Sipral for Louis Vuitton
On October 10, a significant project was first presented for a new French department store on the Champs Elysses in Paris.
The Parisian department store opened to the public for the first time on October 9, 2005. Until then, the client requested a strict embargo on the publication of any details about the project, including the mention of their name. Now, for the first time, we can say that it was about decorative grilles for Louis Vuitton.
This project has become significant not only for the company Sipral itself but certainly contributes to the good name of the entire Czech Republic. Sipral entered the competition among twenty companies in the field of facade creation as one of the few that was not French.
The conceptual design of the grilles was technically and execution-wise carried out at Sipral. The grille was designed by Carbondale, Paris. The project was completed within 10 months. Around 40 subcontracting companies from the Czech Republic participated in it.
The grilles were delivered in countless variations. Besides several types of surface finishes, it also concerns the usage of the grille. The elements of the grille form a kind of mesh that separates men's and women's areas, or the V.I.P. section. They create a protruding facade in the interior as well as a physical grid as an obstacle.
An element that is screwed together is an ornament measuring 16x16cm, derived from the tradition of the Louis Vuitton logo. There were 100,000 aluminum elements cast, which were processed in various ways at Sipral. This resulted in both straight and, for example, radiused grilles. The elements were galvanically coated with nickel, copper, silver, and gold. 25,000 of them are adorned with inserted elements, so-called inserts made of glass, leather, tropical wood, and porcelain. All inserts are removable, allowing the interior to be adapted to the presented fashion collections. The total area of the decorative grille is 1,200 m2.
The least demanding phase was logistics - not to confuse the many variants. Since the grille is visible from all sides and marking was out of the question, screws were used for marking. Some elements differ in their machined surface by only 3 degrees. The elements were screwed together into units of 3x1m and transported to Paris for the overall assembly.
A collection of photographs by Karel Cudlín, now exhibited at Sipral, captures the entire process of making the grilles. Emphasis is placed on the overall production process, and details show the polishing of castings with stones, capturing precise craftsmanship, such as covering inserts with leather.
In addition to the grille, a new two-story showroom was introduced, which is the work of architect Fiala, as well as an administrative building with a factory that received the Mayor of Prague's Award for exceptionally high-quality architectural work.
The two-story showroom fully adapts to the concept of the original garden. By avoiding mature trees and because the building is slanted with an elevation of 7 degrees at its highest part toward the bearing wall, it resembles a train traveling through the landscape.
The foundation of the building consists of a steel structure glazed with large-format glass. The front facade features 28 panes, each of a different type and color, including pink, red, and yellow. The reverse side of the building is decorated with multicolored rectangles made of Alucobond material arranged in shingles. The lower visible part features a translucent "belly" made of red corrugated plastic. The glass showroom is connected to a conference room building – a three-story building in the shape of an ellipse clad in thin aluminum sheet.
[ excerpted from CZECHDESIGN.CZ - daily news from Designblok ]
The Parisian department store opened to the public for the first time on October 9, 2005. Until then, the client requested a strict embargo on the publication of any details about the project, including the mention of their name. Now, for the first time, we can say that it was about decorative grilles for Louis Vuitton.
This project has become significant not only for the company Sipral itself but certainly contributes to the good name of the entire Czech Republic. Sipral entered the competition among twenty companies in the field of facade creation as one of the few that was not French.
The conceptual design of the grilles was technically and execution-wise carried out at Sipral. The grille was designed by Carbondale, Paris. The project was completed within 10 months. Around 40 subcontracting companies from the Czech Republic participated in it.
The grilles were delivered in countless variations. Besides several types of surface finishes, it also concerns the usage of the grille. The elements of the grille form a kind of mesh that separates men's and women's areas, or the V.I.P. section. They create a protruding facade in the interior as well as a physical grid as an obstacle.
An element that is screwed together is an ornament measuring 16x16cm, derived from the tradition of the Louis Vuitton logo. There were 100,000 aluminum elements cast, which were processed in various ways at Sipral. This resulted in both straight and, for example, radiused grilles. The elements were galvanically coated with nickel, copper, silver, and gold. 25,000 of them are adorned with inserted elements, so-called inserts made of glass, leather, tropical wood, and porcelain. All inserts are removable, allowing the interior to be adapted to the presented fashion collections. The total area of the decorative grille is 1,200 m2.
The least demanding phase was logistics - not to confuse the many variants. Since the grille is visible from all sides and marking was out of the question, screws were used for marking. Some elements differ in their machined surface by only 3 degrees. The elements were screwed together into units of 3x1m and transported to Paris for the overall assembly.
A collection of photographs by Karel Cudlín, now exhibited at Sipral, captures the entire process of making the grilles. Emphasis is placed on the overall production process, and details show the polishing of castings with stones, capturing precise craftsmanship, such as covering inserts with leather.
In addition to the grille, a new two-story showroom was introduced, which is the work of architect Fiala, as well as an administrative building with a factory that received the Mayor of Prague's Award for exceptionally high-quality architectural work.
The two-story showroom fully adapts to the concept of the original garden. By avoiding mature trees and because the building is slanted with an elevation of 7 degrees at its highest part toward the bearing wall, it resembles a train traveling through the landscape.
The foundation of the building consists of a steel structure glazed with large-format glass. The front facade features 28 panes, each of a different type and color, including pink, red, and yellow. The reverse side of the building is decorated with multicolored rectangles made of Alucobond material arranged in shingles. The lower visible part features a translucent "belly" made of red corrugated plastic. The glass showroom is connected to a conference room building – a three-story building in the shape of an ellipse clad in thin aluminum sheet.
[ excerpted from CZECHDESIGN.CZ - daily news from Designblok ]
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