La Maison - Boulangerie Café
La Maison is home for creativity at the intersection between gastronomy and ecology.
Bakery, café, eatery and creative space, La Maison offers a new take on simple food.
In the heart of the Ile de Nantes creation district, Pierre-Antoine Arlot and Chin-Jy Cheng have decided to set up their “creative and gourmet” bakery-café: La Maison. They want this place to be a tool for understanding and teaching around eco-responsible gastronomy.
To participate in this objective, the proposed architectural response is based on 2 principles : Firstly, the opening onto public space, and the possible conference of the stages of transformation of the material, from the storage of flour until the tasting of the products. For this the facade is left completely free, assuming that the technical spaces as sales. The room is structured between the main masses: fermentation chambers, oven and counter. From east to west, the process is legible, and the place multiple. The tools are exposed to natural light as well as to passers-by.
The second principle consists in the staging of the materials, and their transformation: the flours and fruits, the mixing of the kneading machine, the pâtés on the rounding table welcoming the visitor, to the baking dishes presenting the manufactured dishes; but also by the "poured mineral" implemented in situ by MIMA on the fourteen meters of counter and twelve meters of bench.
It is through the use of a palette of reduced materials (white tiles for the waterproofed floor, stainless steel for the kitchen, wood for the worktops, counter and furniture) that the emphasis is on the products, the simplicity of the design contrasting with the richness of the textures produced.
Using the general approach desired by this new space, the “poured mineral” is made with rubble from local quarries, and sand from the Loire. Subject to the touch of visitors, this specific place-specific material complements the sensitive palette of the space.
