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CFE Office

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Sponsor
Comments
Innovation
Functionality
Creativity
Eco-Social Impact
Total
JURY VOTES
Small Office
5.60
6.35
6.15
4.90
5.75
Sandra Adrian Asplund
Sandra Adrian Asplund Creative Director at Asplund Collection Stockholm
5.63
5.77
7.3
6.05
6.19
Frederik Bellermann
Frederik Bellermann Strategic Marketing Manager at Wilkhahn Wilkening+Hahne
4.45
5.6
6.24
6.02
5.58
Guillermo Blanco
Guillermo Blanco Design Director at Worldesignteam
5
6.1
6.02
6.1
5.81
James Dilley
James Dilley Director | Head of Hospitality and Interior Design at Jestico + Whiles
5
6.95
5
5
5.49
Gem Barton
Gem Barton Senior Tutor at Royal College of Art
4.12
5.4
4.37
3.8
4.42
Ava Watson
Ava Watson Multidisciplinary Designer at Ava Watson
5.88
7.6
6.24
5.6
6.33
Paulo Rocha
Paulo Rocha Partner at  KPMB Architects
5.5
6
6
5
5.63
Luisa Norbis
Luisa Norbis Interior Designer and Journalist at Luisa Norbis
5
5
5
5
5
Nathan Allen
Nathan Allen Head of Global Sustainability Programs & Partnerships at Google
5.38
5.82
5.35
5.58
5.53
Ricardo Seola
Ricardo Seola Creative Director and Photography Professor at Ricardo Seola and NABA Milano
5.38
6.38
5.81
6.31
5.97
Wang Xiaodong
Wang Xiaodong Principal at Zhejiang University Architectural Design and Research Institute
6.12
5.74
6.11
6
5.99
Virginia Lung
Virginia Lung Design Director at One Plus Partnership
5.45
6.1
5.38
5.95
5.72
Designer
Client
Caisse des Français de L'Etranger
Floor area
70 ㎡
Completion
2023
Budget
450K euro
Social Media
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Furniture

Located in the heart of Paris, the welcome area for the Caisse des Français de l'Étranger (CFE) replaces the entrance hall of an office building. Facing north, on the first floor of a wide boulevard with Haussmann facades, the 70sqm space benefits from just one window onto the street, and is designed to accommodate two separate offices and a meeting room for ten people.

Faithful to Jacques Tati's film sequences, we designed a space that celebrates a form of neutrality. The reference to international-style architecture echoes the CFE's mission. We are forging a link between two histories, that of a public entity in charge of healthcare coverage for French citizens around the world, and that of international architecture, which celebrates transparency, lightness and purity of design. We responded to the following two challenges: to provide maximum light in the depth of the volume, and to propose a flexible space that can evolve according to needs in an era in which the concept of workspace is constantly changing.

The spatial organization is rigorous: storage and equipment are laid out around the entire perimeter to create a single volume to accommodate the offices. A few large glass walls divide the room, giving all the offices a single view over the street. The materials are used raw, with different finishing methods. The ceiling, custom-made for the project, works like an inverted shed. Anodized aluminum folded panels, incorporate light strips and ventilation ducts. The light reflects onto the inclined facades, flooding the offices with diffused and immersive lighting. The humid block containing the washrooms and the kitchenette is clad in mirror-polished stainless steel. The reflection of the metallic surfaces gives the project a precious quality of space. Highlighted by a meticulous implementation, two doors disappear along the wall and are only revealed by the vertical gaps of the handles. The interplay of transparency and reflections creates multiple sequences in which orthogonal geometry and strict design clash to produce almost abstract compositions.

Each workstation benefits from its own unique condition. The first desk enjoys a warm ambience with its wooden closet. The second desk, featuring an open metal cabinet, allows greater space appropriation thanks to a linear arrangement of shelves. The meeting room is backed by an opal glass wall that reflects the project as a whole and extends further into the room. Large acoustic curtains are concealed behind two aluminum panels at the corners of the room, transforming the meeting table, originally designed for ten people, into three separate offices. Once the curtains are drawn, small, almost monachal spaces offer the ideal comfort for isolation and concentration.
We imagined a place where materials reveal themselves under the light to create an atmosphere out of Paris. An international destination that offers an alternative to the workspace, with attention to detail and flexibility of use.