Odile Decq - Phantom - édition limitée

For the Garnier Opera in Paris, Odile Decq designed a new restaurant in the former rotunda of the building:

‘In order to inscribe a new space in the heart of the Garnier Palace, one is confronted with the extremely imposing protective constraints due to the fact that the building is a Historical Monument: it is impossible to touch the walls, pillars or arches in order to ensure total reversibility. Therefore the restaurant’s façade slides and ripples (…). No visible structure. Its presence is minimal and the view both ways is total.
From the fine columns posed on the floor near the stone pillars to the shells of white moulded plaster forming the railing on the edge of this spaceship-like structure located under the dome, the mezzanine is a cloud-like surface developing itself and curling up between the existing elements it never touches. An allusion to the fluid form of the phantom whose white veil stealthily slips into space (…).” Odile Decq

This portfolio composed of seven plates of illustrations presents Odile Decq’s project for the creation of a restaurant inside the Garnier Opera, with drawings and models in volume of the site. The architect tells us about the conception of her project for this exceptional place in a text translated into English.