Pertinence（巴黎高档餐厅）

It is only a couple of steps away from the Eiffel Tower, in the heart of a prestigious area, that Pertinence concocts with some of the most learned architectures of Paris that surround the 7th arrondissement.

A discreet restaurant, originally an aged Parisian bistro, outmoded with dark green wooden facades - the new chef wants to make it a new display for his forthcoming Michelin star, a prestigious gastronomic prize. Thereby was born the idea of the project, to conceive a restaurant as a protected, precious scene - designed like a jewellery boutique - sophisticated and punctuated by minimal and precise gestures.

The first idea is to simplify the general composition of the whole.

Under the impact of a large opening and through a generous bay window, a very clear and bright frame stretches within the extreme limits of the volume of space. Going beyond the neighbouring proportions - doors, windows - the volumetry of the facade is pure and sums up several functions – facade, entrance, display menu, eyesight, source of natural lighting - highlighting what’s in the inside.

There, in the interior, under a white, homogeneous background, playing with the nuance of the different materials found in the furniture, walls and curtains, everything blends to let out this ‘living material’ which is the ceiling.

An object that emerges from the depth of space sailing towards the facade. Darkened in color, but transparent in its assembly, it carries within the luminous atmosphere of the whole room.

Unlike all the other elements, it consists of a very large number of pieces - thin wooden slats, fixed on leather straps – that freely form a wave articulating the different spaces of the restaurant - from the kitchen to the entrance. The leather straps are paired occasionally with steel plates to reinforce the design of the wave or to draw the seats that extend along the walls.

At the end the result is on point as the name suggests, pertinent.