La Samaritaine: Remodelling of the historic Parisian department store

La Samaritaine, formerly the largest department store in Paris, had to be closed in 2005 for safety reasons. Its new owner, the French concern LVMH, is in the process of returning the internationally famous department store once again to its accustomed glamour by undertaking high-quality renovation and remodelling of the historic buildings "Rivoli" and "Seine" in the 1st arrondissement. LVMH intends to create an entire quarter featuring a hotel, daycare centres, office space and social housing, as well as the department store itself.

The competition launched by LVMH-SAMARITAINE in 2008 for this project was won the Japanese architecture firm SANAA (Pritzker Prize 2010).

FRENER & REIFER is responsible for the design engineering, fabrication and installation of the undulating facade of the rue de Rivoli store, the glass roofs of the courtyards at the “Rivoli” and “Seine” stores and for the footbridge.