COCOON
The Centre Pompidou in Paris has been designed to maximize efficiency. The strategy of providing vast, column-free floorplates, clear or vertical circulation and building services, allows it to cater for many different and diverse uses through maximum flexibility. While this machinist aesthetic works well for program such as exhibition and museum spaces, bookshops and libraries, it is not a natural fit for the intimate atmosphere of a restaurant.
The proposal for a restaurant on the top floor of the Centre Pompidou takes full advantage of the panoramic views over the Parisian rooftops, while providing the dinner with a cosy dining environment, a cocoon created by a single flowing element that meanders through the industrial shell. This ribbon is floor covering, wall and ceiling surface. As the form moves through the space a range of different dining spaces are created. The surface of the ribbon dampens the bright acoustics of the space. Its surface can take on projected light, changing the atmosphere from event, season to season, day to night, from golden ribbon to cordon blue.
Location: Top floor of the Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
Date: 1998
Design team: Lacoste+Stevenson Architects and Vincent Hubert, Thiery Lacoste, Vincent Hubert, Gaspard Giroud
Structural engineer: RFR
Photography / images: Lacoste+Stevenson Architects, Gaspard Giroud, Cordon Bleu image
The Centre Pompidou in Paris has been designed to maximize efficiency. The strategy of providing vast, column-free floorplates, clear or vertical circulation and building services, allows it to cater for many different and diverse uses through maximum flexibility. While this machinist aesthetic works well for program such as exhibition and museum spaces, bookshops and libraries, it is not a natural fit for the intimate atmosphere of a restaurant.
The proposal for a restaurant on the top floor of the Centre Pompidou takes full advantage of the panoramic views over the Parisian rooftops, while providing the dinner with a cosy dining environment, a cocoon created by a single flowing element that meanders through the industrial shell. This ribbon is floor covering, wall and ceiling surface. As the form moves through the space a range of different dining spaces are created. The surface of the ribbon dampens the bright acoustics of the space. Its surface can take on projected light, changing the atmosphere from event, season to season, day to night, from golden ribbon to cordon blue.
Location: Top floor of the Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
Date: 1998
Design team: Lacoste+Stevenson Architects and Vincent Hubert, Thiery Lacoste, Vincent Hubert, Gaspard Giroud
Structural engineer: RFR
Photography / images: Lacoste+Stevenson Architects, Gaspard Giroud, Cordon Bleu image
The Centre Pompidou in Paris has been designed to maximize efficiency. The strategy of providing vast, column-free floorplates, clear or vertical circulation and building services, allows it to cater for many different and diverse uses through maximum flexibility. While this machinist aesthetic works well for program such as exhibition and museum spaces, bookshops and libraries, it is not a natural fit for the intimate atmosphere of a restaurant.
The proposal for a restaurant on the top floor of the Centre Pompidou takes full advantage of the panoramic views over the Parisian rooftops, while providing the dinner with a cosy dining environment, a cocoon created by a single flowing element that meanders through the industrial shell. This ribbon is floor covering, wall and ceiling surface. As the form moves through the space a range of different dining spaces are created. The surface of the ribbon dampens the bright acoustics of the space. Its surface can take on projected light, changing the atmosphere from event, season to season, day to night, from golden ribbon to cordon blue.
Location: Top floor of the Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
Date: 1998
Design team: Lacoste+Stevenson Architects and Vincent Hubert, Thiery Lacoste, Vincent Hubert, Gaspard Giroud
Structural engineer: RFR
Photography / images: Lacoste+Stevenson Architects, Gaspard Giroud, Cordon Bleu image