Off Paris Seine
This new floating hotel on the Seine has been carefully designed to blend with its Parisian environment and has a host of energy saving features.
A piece of Paris on the Seine
The integration of OFF Paris Seine in its environment comes first by the very Parisian expression it proposes. The hotel merges with the city via its right and left banks and the twin hulls of the hotel itself, the river Seine that splits the city, its zinc roofs, and the multiplicity of its services. In many ways OFF Paris is like a floating fragment of the city itself.
An uncluttered and elegant design
OFF Paris Seine presents a simple and uncluttered architecture based on twin hulls strongly connected together, on which two levels of modules are superimposed. The floating facility adopts a discrete line since it respects the regulatory height of 6 m from the water line in order to preserve views on the river. Elegant zinc roofs open facades outward while a central glass roof lets natural light enter at the heart of the building.
Transparency
Despite its imposing size (75m x 18m), the OFF fits perfectly into its environment. If public areas’ facades celebrate volumes’ transparency and minimize screen effect, those dedicated to the hotel’s present a silver-woody coating that naturally mingle with the urban riverbanks background. The shutters, treated in discontinuity, give the facades some relief and vibration.
The more we move towards the Austerlitz Viaduct (historical monument), the more spaces become public and transparent. The aft of the building is composed of a terrace built just above the water line, forming a balcony onto the river, and two marina pontoons allow smaller boats to moor alongside. From the swimming pool, the pool’s water line merges with the river, giving an unprecedented view on the Seine and surroundings.
Interior Design
On board, all spaces are directly and clearly identifiable by clients. The fluidity of circulation corroborates this dimension. Four gangways enable to organize entries, exits - for customers and suppliers – and give access to different floors and locations in the facility.
River experience
Crossed by the river as Paris is crossed by the Seine, the water is the building’s backbone. Everything has been thought to make the river experience as authentic as possible: the flexibility of the hulls’ articulation to maintain the natural rocking movement, the generous perspectives on the Seine it delivers, the hotel’s projection to 10 m from the riverbanks thanks to gangways, the first floor level designed just above the water line, the port’s integration at the aft. In the evening, the permanent relationship between the facility and the water is magnified by the lighting design work of Franck Franjou.
Style & Materials
The style is globally sober, far away from fads, giving to the building a certain timelessness. We choose noble and sustainable materials to do so: mostly wood, copper, leather, glass and zinc. The colors are mainly copper and hot.
Sustainable Development
Several green innovations have been implemented to reduce water and energy consumption on board:
Vacuum toilets: up to 82% of water use reduction compared to traditional toilets. It consumes only 1.2 liters of water per flush. This process is used in aviation and railway sectors.
Heat pumps: the thermal exchange between water and Seine’s waters has a very efficient output. It allows to heat the rooms. There is a yield of about x5: for a 1-watt electric received 5 watts of heat or cold is produced.
Dual flow ventilation: heat recovery from rooms’ exhaust air. Each room is equipped with a fan coil driven by an energy saver when the room is unoccupied: fresh air regulation according to occupation is crucial for overall ventilation management. Each room has a shedder that limits consumption to 2 kilowatts. The use of sustainable and recyclable materials - wood, steel, glass and zinc – participate to the facility’s sustainability.
A grease tank treats waters from the kitchen in order to reject it in the conventional wastewater network.
The benefits of modular architecture
Each room is a prefabricated module built in factory. The modular architecture process, very manageable, has numerous benefits in terms of environment: Construction time reduction (modules fabricated in factory in masked time, while the structure is being built).
Material savings and carbon footprint reduction.
Great finishing quality in terms of sealing, waterproofing and insulation since modules are not subject to weather conditions.
A resilient facility
Seine Design has developed an innovative gangways’ system that provides both access and mooring. No dolphin pillars have been planted in the bottom of the Seine to maintain the building, thus reducing the environmental impact of the facility. The gangway system, based in a double bridge in scissor, ensure a comfortable access regardless the water level. Thus, during average / high flood, we will take the lower bridge since the slope is low. At usual water level, the access by the upper bridge will be privileged. The building was designed to bear the 1910 floods’ level (8,62 m).
