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Rena Dumas Architecture Intérieure
Paris | Since 1972
Rena Dumas Architecture Intérieure
13 rue du Mail, 75002 Paris, France
Phone +33 142 600482
Fax +33 140 150421
13 rue du Mail, 75002 Paris, France
Phone +33 142 600482
Fax +33 140 150421
Category:
Interior architects
Denis Montel, Architect D.P.L.G
Architect D.P.L.G, Managing and artistic director of RDAI and RDAI architecture Denis Montel was born in Paris in 1967 and graduated from the Paris school of architecture at La Défense. He is a registered with the Order of architects in France.
From 1992 to 1999 he participated in many architecture competitions and worked with different architecture, landscape architecture, scenography and interior
architecture agencies. In parallel, he pursued several personal projects (family houses, exhibition pavilions, apartments) and designed a high school in Créteil with the agency Cleret. He next became Head of Projects at the agency Deleu & Associates where he worked in particular on the design of retail stores for Loewe, Boucheron and Mikimoto. His experience is at the crossroads of several disciplinary fields of architecture, from reflection on the urban environment to the specific design of domestic spaces and demanding programmes. In 1999, he joined Rena Dumas at her agency RDAI and co-directed the design and completion of Hermès boutiques and “houses” all over the world as well as all the agency’s major projects (Christie’s salerooms, Artémis head office, Yves Saint-Laurent head office, the concept for John
Lobb boutiques, etc.) In 2008, with Rena Dumas and Nicolas Karmochkine, he founded the agency RDAI-Architecture, a sister company of RDAI registered with the Order of architects, which gives RDAI a true architectural sector. In 2009, after Rena Dumas passed away, he became managing director and artistic director of the two agencies; he develops and researches the direction of each project, from architecture to objects, with the same concern for exceptional standards, precision and quality.
Architect D.P.L.G, Managing and artistic director of RDAI and RDAI architecture Denis Montel was born in Paris in 1967 and graduated from the Paris school of architecture at La Défense. He is a registered with the Order of architects in France.
From 1992 to 1999 he participated in many architecture competitions and worked with different architecture, landscape architecture, scenography and interior
architecture agencies. In parallel, he pursued several personal projects (family houses, exhibition pavilions, apartments) and designed a high school in Créteil with the agency Cleret. He next became Head of Projects at the agency Deleu & Associates where he worked in particular on the design of retail stores for Loewe, Boucheron and Mikimoto. His experience is at the crossroads of several disciplinary fields of architecture, from reflection on the urban environment to the specific design of domestic spaces and demanding programmes. In 1999, he joined Rena Dumas at her agency RDAI and co-directed the design and completion of Hermès boutiques and “houses” all over the world as well as all the agency’s major projects (Christie’s salerooms, Artémis head office, Yves Saint-Laurent head office, the concept for John
Lobb boutiques, etc.) In 2008, with Rena Dumas and Nicolas Karmochkine, he founded the agency RDAI-Architecture, a sister company of RDAI registered with the Order of architects, which gives RDAI a true architectural sector. In 2009, after Rena Dumas passed away, he became managing director and artistic director of the two agencies; he develops and researches the direction of each project, from architecture to objects, with the same concern for exceptional standards, precision and quality.
Team
Denis Montel : Artistic director and managing directorDominique Hebrard : Project architect,
assistant artistic director
Véronique Duchesne : Project architect, in charge of co-ordination of the retail projects for the Hermès Group
Julia Macfarlane Capp : Responsible for the design department and communication
Alain Lardet : Design and communication consultant
Benoit Gelez : Assistant general director in charge of development
Marie-Hélène Thomas : Administration and financial director
Daniel le Pan : Responsible for technical pole
Carole Grosjean : Responsible for material library and documentation
RDAI Architecture
Denis Montel : Artistic director and managing director
Nicolas Karmochkine : Associate architect
Benoit Gelez : Development director
Marie-Hélène Thomas : Administration and financial director
Julia Macfarlane Capp : Responsible for communication
Philosophy
RDAI is imbued with the rigour and elegance of its founder, Rena Dumas. Her legacy of excellence, exactingness and ethics are the forces that guide Denis Montel towards the future of the agency that he directs today, after 10 years of close collaboration with her. Since its inception in 1972, RDAI has transcended the boundaries between architecture, interior architecture and design. Today, Denis Montel and his team deepen this commitment and carry forward the development of an international agency. Each project is approached with an understanding of the contexts and situations that stimulate the imagination and justify taking a particular standpoint.The project takes form and gathers meaning; it is simultaneously intuitive and considered; it is constantly attentive to usage, and to the emotion and feelings that it will inspire, once it is realised. The agency doesn’t impose a style: the project results from a sensibility where the modern world and classical culture meet and cross-fertilise. The architectural approach and the mastery of forms allow one to go further, toward a new expression of contemporary codes. Without any preconceived ideas on its dimension,
whether it’s an interior space, a building or an object, RDAI proposes a project-environment that is one and indivisible. As in a fractal image, each part is the reflection of the whole. RDAI privileges the essential, avoids the superfluous, and searches for the contours of beauty. Because beauty is perhaps situated between the lines… The finished project aspires to go beyond the expectations of the client and to interpret what is left unsaid. RDAI claims that architecture is the reflection of the epoch we live in.
RDAI brings together a team of 35 people, including 25 architects, interior designers and designers. About 15 exterior architects and designers also collaborate permanently with the office. Originally created with a focus on interior architecture projects, RDAI today is an agency practicing architecture, interior architecture and design. A sister company, RDAI-Architecture, was created in July 2007. A documentation and materials service including a technical research and verification pole provide an important internal resource for the conception of the projects within these 3 departments.
