Advertising Agency in Paris

This former warehouse building was converted to accommodate the offices of an advertising agency. Internal partitions were removed, and the surfaces of the floors and load-bearing walls were renovated to bring out the visual quality of the raw materials. The plaster was waxed, and the concrete treated with a colourless seal. The two floors are linked in the middle of the building by a new staircase that also articulates the open-plan layout. The openings created for the staircase in the floor and through a load-bearing wall allow natural light to spill down from the upper level to the floor below. The treads are of expanded metal mesh to facilitate a maximum penetration of light from above. The balustrades consist of translucent perspex panels.