Mon Grand Plaisir: beyond the concept of a mall, into real modern centers with a strong architectural personality
Gianni Ranaulo Design
Retail
/
Completed
DESIGNED: 2013
COMPLETED: 27 August 2020
GENERAL DATA: Bypassing the stereotype of "non lieu", Mon Grand Plaisir goes beyond the concept of a mall and creates a brand new lifestyle shopping experience: combining architectural modernity, with its opening onto the street, terraces , water bodies and catering the needs of people, this center is becoming a new place, in the city, for strolling, shopping or meeting with friends.
Located in the heart of Les Clayes-sous-Bois (Yvelines) the first shopping area in western Paris, it offers a new ultramodern center in the heart of the town of Plaisir. Also known as 'Place of life', partly open-air, Mon Grand Plaisir covers an area of 39,000m², facing Auchan Grand Plaisir and connected to it through a bridge, offers around 40 shops, as well as a multiplex and a catering center, in addition to the future Plaisir media library and a health center.
The project was aimed at the renovation of shopping areas on the outskirts, very often abandoned and without activity, thus converting old disused or perched buildings into real modern centers with a strong architectural personality.
The barycentric heart of the complex is a space composed of green areas, fountains with water features and numerous other services such as shops and restaurants arranged on terraces - accessible through a monumental staircase that emerges from a spectacular waterfall. All crowned by a sinuous and continuous white facade that envelops the entire building length. Hence, a distinguished and identifiable element of the entire complex, visible from a great distance.
The façade is composed of the 5 uninterrupted and distinct bands that unfold throughout the 600-meter along the entire building. The fluidity of the twists and curves encapsulates the harmony and beauty of the façade. Made up of a light textile material sustained by a steel structure with triangular section. Characterizing element of the façade are the louvers designed with a strategic opening inspired by the fish gills that open to illuminate the interior spaces and close by twisting and forming a whole with the rest of the façade. Or as well as the two large ovals that pierce the facade above the monumental staircase, thus flooding it with an almost baroque light and enticing the visitor even more to enter the main gallery.
And it is precisely within this latter environment that the visitor feels the impression of uniqueness' of the center, a contemporary walk among the main fashion and sports brands, in a space that identifies itself as an exterior-interior, surmounted by what can simply be defined as the definitive architectural icon of the entire center, unique in its kind. A sequence of reflective black stripes are made up in pairs, creating a sequence of ogives that with a continuous undulatory trend and never the same accompany the visitor from the entrance to the opposite end, constantly changing the perception of space and supported by the wooden slats that join the roof with the storefronts below. The Gallery's black stripes were built with a steel structure, supported by steel arches which are underpinned by a system made up of tie rods and windward beams, with one tie rod every 16m and covered with canopy made up of ETFE cushions with parallel edges, 4 m wide.
The impression of exclusivity felt by the visitor is also reinforced by the scale of the stores, and by the materials, such as the flooring in white and black marble, which brings sensuality and brilliance to the whole architectural ensemble.
The project falls within that typology of projects that can be defined as experimental, i.e. not part of a traditional commercial category, thus trying to change the paradigms of commerce by giving them a different connotation. Mon Grand Plaisir is quickly becoming a desired destination for the entire town and beyond, completely unhinging the hinges of what it means today to live a mall and projecting itself towards a real place of aggregation and celebration for the community.
TECHNICAL DATA: The Gallery's black stripes were built with a steel structure, supported by steel arches and covered with canopy made up of ETFE cushions with parallel edges, 4 m wide. The arches are underpinned by a system made up of tie rods and windward beams, with one tie rod every 16m.
The external white facade, wrapping around the building facade clad with metal deploy, is made up of a light textile material sustained by a steel structure with triangular section.
Credits
Plaisir
France
Compagnie de Phalsbourg
08/2020
43.000 mq
Gianni Ranaulo
Giacomo Termini, YunSil AHN, Klaudyna Stanek, Luca Bregni, Ajmal Majid, Nafaa Malik, Malik Palakkal
Gallery “Fettucine” : SIRQ CONSTRUCTION, Main external tensile fabric : SMC2 - SPORT AND LEISURE CONSTRUCTION, Space frame structure supporting the fabric: LANIK, Structural steel frame supporting the “Fettucine”: MaP3, TAIYO EUROPE, Gallery ETFE cushions
Compagnie de Phalsbourg photographers, Giacomo Termini (GR Design)
Curriculum
Gianni Ranaulo, Italian Architect and designer, settled in Paris in 1989 after 10 years of successful practice in Italy.
He had been invited to participate in international competitions such as Meaux Prefecture, Melun law court in France, Greenport waterfront and San Diego’s port in USA. Since 1994, he has dedicated his research in new architectonic languages and started theorizing the Light Architecture concepts, which is the synthesis of the virtual and the real world in reference to Media building. Between 1994 and 2002, Gianni Ranaulo opened new offices in London, Rome and Milan, to materialize Light Architecture concepts.
In 2005, he met Franco Dragone, Founder and Director of the Cirque du Soleil, and designed his Studios in Dubai. In 2007, Gianni Ranaulo opened his office in Dubai and worked on the construction of towers and several urban projects. In 2010, he completed the refurbishment of 1800m2 head office of the developer La Compagnie de Phalsbourg.