One of the most anticipated openings in Paris, (as we already advanced last March at METALOCUS) the reform and expansion of the La Samaritaine department store, designed by a large team of architecture studios, led largely by the Japanese studio SANAA, has opened its doors after a restoration process that has kept them closed since 2005.

Located between the Louvre and Les Halles, the Samaritaine complex, is a luxury shopping destination in a 19th-century retail space, playing a pivotal role in the renaissance of the neighborhood, including a pedestrian square with direct access to the famous Pont Neuf bridge.

La Samaritaine was established by Ernest and Marie-Louise Cognacq-Jaÿ in 1870. It comprises a set buildings designed by architects Frantz Jourdain and Henri Sauvage.
The new Samaritaine is made up of three buildings, two of them meticulously restored and a third characterized by the exceptional façade designed by SANAA's Japanese studio. A facade with a veil of wavy glass, which blurs and lightens the weight of the building's structure.


SANAA intervened in two of French luxury goods company LVHM's buildings and restored the Art Nouveau and Art Deco structure with the help of the Canadian studio Yabu Pushelberg. The peacock frescoes of Jourdain's son and other ceramic works were restored after being discovered during the long restoration process.

"To further enhance the integration of the new design within its urban context the glass reflects and transforms the  surrounding environment, creating a subtle combination of the historical and the contemporary across its surface. Our intention is to establish a harmonious relationship between those parts that are renovated and those that are new."

SANAA

Its revamp has been carried out by a team headed up by SANAA and including SRA Architectes, Édouard François and Jean-François Lagneau and FBAA.
 

Project description by SANAA

This project is the renovation of La Samaritaine, a late-19th century “Grand magasin” in Paris.The site is of great historical significance and the footprint of the building extends from Rue de Rivoli to the Quai du Louvre, overlooking the Seine.

Our design creates a “passage de La Samaritaine”, a new street with social and commercial activities that runs through the length of the existing building. It connects three full height courtyards, one existing and two new: each is unique in design and together they create an alternating sequence of indoor activity areas and spaces that are open to views of the sky.

This new Paris passage is both a physical and figurative connection between the historical façade of the Sauvage building overlooking the Seine and the new façade we have designed for Rue de Rivoli.

Our design for the Rivoli façade revitalizes the image of La Samaritaine. The soft waves of the glass echo the rhythm and scale of neighboring fenestration, establishing continuity along this busy commercial street.

To further enhance the integration of the new design within its urban context the glass reflects and transforms the  surrounding environment, creating a subtle combination of the historical and the contemporary across its surface. Our intention is to establish a harmonious relationship between those parts that are renovated and those that are new.

More information

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Architects
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SANAA. Architects.- Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa.
Operations architect.- SRA Architectes.
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Project Team
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Yoshitaka Tanase, Arrate Arizaga Villalba, Shogo Onodera, Takayuki Hasegawa, Takayuki Furuya, Marc Dujon, Bradley Fraser, Léa Hippolyte, Corinne Bokufa, Eloka Som, Loic Engelhard.
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Collaborators
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Operations architects.- SRA Architectes, SARL Brugel, Architectes associés. Heritage architects.- Cabinet Lagneau.
Construction manager.- Egis Bâtiments Management.

Façades.- RFR. Structures.- AEDIS Ingénierie and RFR GO+
Hydraulics.- Barbanel. Geothermics.- Burgeap. Networks.- OGI. Translucent glass floor.- SDI.
Budget.- AE75.
Acoustic.- Acoustique  et Conseil.
Control office.- Socotec.
Fire security.- CSD Faces.
Safety.- Lacour Consultants.
Environment.- Le Sommer Environnement.
Accessibility.- Cogito Ergo Sum.
Geometrics.- Cabinet Tartacede-Bollaer.
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Renovation
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LVMH Hôtel Management (construction manager); OAL / Edouard Francois (conception architect); OAL / Edouard Francois (conception architect); Cabinet Lagneau (heritage architect); Ertim (retail space architect).
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Area and programme
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65120 m².
20,000 square metres of retail space over three floors, alongside a nursery, 96 social housing units and 15,000 square meters of office space.
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Dates
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Project.- 2010. Opening.- June 23th, 2021.
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Photography
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Simón García - arqfoto. Jared Chulski.
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Kazuyo Sejima (Ibaraki, Japan, 1956) and Ryue Nishizawa (Kanagawa, Japan, 1966) worked independently from each other before founding the SANAA Ltd. studio in 1995. Having studied architecture at the Japan Women’s University, Sejima went on to work for the renowned architect Toyo Ito. She set up her own studio in 1987 and in 1992 was proclaimed Young Architect of the Year in Japan. Nishizawa studied architecture at the Yokohama National University. In addition to his work with Sejima, he has had his own practice since 1997.

The studio has built several extraordinarily successful commercial and institutional buildings, civic centres, homes and museums both in Japan and elsewhere. These include the O Museum in Nagano (1999) and the N Museum in Wakayama (1997), the Day-Care Center in Yokohama (2000), the Prada Beauty Store in Tokyo and Hong Kong (2001), the Issey Miyake and Christian Dior Building in Tokyo (2003) and the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art in Kanazawa (2004). Sejima also designed the famous Small House in Tokyo (2000), the Toledo Museum of Art Glass Pavilion, Toledo, Ohio (2001-2006), the extension to the Institut Valencia d’Art Modern, Valencia, Spain (2002 – ), the Zollverein School, Essen, Germany (2003-2006), the New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York (2003-2007) and the Novartis Campus WSJ-157 Office Building, Basle, Switzerland (2003 – ).

In 2004 Sejima and Nishizawa were awarded the Golden Lion at the 9th Venice Architecture Biennale for their distinguished work on the Metamorph exhibition.

Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa have won the 2010 Pritzker Prize.

The 12th International Architecture Exhibition, was directed by Kazuyo Sejima, the first woman to direct the venice architecture biennale, since its inception in 1980.

   

Ryue Nishizawa and Kazuyo Sejima. Kazuyo Sejima

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Published on: June 28, 2021
Cite: "Samaritaine reopens after an exceptional renovation by SANAA and team" METALOCUS. Accessed
<https://www.metalocus.es/en/news/samaritaine-reopens-after-exceptional-renovation-sanaa-and-team> ISSN 1139-6415
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