Hôtel Dupanloup in France by Studio Makkink & Bey

Hôtel Dupanloup, Studio Makkink & Bey.
Photo Ministère de la culture et de la communication / Drac Centre – François Lauginie.

Hôtel Dupanloup, photo Studio Makkink & Bey.

Once the home of a notorious bishop, Hôtel Dupanloup – a 17th century building in the French town of Orléans – has recently been redesigned to function as an International Research Centre of the University of Orléans. Rotterdam based Studio Makkink & Bey developed a series of spatial installations that transform the historic Hôtel chambers into a lively public space.

Invited by the The French Artistic Nationale Commission, Makkink & Bey furnished the main room alongside 23 working/meeting rooms of Hôtel Dupanloup by creating eclectic three-dimensional collages of furniture – PROOFF Worksofa’s, EarChairs and SideSeats make an appearance amongst others, a ‘Dupanloup chair and table’ specially designed for the project, antique pieces, and a special edition of the Tree trunk Bench. Some of the other pieces include re-designs of IKEA furniture by students of École Supérieure d’Art et de design d’Orléans who participated in a summer workshop with Studio Makkink & Bey.

Hôtel Dupanloup, photo Studio Makkink & Bey.

Carpets and curtains outline the replanned spaces and introduce a new easthetic that narrates about the content of the local archives. The spirits of the past and the present are merged creating a rich contexts for researchers to conduct their work. Even when not in use, these ‘room in a room’ interiors appear as intriguing spatial still-lives that portray several layers of time – “a treasure hunt across centuries”.

The project will be finalised in September 2014 with the opening of the building and a launch of a publication about the project development.

Studio Makkink & Bey is led by architect Rianne Makkink and designer Jurgen Bey. The studio works in various areas of applied art and includes public space projects, product design, architecture and exhibition design. Supported by a design team, they have been operating their design practice since 2002.