Wallpaper* Design Awards 2006: Louis Vuitton, Pari Louis Vuitton and US architects Peter Marino and Eric Carlson have created a string of sparkling Louis Vuitton stores around the world. But the shiniest star in the Louis Vuitton universe is the newly reopened flagship on the Champs-Elysées.
The original store, which opened on this site in 1998, has been expanded and reconfigured. Now seven storeys tall and encompassing 15,000 sq m, it is arranged over a series of art deco terraces with a 20m-high atrium hung with stainless steel rods.
The store also features a light sculpture by US artist James Turrell and a sensory deprivation lift by Danish artist Olafur Eliasson. Occupants of the lift, which travels from the ground floor to the top floor (a space used for ‘artistic and cultural expression’), are kept in total darkness — not even the up and down buttons are illuminated. The lift is also lined with black ‘sound-negating’ material and, to further ensure total aural blackout, a sound system uses a carefully engineered sonic swipe to wipe out any additional noise. Eliasson considers this to be a kind of consumer decompression chamber, cleansing the experiential palate and allowing the customer to better appreciate the goodies around them when they exit the lift. We consider our shopping palettes to be clean and refined enough, thank you, but it’s a nice thought.
Indeed, the architects have thought long and hard to make navigating this huge emporium as uplifting and enlightening as possible. Our favourite passage is via a 20m-long ‘travelling staircase’, which runs alongside a fibre optic wall showing a cutting-edge video installation by US artist Tim White-Sobieski.
Information: Louis Vuitton
101 Avenue des Champs-Elysées
Paris 8e
tel: 33.1 53 57 24 00
- Website http://www.louisvuitton.com
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