Bulgari Hotel Paris by Antonio Citterio Patricia Viel
Bulgari Hotel Paris is a luxury hotel located between the Seine and the Champs-Élysées, designed in 2021 by Antonio Citterio Patricia Viel.
Description
Located on the Avenue George V in the ‘Golden Triangle’, home to the French capital’s luxury and fashion excellence between the Seine and the Champs-Élysées, the Bulgari Hotel Paris is a new kind of hotel experience where Italian hospitality meets the jewelry heritage of Bulgari and the glorious history of the City of Light. The interiors of the hotel, entirely designed by Antonio Citterio Patricia Viel Italian architectural studio, feature 76 rooms, and suites, including the Bulgari Penthouse, an exceptional private apartment of nearly 400 square meters with its own 569 square meters panoramic roof garden with views of all the capital’s iconic monuments. The building and the façade of the Bulgari Hotel Paris have been designed and restyled by Antonio Citterio Patricia Viel in collaboration with the French architectural firm Valode & Pistre.
A dialogue of cultures A sophisticated blend of uncompromising purity of line and subtle references to Italian Renaissance architecture – beginning with the two-story windows – the façade brings a new graphic identity to join the elegant buildings of the Avenue George V. Internally, the Bulgari Hotel Paris embraces the same color palette and textures that characterize its siblings in Milan, London, Dubai, Shanghai, and Beijing: marble, silk wallcoverings, granite, tapestries, and varnished eucalyptus woodwork create the perfect environment for designer furniture and art pieces. The very best of Italian craftsmanship is enhanced by collaboration with the finest French artisan studios working in lacquer, parchment, and straw marquetry in the style of famous French interior designer Jean-Michel Frank. For Patricia Viel and Antonio Citterio: “In this residential sequence of public spaces opening into a secret garden, the two capitals of Paris and Rome that have competed through history to prevail in creativity, style, history, fashion, cuisine, and art find the key to an armistice.” But more than all these things, the Bulgari Hotel Paris is a marriage between a sumptuous domestic environment devoted to art and culture, and an irrepressible Italian brio that never shines more brilliantly than when it is generously shared on both sides of the Alps. With its own private giardino, a welcoming restaurant serves 58 covers indoors and 40 outdoors under the expert leadership of three-star Italian chef Niko Romito, a bar, and a lounge. The Bulgari Hotel Paris also boasts a 1,300 square meter signature spa with a 25-meter semi-Olympic pool, Workshop Gymnasium fitness studio, Vitality Pool, 9 spa treatment rooms, and a 65 square meter Spa Suite. Throughout the hotel, the style of service has been completely reinvented to be impeccable, authentic, and yet informal to ensure that the Bulgari Hotel Paris experience is one in which luxury is expressed as much through the smallest details of the building and its materials as through the unique personality of Bulgari itself.
The neighborhood: the golden triangle With its location in the Avenue George V, just a few minutes’ stroll from the Eiffel Tower, the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, the Avenue Montaigne and movie theaters, the Bulgari Hotel Paris is a natural extension of the great hotel tradition of the capital’s 8th arrondissement. Created as a confluence of Paris culture with the Italian sense of luxury embodied by Rome’s world-famous jewelry house, the Bulgari Hotel Paris makes its contribution to the Golden Triangle with a new hospitality experience designed for visiting guests and Parisians. According to architect Patricia Viel: “The Bulgari Hotel Paris simply had to be here in the Golden Triangle on the Right Bank. This area lives and breathes the geometry of Haussmann’s Paris with its Grands Boulevards, the obsessive monochrome order of dressed stone, the neat rows of trees, and the extension of the city with its grand hotels, while towards the Seine, the art deco perspectives of the Trocadéro express all the peremptory beauty of history’s most accomplished urban design.” The hotel The story begins with a modern building on the junction of the Avenue George V and the Rue Pierre Charron; a building the hotel architects describe as delightful and improbable: “Its seventies façade made it totally incongruous, but this building had two extraordinary assets: a slightly uncompromising transgressive charm and the cheeky audacity of vintage contemporaneity.” It is out of this duality between bourgeois elegance and bohemian invention that the Bulgari Hotel Paris has been born over eleven floors in a building whose exterior lines have been pared back to the essentials to express the dynamic energy of the vertical. Extending the window openings to cover two floors is a clear reference to the aristocratic palaces famously designed by Andrea Palladio during the Italian Renaissance. The pleasing visual balance of the façade bears a clear family resemblance to the Bulgari Hotels in London, Milan, and Beijing, but as elsewhere, Bulgari is keen to highlight local identity through the use of a distinctive stone facing. In Paris, this means the ashlar masonry typical of the capital’s most high-profile monuments, from the Louvre to the Petit Palais and the Trocadéro. This choice allows the building to integrate elegantly into the stylistic continuum of the Golden Triangle, at the same time as asserting its own identity of purity, height, and luminosity. The signature Parentesi pattern inspired by the stones that pave the roads of Rome and used in the eponymous jewelry collection runs like a stone carpet along the façade to create a first invitation to live this new experience at the point where the glamor of Rome meets the sophistication of Paris. Although the hotel may be entered through the private entrance accessed directly from the private garage, guests entering from the Avenue will immediately be struck by the two eight-pointed stars set into the floor, which are inspired by the famous centerpiece of the Piazza del Campidoglio, which was replicated in the Bulgari Rome store on the Via Condotti in 1934. Here, they welcome guests into the world of Bulgari. These stars have been crafted from Zimbabwean granite and the Breccia Medicea marble famous among Renaissance connoisseurs for having been favored by the most famous Florentine family – the Medicis – for the creation of its exceptional collection of sculptures.
