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Projects   Lighting – February 2006
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Louis Vuitton

Paris
George Sexton Associates

George Sexton Associates wraps Louis Vuitton with glittering, layered light inspired by Parisian sunsets

  Photo © Jimmy Cohrssen
   

By Robert Such

In recent years, the French luxury retailer Louis Vuitton has blazed a trail as a trendsetter in retail architecture, constructing blockbuster stores in Tokyo [record, February 2004, page 143], New York, and Hong Kong. Last fall, it unveiled another showstopping venue on the Champs-Elysées in Paris. Sitting across the street from the site of the original LV shop built in 1914, the new 20,000-square-foot flagship turns a shopping trip into a promenade along a succession of dramatic interior terraces. Inspired in part by the dappled light of Parisian sunsets, multilayered illumination by George Sexton Associates (GSA) creates a glittering backdrop for the luxury goods on display.

For this project, a renovation of a 1931 building originally housing the Maison de France, the government tourist office, GSA again collaborated with a team of architects who are also LV veterans. The Louis Vuitton Architecture Department, headed by David McNulty, oversaw the project. Carbondale, a firm led by architect Eric Carlson (who previously ran LV’s in-house department), designed the facade alterations, interior space plan, mesh panels, atrium, and escalator image wall. Peter Marino Associates orchestrated furniture, displays, floors, and wall finishes.

Carlson conceived of the promenade layout concept, dispensing with standard enclosed retail floors and instead carving out volumes within the existing structure to create multiple platform levels that promote fluid movement. Throughout, brass-mesh panels partially screen windows and serve as buffers between retail zones. Fitted into a slot along the upper edge of each mesh panel, metal halide PAR20 lamps graze the screens along the windows and blend with daylight for a dappled effect. Where the partitions serve as area dividers, they take on the appearance of outsize sparkling bracelets linked together. Inlaid at different points with leather, glass, porcelain, and wood, the illuminated mesh skin evokes a lighting effect Carlson observed on a walk through Paris. “When the sun sets on a street axis in the late afternoon,” he says, “the light washes over wrought-iron balustrades, creating a glistening secondary facade.”

Want the full story? Read the entire article in our February 2006 issue.
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the People

Owner
Louis Vuitton

LVM Design Management:
Louis Vuitton Architecture Dept., Paris
David McNulty / Principal
Frederic Devenoge / Project leader

LVM Construction Management:
Louis Vuitton Real Estate Dept., Paris
Christian Reyne / Principle

Lighting designer
George Sexton Associates
2121 Wisconsin Ave., NW, Suite 220
Washington, DC 20007
(202) 337-1903

Architects - Bldg & Interior Design CARBONDALE, Paris
Facade:
Eric Carlson, Cristiano Benzoni / Principal

Promenade concept:
Marie-Eve Bidard, Olivier Davenier, Stéphanie Robin, Joan

Interior space design:
Arnau, Emmanuel Biard, Céline Davrinche, Guillaume Daydé,

Atrium design:
Stéphanie Grandjacques, Jane Landrey, Fanny Rodriguez

Metal skin design:
Muzia Sforza, Hiroyuki Tanaka, Celine Helfer, Julie Tse / Escalator image wall Project Team

Architect - Furniture Design
Peter Marino Associates, New York

Display furniture:
Peter Marino / Principal

Carpets:
Craig Greenberg / Associate in charge

Floor / Wall finishes:
Scott Stapleton, Zaid Aldamlouji, Maria Wilthew, Paul Ferrier, Caleb Mulvena, Enrique Pincay, Roy Oei, Luis Gonzalez, Dongkyu Lee / Project Team

Associate Architects & Office Design
Barthelemy - Grino Associates, Paris
- Philippe Barthelemy, Sylvia Grino / Principals
- Ludovic Mason, Sandrine Forais, Stephan Allaire/ Project Team

Engineer(s)
Structural Engineer (Skin):
RFR, Paris www.rfr.fr

Structural:
Terrell Rooke Associates, Boulongne
11, rue Heinrich
92772 Boulogne-Billancourt cedex
France Billancourt

Mechanical:
OCI, Nanterre

Consultant(s)
Special Effects Painting:
Studio Bastille, Paris www.bastillestudio.com

Contractor(s)
General Contractor:
Petit, Paris

Electrical contractors:
Guinier, Paris
Locoche, Paris

Site Construction Management:
JM Ellias Engineering, Le Mesnil Le Roi

Interior Contractors:
Alpha International, Suresnes
Schmit Tradition, St Maur
ADF, Argenteuil
Cassina, Milan
www.cassina.com

Photographer(s)
Jimmy Cohrssen

the Products

Lighting
Interior retail lighting:
Equinoxe, Paris

Controls:
Lutron Electronics, Inc. www.lutron.com


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