly renovated boutique hotel in Paris, France. The products, which were designed and manufactured exclusively for the hotel spaces and Jean-François Piège restaurant, respond to the physical constraints of the site and integrate with Mahdavi's strong design style.

Image courtesy .PSLAB

THE SITE

In this site, .PSLAB's emphasis was on the relationship between the viewer and the light provided by the fixture, creating a specific mood that will engage the viewer with the products.

On the hotel room walls, India Mahdavi's choice of strongly hexagonal embossed wallpaper would interact strongly with any lighting fixture. There was also no possibility of recessing the product into the walls to conceal the technical elements of the fixtures.

In the dining area, the hotel's ceilings were unusually low, producing a specific design constraint.

Image courtesy .PSLAB

.PSLAB PRODUCT RESPONSE

.PSLAB created a product that could be used as a small version in the hotel rooms as a wall fixture and on a larger scale as a ceiling fixture in the dining area, so providing a sense of continuity.

The product was a set of three concentric curved 'ribs' around a central cavity, fashioned in brass. The bulb was placed in the central cavity, and topped with a reflector that refracted the light back into the fixture before it exited into the space, giving a softer glow.

As the hotel room walls could not be recessed, the products' technical wiring was concealed in an offset which created a gap between the product and the wall. The fixtures could be applied at different levels and alone or in groups of two or three according to the demands of the space. The reflectors in these fixtures were made of perforated black steel.

A design challenge was met in scaling up the fixtures from their size in the hotel rooms into vast 80cm ceiling fixtures for the dining area. The black steel reflector in these objects was not perforated, reacting to the different light requirement.

Image courtesy .PSLAB

CONCLUSION

The products responded effectively to the constraints of the space, and also stood alone as products which provided a sense of continuity between the small versions in the hotel rooms and the large ones in the dining area. Overall, a sense of intimacy and harmony was provided by the fixtures, which nevertheless provided a visual interruption to the highly patterned interior design.

These unique products, imagined according to the constraining physical factors of the site, will also find life through their availability as part of .PSLAB's products archive, which they enter on completion.

+ About

.PSLAB

http://pslab.net

Founded in 2004 with over 100 team members working out of four city bases in Europe and the Middle-East including offices in Beirut and Stuttgart, .PSLAB are designers and manufacturers of site-specific lighting products. Our work can be found in private homes, conceptual boutiques, restaurants, offices and art galleries worldwide. We have also been internationally awarded for many of our lighting products.

Our creative and technical teams work together on every aspect of product development, from concept to construction. This gives us the edge that is the core of our identity – our pieces are individual to particular spaces, and are manufactured by us, in our own factory.

Maison Thoumieux

After the creation of Brasserie Thoumieux, Jean-François Piège – famous Parisian Chef – launched a new hotel in partnership with Thierry Costes. Decorated by India Madhavi, the Maison Thoumieux has redefined Parisian chic, with an Art Deco setting designed to perfection. Decorated in pastel shades of blue and sea green, the 15 rooms of the hotel have an intimate and personal atmosphere.

Jean-François Piège invites visitors into his gastronomic restaurant to explore an informal style of cooking. There, visitors can cozy up in plush velvet sofas and enjoy fine dishes under a glass roof.

Boasting an exceptional location in the heart of the Left Bank, the Maison Thoumieux is just a few steps away from the Invalides and the Champ de Mars.

+ More projects by .PSLAB

'STREETLIGHTS' by .PSLAB at DOSarchitects studio

New Custom Products for Iconic Rooftop Bar from .PSLAB

-Safe Enclosures for Istanbul-

… It's time to transmit calm state of mind, to keep focus… to concentrate, to gather for a common cause… a time to look for the others…to shelter life…to learn from our environments… been aware and responsive. Organization is the key. Seeking to help, find solutions and take care of the others in much order as possible… Hence the city has several layers as molding parameters… let them promote quality in public spaces, where people must be protagonist of their own decisions by been aware to change when ever is necessary…

Istanbul Disaster Prevention and Education Centre, render courtesy Shine Architecture

The 9,000 square meter pedestrian-oriented complex, sited adjacent to multiuse facilities (commercial-administrative-tourism-among others) of Istanbul, aims to counter the current privatized airport-urban developments in Bakirköy district by creating a contemporary porous urban space, inviting and open to the public from every side. Rather than a strict programmatic output, the proposal is an open multifunctional space, an attractor for diverse activities all year long. Generating a collateral effect to explore its original purpose; to inform disaster prevention and shelter a calm and fluent environment in case of emergency.

