Le Grand Musée du Parfum
Restructuring and rehabilitation of the former Roederer town house located at 73 rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré.
It was also the previous Christian Lacroix fashion house.
Designing the scenography of such a museum is an original experience. Beyond the aesthetic and visual dimension of its context, closely linked to the world of luxury, the poly-sensorial dimension of perfume calls for an original mediation in the world of expo-graphy. The visit as we have envisaged it brings together a sum of unique experiences, some of which were conceived and formalised ex-nihilo according to an initial design phase which consisted of describing and spatialising unusual situations without having defined the architectural environment. Then, once the building had been identified, other experiments were conceived and designed by playing with confrontation on a spatial scale, and by reinterpreting and diverting the aesthetic and architectural codes of the Parisian mansion.
The Garden of Scents
The spirit of perfume intuitively conjures up flowing forms. Identified as one of the major pieces of the tour, the voluptuous and organic forms of the ‘garden of scents’, designed exclusively for the Perfume Museum, have an unusual character. The space evokes the visitors' olfactory memory. The scents are nebulae and make up a constellation of scattered sources.
The space is playful. It invites the visitor to create his or her own visit. The cavities diffuse smells. They are held by thin white stems emanating from the topographical thickness of the ground. These ‘olfactory bells’ are delicately illuminated. Associated with smells, they preserve visions and sometimes sounds.
The spatial and architectural typology of the building, consisting of a series of relatively isolated rooms, reinforces the effect of discovery in the visitor's journey. It also offers the opportunity to invite other designers to complete the tour. Two installations are involved: a device of ‘digital drops’ by the Harvey & John agency, and a ‘perfume organ’ designed by the Englishman Jason Bruges.
The perfume organ
The Lab's space is dominated by the presence of an original perfume organ, designed specifically for the museum.
The ‘Digital Drops’ are integrated into the museum's signage
Portraits of perfumers
On the walls, framed screens display portraits of perfumers. The visitor triggers an animated sequence by positioning him or herself in front of a portrait.
The staging of perfume goes through a multi-headed mediation. The visit orchestrates a series of convocations of meaning, sometimes alternating, sometimes confronting or associating: an image that a scent gives us to see; a light that a perfume makes you feel; a perfume that a sound universe reveals. The spirit of perfume intuitively convokes fluid forms. Identified as one of the major pieces of the tour, the voluptuous and organic forms of the ‘garden of scents’, designed exclusively for the Musée du Parfum, have an unusual character. The space evokes the visitors' olfactory memory. The scents are nebulae and make up a constellation of scattered sources. The space is playful. It invites the visitor to create his or her own route. The cavities diffuse smells. They are held by thin white stems emanating from the topographical thickness of the ground. These ‘olfactory bells’ are delicately illuminated. Associated with smells, they preserve visions and sometimes sounds.
Our reinterpretation of the aesthetic codes of the Parisian mansion represents a form of joyful intoxication. By changing shape, the woodwork and the moulding of the walls of the ceremonial rooms draw monolithic cavities integrating scientific experiments on the identity of perfume. At the other end, cavities present smells associated with unusual lights. Perfume has a mediating role. It is a social interface, a form of invisible masking. Our staging borrows an ongoing play with the notion of reflection, those of interior landscapes or of the visitor him or herself, questioning the notion of identity in the intimate relationship between a person and their perfume. Here, two-way mirrors reveal precious objects or extracts of messages in sequences. There, shaded mirrors reflect the ‘garden of scents’ and project these dreamlike forms towards the horizon.
Project
Interior fittings and scenography in a Parisian town house
Location
France, Paris 9e
Tender
Private contract
Surface
1 300 m²
Team
Projectiles, architect + scenographer (project manager)
B52, fluids engineering
Sei, structures engineering
Bmf, construction economics
Des signes, graphic design + signage
Abraxas concepts, lighting design
Cotavim, multimedia engineering
Anamnesia, multimedia production
Client
Parfeum
Stage
CONCEPT DESIGN 2015
CONSTRUCTION2016
IN USE 2016
© Projectiles
© Vincent Fillon
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