La Fantaisie | PETITDIDIERPRIOUX architectes

In a city with such a broadly diversified hotel market, the search for a new hospitality concept necessarily implies finding ways to stand out. But how do you avoid the pitfall of formal overstatement — an abundance of distinctive signals often resorted to as a recipe for commercial success?
Firmly rooted in its city and its history, newly opened La Fantaisie Hotel develops a modernised relationship to the street beyond its generous and refined façade.
The hotel is set in the 9th arrondissement, a popular tourist district in central Paris, which is not only one of the densest areas in the city, but also one with the smallest proportion of green spaces. And yet, when Rue Cadet was built in the 17th century, it was originally intended as an access road serving vegetable plots; and the Cadet family, after whom the street was named, had been master gardeners since Charles IX.

Composing with the Existing
The project was to deliver a comprehensive overhaul of the existing, wiping out all signs of outdated architecture while conserving much of the otherwise sound structure. Reinventing and transforming the building as it stood provided the opportunity for greater acceptance of the project from local residents — as no heavy demolition work was involved — and a less resource-intensive design.

A Lively Haven
The new hotel has been designed as a haven, halfway between the hustle and bustle of the city and the peaceful quietude of an urban getaway. To do so, one of the challenges was to incorporate breathing spaces into the layout, thus curating an experience where guests are taken along a reinvigorating journey and creating interest outside the rooms — with an expanded and newly landscaped garden; a largely open-plan ground floor layout with an urban garden feel and featuring new services (retail accommodation); wellness facilities supplanting the unutilised underground parking garage; public access to the rooftop affording panoramic views of the roofs of Paris.

A core of Greenery
The ground floor has been designed as a soft transition between the public realm and the intimate interior, from the busy thoroughfare to a serene garden. On the street side, the commercial frontage is maximised and elevated by storefront designs combining wood with metal; while on the garden side, a large conservatory stretching the whole width of the plot houses now the restaurant, affording guests the experience of sitting in a scenic landscape, away from the hubbub of the city.
On the roof, the programme takes opportunity of an empty space previously left unutilised against the upper sections of the party walls on both sides, restoring urban alignment and reaffirming the skyline from the street. A heavily glazed volume has been placed atop, housing a rooftop bar as the culmination of this architectural journey.

Parisian Matter
The façade’s materiality, consisting of zinc in a greenish grey aged finish, blends multiple expressions (folded or striated), in a celebration of the Parisian landscape: the zinc and copper of the roofs, of course, as well as the wealth of façade ornaments and the search for balance between the built environment and the landscape provisions. Narrow sections of thin steel-framed wall-to-ceiling windows also conjure up the vegetable greenhouses that once studded the area.

Assistant project developer: ACPH/Inextenso

Photography: © Sergio Grazia