mikou design studio visit

in late january designboom visited the offices of mikou design studio in paris.

selwa and selma mikou image © designboom

house of arts and culture, beirut – model image © designboom

the firm was founded in 2005 by twin sisters selma and salwa mikou, after many years of collaboration with international architecture agencies, in particular renzo piano and jean nouvel, on projects on large private and public buildings, residences, offices and important redevelopments of public areas within the framework of re-qualification of urban and harbour planning.

since then the duo have developed numerous projects not only in france but internationally, with a focus on cultural, educational, housing and offices.

‘every project is an excuse for re-questioning and redefining the meaning of a brief, a function, and an urban, social and human context, in order to invent new ways of living, places for sharing and gathering that are more sensitive and more sensual, and which stimulate feelings. our aim is to get away from preconceptions of form and function in order to transmit more and better.’ – selma and selwa mikou

house of arts and culture, beirut – model image © designboom

house of arts and culture, beirut – model image © designboom

in 2009 they developed the house of arts and culture, beirut, lebanon. the building was not conceived as a monolithic mass, but rather in a manner to stage the overlapping of cultural layers and the process throughout which they become real spaces, transitional spaces for the exchange and intertwining of creativity.

house of arts and culture, beirut – model image © designboom

house of arts and culture, beirut

bateau feu theatre, dunkerque image © designboom

they recently won the competition to renovate the existing bateau feu theatre, dunkerque in france.

bateau feu theatre, dunkerque image © designboom

bateau feu theatre, dunkerque image © designboom

bateau feu theatre, dunkerque image © designboom

bateau feu theatre, dunkerque image © designboom

in 2008 they were invited to develop the institute for islamic culture in france.

the institute for islamic culture, paris image © designboom

the institute for islamic culture, rooted in paris’ 18th ‘arrondissement’ and its history, is also a place of ‘radiation’ which has a duty to understand and communicate these foreign cultures, to bring them a new look which will enrich and densify the imaginations of locals and parisians alike. on rue stephenson as on rue doudeauville, each floor can be read separately through of gently shifting volumes, suggesting a movement of all facades. the classic system of pillars and beams is replaced in the project by a principle of structural arabesques, arches following gentle curves that intersect non-orthogonally. on the façade, the arches are superimposed on more offset white corian arches, which creates a game of shifting and relief from inside and outside the building. this mineral and slightly opalescent material (in reference to the alabaster) gives the whole building a diaphanous and mysterious character.

the institute for islamic culture, paris image © designboom

the institute for islamic culture, paris image © designboom

the institute for islamic culture, paris

the institute for islamic culture, paris mikou design studio image © designboom