HOTEL DU LOUVRE , Paris, FRANCE

CLIENTS : Concorde Hotel & Resorts with Starwood Capital
LOCATION : Paris, FRANCE
PROGRAM : Design concept for the refurbishing and renovation of Hotel du Louvre
APPOINTMENT : Invited competition, Project selected.
DATE : 2012

The exceptional location of this hotel, in the very heart of Paris and across the street from the Musee du Louvre, is in open contradiction with the deceiving quality of existing interior spaces and fittings.
The competition, besides inviting to explore a new functional layout and new rooms fit out, calls for a new concept for the hospitality experience that this hotel should offer.
Our analysis of the existing building has identified building two outstanding architectural elements whose re-thinking and redesign could lead to surprisingly beneficial solutions to the hotel both from the architectural and functional point of view: the inner courtyard and the lobby space.
The inner courtyard has acquired over the years the role of a sort of backyard, which is nor respectful of the exceptional quality of the building nor viable from the economic point of view since rooms giving onto the courtyard cannot be sold at equal rates as per the rooms overlooking the streets.
The lobby space appears to be deceivingly out of proportion in relation of what announced by the main façade in axes with the Avenue de l’Opera
The design strategy is to reclaim to the hotel the inner courtyard to give it the role of a main façade as important as the outside one but even more important in terms of the life of the hotel since the intention is to make of the courtyard the natural reference point within the hotel.
The inner courtyard becomes a welcoming space of quietness and calm that will offer to the rooms giving onto the courtyard a forgotten value, almost comparable to the one facing the city.
The lobby space is enlarged to become twice as spacious as the existing one and become the natural and porous filter between the city around and the hotel’s central courtyard.
Once the new architectural and spacial order is established the design’s target is to give evidence to a hospitality experience that has to be as exceptional as the history  of this hotel
The Hotel du Louvre, by its position and history, cannot just offer to its clients a top class service, for how impeccable, efficient and sophisticated this might be.
The Hotel du Louvre design concept is to make of this hotel a place of experience where the five senses would be subtly but constantly stimulated to instill a feeling of quietness and wellness
The design, the choice of materials, their textures, the lighting design,  the furnishings selections are dictated by the intention to create spaces that despite their different aura are linked by a subtle and consistent attention to the five senses.
Whether this is applied to the common areas or the hotel rooms, the design is driven by a senses awakening intention to create a place of tactile, visual, smell, and taste and sound experiences delicately balanced to offer a true, uniquely Parisian, experience.