RIVIER CHAMPAGNE BAR

The project was created in response to an architectural competition call for a Champagne River Bar located on the bank of the river Seine in Paris. From the very begining it was known that the project was never ment to be build, therefore our team has decided to establish a design which could be located on the edge of sculpture and architecture in relation to water. The design was required to employ a sustainable approach to create a medium size object which could form a social space within the city. Therefore our main idea was to design a place not overwhelmed by the accompanying facilities. It was ment to be simple and easily accessible from both the river bank as well as from the street level. We have decided to divide the design into two parts: The first part - the iron frame, which skin and interior ought to be made entirely out of recyclable materials, should invite the guests directly from the river bank and provide a secret challenge for the pedestrians on the boulvard. In order for the form to be multi-acessible we have decided it should neither sit on the bank nor be a direct part of the sidewalk above it. Therefore the main entrance is floating in between those two well defined elements of the city creating an unusual sculpture. By the multitude of the access levels, the object ceases to be just an object. It becomes an integrating, cental area of the river ‘Seine’ instead. The second part - the hidden function, which ought to make an impression that the form, from the inside, is larger than it actually is. As the main idea was to create an object which would remain more sculpture-like, all the accompanying function as: restrooms, coakroom, kitchen, storage and offices were hidden under the boulevard. This move has enabled us to minimize the building area directly on the river bank. We wanted the restaurant, the bar counter and the vip rooms to be as open towards the river as possible showing the guests the fabulous view of the city of Paris. Our goal was also to make the form open despite the ongoing closed events hence the big upper and lower terrace both inviting the pedestrians to take part in the whole instalation. By combining the two parts together we wanted to create a structure which incorporates the flowing water with contemporary design language. The fluidity deriving from the art noveau with the minimalistic lightness of solutions, which are well known as parisian architectural tradition.