Façade du Fouquet’s

In 2006 Edouard François unified the facade of the prestigious Fouquet’s Barrière hotel in Paris, composed of seven heterogeneous buildings. He created the principle of the “moulé-troué” (molded-holed), making it possible to harmonize the general architecture of a facade while respecting the internal constraints of the building. For this, he created a Haussmanian facade and then applied it to the outside of the adjacent buildings, built in the 1970s. This mold is painted and has holes for windows. This work is a miniature version of the Fouquet’s mold, made of slate, which gives the technical practice its artistic counterpart.

A pioneer of green architecture in France, Edouard François graduated from the Beaux-Arts de Paris and the Ponts et Chaussées schools. In 1998, he founded his architectural studio, with a will to create new forms of ecological housing, both singular and innovative.