Built in 1907 on the left bank of the Seine, the Docks de Paris is a narrow, 525-foot-long former depot for goods brought up the river by barge. It was also one of Paris’s first reinforced-concrete buildings, lending it historical significance despite its neglected state and somewhat nondescript, utilitarian design. So when the Paris-based firm Jakob + MacFarlane won the competition to transform it into a new fashion and design center, “We chose to conserve the structure, take it right back to the skeleton, and propose a new skin,” says Brendan MacFarlane, the firm’s principal with Dominique Jakob. “It created an opportunity to give a new face to a faceless building.”
The “new face” would take the form of what the architects call the “Plug-Over”—a structure that wraps over the top of the building, appearing as a warped and faceted protuberance of green-fritted glass that snakes across its river-facing facade. Housing a new staircase providing vertical circulation, it links the building’s original three floors while morphing into a spectacular new rooftop level of undulating, landscaped, and oak-decked surfaces.
You have 0 complimentary articles remaining.
Unlimited access + premium benefits for as low as $1.99/month.