Drugstore Publicis Shopping Center

In 1958, Marcel Bleustein-Blanchet, who founded the advertising agency Publicis in 1926, opened the first shopping center in Paris on Avenue Champs Elysees, 133. At the time, it was an avant-garde vision: to create a place where you can find everything at any time.

After the 1972 fire that destroyed the Ottoman building, Publicis reconstructed the building in a modern architectural style. Maurice Lévy, the agency’s current director general, said: We wanted to make a strong architectural gesture that Paris is not based solely on Baron Haussmann’s past and legacy. We wanted to take part in the second conquest of the Champs Elysees, whose image suffered in the 80s and 90s.

The winner of the competition, held in 2000, was Italian-American architect Michele Saee, who uses a combination of materials and sculptural changing forms that interact with light and environment. Designed by the architect, the facade of the Publicis shopping center, which is also the headquarters of the eponymous agency, winds and moves. The facade of 80 m2 is made of 90 tons of glass and metal, the outside is connected on hinges around a spiral height of 22 m and a diameter of 3 m on the corner of the building, which echoes the dynamism of the works of architect Frank Gehry.

In the interior, transparency and rounded forms are also played out. Glass walls allow you to see the boutiques of the shopping center, which presents a variety of cosmetics, design and gastronomy products. In the luxurious newsstand, you can buy 109 titles of printed publications from around the world, which are displayed on a 7-meter wall. The different spaces are connected through a rotating ramp and staircases and illuminated with optical fibers.