PROJECT COLOURS
THE HOTEL LE BARN AS SEEN BY
ANTOINE RICARDOU
Hotels & restaurants
15 January 2021
It’s our favourite autumn destination! Exceptional location, exceptional hotel: Le Barn makes the Rambouillet forest region a timeless lifestyle destination and connected to the desires of the moment. An oasis of wood and benevolence less than an hour from the capital of Paris (we can breathe!). Slow life and sophisticated, this « country house » with well thought-out rooms and dormitories seduced us. The architecture, the « decoration » of the place as well as the restaurant, favours an ethical use of local products. At the creation: Antoine Ricardou, co-founder of the creative agency be-pôles, entrepreneur Edouard Daehn and William Kriegel, owner of the equestrian estate where the hotel is located. The trio shares a new vision of the open-minded hotel industry. The first one tells us all about it.
« Le Barn is a project that is part of the Haras de la Cense estate and its 200 hectares. This centre of equestrian activities is known internationally for the special relationship it develops between man and horse. The primary desire was to live up to the image of this natural site. It was important not to deceive oneself, not to create false poetry. »
GENESIS
CONNECTING WITH THE FARM
« To build the hotel, we used a lot of plywood, which also shapes most of the furniture in the small kitchen, the benches… The idea behind this design is that of a contemporary Shaker with local materials. There are also canvas curtains that convey a desire to mix the inside with the outside, and an honest form of rusticity. »
DESIRED EFFECT
THE FUNCTION AT THE HEART OF THE PROJECT
« In winter it is cold and damp. We therefore had to carry out a project in line with these conditions and the desired contemporary look. We were a bit scared at the beginning, because the project consisted in building a large building. So we let ourselves be guided by a functionalist spirit; everything we did needed to have a meaning, a function, to avoid falling into the traps of decoration… Afterwards, we moved on to the narration by adding natural elements such as dried flowers. »
KEY IDEA
UPGRADING HUMBLE MATERIALS
« The work of the traditional American decorative arts movement called Shaker, a community that made simple, family-oriented furniture, inspired us to make the Barn. We were also inspired by an old book on home arts from the 1950s that explains how to maintain your home (a book where the notion of functionalism is at its peak). »
DESIRE TO CREATE
A NEW SENSE OF COMMUNITY
RESULT
A SOMEWHAT COUNTRYSIDE HOTEL
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