Sebastien Segers

In order to reinstate the splendour of this Department Store created in 1932 by Louis Faure-Dujarric and to provide a more efficient layout, Sébastien Segers and Laurent Goudchaux have decided to match the historical story with a contemporaneous design. They have provided a new reading of the grid and of the principles of the existing facade: design rationality, horizontal strips, plain geometrical shapes, show windows of large dimensions, noble materials. The gapping angle leading to the shop in the basement has been replaced by a true circular entrance. Inside the building, the circulations layout, the structure and the ductwork have been carefully reviewed so to provide an easy understanding of the volumes.

The new facade is cladded with bright Carrare marble from the Quarry of “Campanili Marbles” and looks like a sculpted monolith. It is made of the assembly of thousands of elements, all precisely designed, modelised and numbered in three dimensions for a perfect fitting. This sensual mineral mass, with a fine rubbed finish, includes both flat and curved surfaces and protruding and recessed show windows. An abyss setting of the profiles of the ogees, in and out, ensures that the whole assembly has an aesthetical homogeneity.

Very large horizontal show windows, with glazed panels measuring up to eight metres, have lead the Architects to modify the structure of the building. Therefore they have reduced the dimensions of the concrete facade columns and one column out of two has been deleted. These have been replaced by a steel column located behind the show window. This design of the proportions based on the typology of the retail shops of the end of the nineteenth century has convinced the “Architecte des Bâtiments de France” who has approved of this totally contemporaneous facade