Istanbul Disaster Prevention and Education Centre, render courtesy Shine Architecture

Folding: Disaster + Prevention + Education

From an in-between location in the outskirts of Istanbul, the proposal merges as a contextual reference and learning environment for disaster prevention. It gathers from the site actual and future urban plans to articulate the context. The project promotes interactive relations and encourages encounters in the public spaces that vary from commercial to administrative, and educational to recreational. The ground level offers open passages to walk through landscape and site design that imprints lines that follow the project's tectonics into the main interior spaces and blending public, green and parking areas.

Istanbul Disaster Prevention and Education Centre, render courtesy Shine Architecture

The project is divided in two levels and each level embrace double or triple heights with internal "flexible" hubs for each programmatic necessity. Here two enclose 'tubes' crosses main structural frames from north to south. Those ample enclosures are conceived as multifunctional spaces similar to a "warehouse" that can be changed in time in regards of the Centre necessities or occupational demands.

The entire project is accessible for disable people, with only two levels and wide horizontal connected spaces avoiding misleading changing levels in the case of an emergency. Every walking distance of 30 meters is connected with emergency exists according to NFPA, hence the project is modulated to maximize fluent emergency walking patterns and aiming to celebrate such facilities; where occupants can learn and recognize them as common appendices to be aware-off.

Additionally, several occupation scenarios where thought; an emergency shelter, daily usage, multi tasking spaces and events with substantial concentration of people. For example, in case of big events or emergencies all spaces in ground level are interconnected as complementary units. Also vertical connections are strategically located in the core of all activities to facilitate efficient connective loops, information zones and control points.

Istanbul Disaster Prevention and Education Centre - Self structure diagram, drawing courtesy Shine Architecture

The first level is divided in three spatial 'stripes'. A public enclose 'tube area' for the exhibition hall, capacitating rooms and the emergency shelter. The middle stripe contains the reception-lobby and a semi-outdoor garden. The last space comprises administration facilities, toilette clusters and a restaurant-cafe. The second level has all specialized training spaces, cinema, auditorium and planetarium. A main hallway articulates each room by encompassing training complexity by moving deeply into the plan.

Istanbul Disaster Prevention and Education Centre, render courtesy Shine Architecture

A morphological approach

Morphologically the proposal aims to fold and generate programmatic operative layers within two assets:

1- The Frame: Conceptually was sketched as a continuous line in a close inside-outside relationship. The line folds to generate safe spatial enclosures. Such enclosures were explored by self-structure capabilities of folding positions along the mainframe beam. Thus material thresholds and environmental dynamics are used to defined form, materiality and building systems.
2- Frames: A set of frames that varies in angular positions from north to south along its long axis (west-east) in regards of climate protection and tectonics. The aim is to articulate the plot form, main open spaces and referential urban nodes. The frames generate spaces that open-up gradually, when approaching open public areas and main urban connections.

Istanbul Disaster Prevention and Education Centre - Climate responsive design, drawing courtesy Shine Architecture

Sustainability & Climate responsive design

Due to Istanbul's location and significant changing climate conditions, the proposal is conceived as an environmental shelter. However outdoor conditions are not alienated; but modulated gradually into the spaces, in order to optimize environmental performance. This asset is achieved with a set of layers within the envelope; coming from lightweight materials that covers major spaces along the main structure, into further internal skins for programmatic hubs or clusters surrounded by transitional spaces.

Buildings do not consume energy but their occupants do…, hence the project aims to facilitate thermal, visual and acoustic comfort for them. Passive zones are maximized, thus simple adaptive behaviors such as wearing a coat or light clothing can do the task to achieve thermal comfort in most public open spaces all year long. Active zones are minimized as independent clusters inside main spaces to achieve controllable conditions with a minimum area. Most clusters can perform hybrid (passive or active) depending on their demands. Translucent materials in external layers facilitate diffuse daylight to penetrate for achieving visual comfort. Natural ventilation can be obtained with operable openings at the occupant's height for each room and upper vents are also incorporated to control adiabatic flows.

Local vernacular practice points out that lightweight materials, transitional spaces and controlled openings are critical to achieve comfort and buffering adverse environmental conditions with low energy consumption. In spite of this, lightweight materials are complementary features for the main structure, where affordable materials can be incorporated, replaced or dissemble whenever it is necessary.

Finally the project should be visualized as a tool to transmit & facilitate gathering, knowledge and thoughts upon our environments. A time to articulate and prepare for future demands. A safe enclosure to prevent disasters for Istanbul.

+ Project facts

Project: Istanbul Disaster Prevention and Education Centre
Location: Istanbul, Turkey
Developed by: SHINE Architecture
Typology: Competition Submission
Year: 2011
Project Credits: Michael Smith, Minche Mena, Ruben Vazquez, Jose Zermeno, “Shine Architecture”

+ All images and drawings  courtesy SHINE Architecture