Saving grace: Designers respectfully transform 12th-century abbey

For its latest iteration, architectural design firm Jouin Manku has designed a hotel and restaurant that respect the building’s past while bringing it into the modern era.

Owing to its historic status, the designers Patrick Jouin and Sanjit Manku had to be careful to preserve the ancient architectural details of the abbey, so they were not allowed to let anything touch the walls or the ceilings. In the restaurant, that meant that specially built navy blue partitions were added to create new seating and add warmth to the space. In the hotel, the duo used a clean colour palette and soft textures, embracing the spirit of reflection within the space. 

‘We didn’t want visitors to forget where they are. On the contrary, we wanted to ensure an intimate experience of the site, enabling visitors to appropriate fragments of the past in comfort,’ explain the designers. ‘Achieving this also meant rising to the challenge of the constraints imposed by the building’s classification as an historic monument. The best approach was to find a way to turn these constraints into opportunities.’

In 2012, we identified Symbiotic Architecture as a way for brands to use architecture in ways that respect its original usage while giving it new life. For more, read the Symbiotic Architecture microtrend.