MVRDV has renovated a 19th-century Haussmann building with glass floor for French lingerie brand Etam's new flagship store in Paris, France.  

Called Etam Paris, MVRDV renovated the 350-square-metre store by removing internal barriers and adding a glass floor to allow light to fill the interior.

In the design, MRVDV respected the history of the building and aimed to preserve its original structure which is combined with an unexpected and unique shopping experience: like the lingerie on display, the store is revealing and intimate at the same time.

Located on a corner site on Boulevard Haussmann directly across from the Galeries Lafayette department store, the building is located in one of the prime shopping locations in Paris near the Opera Garnier. 

MVRDV’s design takes advantage of the building’s wedge-shaped floor plan by stripping back the exterior as much as possible – highlighting the building’s clean classical appearance, allowing plenty of light to enter the Etam store from both sides, and creating large windows for display.

"This "stripped down" approach continues to the interior, where the design reveals the original stone structure in an elegantly simple way – removing a part of the entresol floor above and most of the interior walls," said MVRDV. 

"The most striking alteration is a glass floor at ground level, which allows light to penetrate to the basement level and makes a visit to Etam’s store a captivating experience as visitors see products and people on the level above or below." 

"This floor is treated with a special film that makes it transparent when viewed at an angle, but clouded when viewed from directly above or below, providing privacy and preventing vertigo for those standing on the glass floor." 

According to the studio, this creates a direct reference to the lingerie on display; at once revealing and yet respectfully modest.

The basement floor is accessed by a grand central staircase. These stairs, as well as the flooring of the basement level and the back of the ground level, are finished with a light-coloured wood laid on its end, inspired by the “pavé en bois debout” cobbled streets that were widely used in Paris in the 19th century. 

The pattern created by this flooring was also developed into the non-slip pattern applied to the glass floor, unifying the two flooring types into a single whole.

"Unravelling beauty’ is almost a generic and eternal value that can be learned somehow from the world of lingerie. The revealing – but directional – glassification of the store allows for a delicate balance between transparency and privacy, for intimacy and distance, unravelling the beauty of Haussmann and Etam’s products, users, and visitors," said MVRDV Founding Partner Winy Maas. 

"In the stores we design, we often like to try new, unexpected materials and love to play with different types of glass." 

"The Etam flagship store is the first time we have brought these approaches to a building where so much of the existing structure must be maintained," Maas added.

"We chose to work with MVRDV and architect Winy Maas for their creative force and their exceptional concepts that are both unusual and innovative – while respecting the architectural heritage of buildings that shape cities," said Laurent Milchior, CEO of Etam Group. 

"Winy Maas was able to reassess the space around a central idea: revealing the spectacular volumes and shapes inherited from Haussmann in order to deliver a contemporary vision of a next-generation store. The result is spectacular: a play of transparency, a mix of beautiful raw materials and technical feats – as demonstrated by this glass floor, unique in the world!."

The firm stated that "the preservation and modernisation of existing buildings serves as a key sustainability strategy for MVRDV. Renovating buildings avoids the embodied carbon incurred in building a new structure." 

"The approach is also culturally sustainable: preserving heritage ensures cultural continuity, while being open to carefully considered yet bold modifications allows a building to evolve with the times."

One element stands out as a prime example of the project’s simultaneous commitment to preservation and renewal. During the demolition of the building’s interiors, a section of an original wall within the building was uncovered. 

Although there was no question that this historical element deserved preservation, it also presented a significant obstacle within MVRDV’s open floorplan concept. 

Taking inspiration from the work of artist Gordon Matta-Clark, the design team worked with stone experts to transform the wall section into a five-tonne pivoting “doorway”, preserving the openness of the store’s floorplan, but always with the option for the historical wall to be simply rotated back into place.

The peninsular urban setting of the store has already been taken advantage of for an event during Paris Fashion Week, in which the store became a stage set and the surrounding sidewalk a runway for the fashion show. 

For such events, the Haussmannian façade provides a classical backdrop but it also offers a contemporary feeling with its sober and almost invisible additions.

Cleaning act diagram

Glass floor diagram

Basement floor plan

Ground floor plan

Plan

Section

Elevations

Project facts

Project name: Etam Paris

Location: Paris

Year: 2020 

Client: Etam

Size and Programme: 350m2 retail store

Architect: MVRDV
Founding Partner in charge: Winy Maas
Partner: Bertrand Schippan
Design Team: Catherine Drieux, Herman Gaarman, Nicolas Land, Charlotte Kientz, Ana Melgarejo, Lopez, Clémentine Bory, Clémentine Artru, Quentin Aubry, Francesco Barone, Maxime Richaud, Gabrielle Evain, Manon Vajou, Sarah Sioufi, Rouba Daham.
Copyright: MVRDV 2020 – (Winy Maas, Jacob van Rijs, Nathalie de Vries, Frans de Witte, Fokke Moerel, Wenchian Shi, Jan Knikker)

Partners

Co-architect: Ateliers AUAV
Contractor: LBC (concrete + metal structure), BATIPOSE (stone), ASMT (glass floor + glass facades) 

Structural engineer: KHEPHREN
Specific glass engineer: Eckersley O'Callaghan
MEP: GAMA Ingenierie
Cost calculation: BMF
Environmental advisor: B27 INGENIERIE
Interior architect: Ateliers AUAV
Visualisations: RZGraphics

All images © Ossip van Duivenbode

All drawings © MVRDV

> via MVRDV