Merit Award
Docks en Seine
Location
Paris
Client
Icade
Design
Nicolas Vrignaud
Design Team
Nicolas Vrignaud (signage design), Lorenzo Ascani (architect), Fanny Naranjo (graphic design)
Fabrication
JML Communication Visuelle
Photos
© Nicolas Vrignaud
Docks en Seine is a new fashion and design-focused development on the Left Bank, part of ongoing urban renewal efforts in Paris’ 13th arrondissement. Architects Jakob + MacFarlane (Paris) designed an arresting green metal pipe structure that envelops an existing 1907 concrete warehouse. The warehouse serves as the project’s circulation, linking various spaces such as a fashion school, cafes, restaurants, and a bookstore.
The signage program was developed by Nicolas Vrignaud (Paris). Vrignaud perceived the building itself as a sign and as a sequence of “moments along the Seine.” His concept for the signage was based on the idea of sequence and of a promenade. He punctuated the horizontal flow of the promenade with a system of “beacons” in the form of aluminum panels wrapped around the warehouse’s existing concrete supports, providing continuity on four levels.
Jury comments
“Signs take a coarse space and contrast it with architecturally polished elements.”
“Integration of the modern structural signage elements in the historical context is superb.”