The Vestibule Illuminated by a superlative lighting installation in metal and glass with gold powder inclusions crafted by the furnace of Barovier & Toso of Murano, whose history begins in the 13th century, the vestibule immediately sets the tone for the unique experience to come. The impressive dome lined in signature Bulgari saffron silk speaks to the matte beige raw silk wallcoverings that provide a superb backdrop for a portrait of actress Monica Vitti wearing a magnificent 1960’s necklace. The painting is by the Franco-Chinese painter Yan Pei-Ming, whose portrait of company founder Sotirio Bulgari hangs in the vestibule at the Bulgari Hotel Beijing. The eight-pointed signature stars set into the floor reassert the influence on Bulgari of the unique Italian lifestyle and its ability to combine the historic with the timeless. Reception and Concierge Desk The tall leather-trimmed reception and concierge desks are immediate to the left. The large glass and copper mesh screen – a signature piece designed specifically for the hotel by Antonio Citterio – bathes the entire space in a soothing pink glow. Sophia Loren and her husband came to live in the Golden Triangle in the mid-1960s, so appropriately it is she, photographed on a balcony overlooking the Avenue George V, who presides over this living space whose heart beats to the rhythm of arrivals and departures.
Linking the vestibule, reception and lounge, the enormous doors crafted in figured eucalyptus were finished using the gommalacca technique beloved of Italian cabinetmakers in the 1930s. This heritage technique creates a luxurious sheen on the honey-colored wood, which in turn adds a further level of richness to this first sensory experience, which continues to the right and into the generous, but still intimate, Bulgari Lounge.
The Bulgari Lounge Inspired by the design of a Bulgari clutch, the lines of the ceiling speak to those of the Italian walnut floor to create a subtle puzzle and mirror effect. The shimmer and sheen of the rose gold and yellow silk carpet by Altai of Milan echo those of the polished eucalyptus doors. Special attention has been focused on the ruby red, ivory, jade green, and malachite fabrics that contrast with the very simple lines of the brushed metal Atollo lamps and the delicate interlacing of the Pinecone lights by Fontana Arte. This piece is still a current design for the company founded in 1932 by Gio Ponti and Luigi Fontana, two legendary names of Italian design. Now nearly a hundred years old, this design classic still retains its elegance and incredible modernity. The character of the lounge is shaped by the volumes created by variations in seating volumes, cushions, and the subdued atmosphere made even more welcoming by the fire burning in the spectacular cast iron fireplace. The extraordinary collection of ceramics by Gio Ponti, which won him the Grand Prix at the 1925 Paris International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts, vases by Carlo Scarpa, and portraits of celebrities from the Bulgari archives combine to bring a very special distinction and glamor to this space.
The Rooms and Suites
The Bulgari Hotel Paris offers 76 rooms and suites served by three elevators lined with polished eucalyptus paneling. Ranging in floor area from 42 square meters to 400 square meters + 600 square meters of garden for the Bulgari Penthouse, most have a private loggia overlooking the internal garden or a balcony with views over the Avenue George V, and all embody the spirit of sophistication and comfort that characterizes the Bulgari Hotel Paris. The light colors used for the walls showcase the chromatic palette of the furniture with its shades of hazelnut and coffee, and the rich Dedar fabrics in garnet, amethyst, and gilded topaz. The uniquely comfortable bedding boasts linen by Rivolta Carmignani and cashmere blankets by Enzo degli Angiuoni. The herringbone pattern carpets make clear reference to the classic parquet floors typical of Paris apartments, which are interpreted here with an incomparable softness. The Febo sofas and armchairs are by Maxalto, as are the Pathos tables designed by Antonio Citterio himself. Books, photographs, and art pieces by Gio Ponti give each room and suite the intimate character of a delightful private apartment. Bulgari saffron headboards and footboards add warmth, while bedside lamps inspired by Bulgari silver candlesticks and sliding doors of metal mesh laminated between glass contrast with the golden brown color of the fabric-covered walls of the dressing rooms, some of which have a twin-mirrored dressing table. The larger suites have a dedicated dining area. Disguised as a travel trunk, the minibar contains many Made in Italy surprises: a carefully selected range of Italian specialties, as well as drinks specially created by chef Niko Romito. Designed with many interconnection options, all rooms and suites feature Bulgari amenities to add extra magic to the guest experience. All suites are served by a dedicated butler. The bathrooms – some equipped with private hammams – exploit the interplay between dark and light, and all share the same detailed attention to design and facilities. Inspired by the Italian modernist style with frosted glass wall lights and hand basins set on mirror chrome bases, all are decorated with a glass art piece engraved with the Bulgari Serpenti Constellation motif, using the same historic technique as France’s glass design maestro René Lalique. The fragranced shower gel, shampoo, body lotion, and other bath products are specially created for Bulgari Hotels & Resorts by Master Perfumer Jacques Cavalier to deliver an Italian olfactory ambiance that opens with notes of Calabrian bergamot.
Restaurant and bar
For the first time in France, the Bulgari Hotel Paris unveils a unique gastronomic concept envisioned by chef Niko Romito for the Bulgari Hotels. Awarded three Michelin stars for his Reale restaurant in the Abruzzo region in Italy, Niko Romito reinvents the transalpine dining tradition by focusing on the essential ingredients and characteristics of Made in Italy culture, elegance and vitality. The quintessence of expertise and products are combined with new techniques to create increasingly pure flavors and delicious lightness.
The Bulgari Spa As the Roman High Jeweler, Bulgari understands the important role that spas and water played in ancient Rome. The combination of this heritage and the culture of luxury it has nurtured throughout its own history allow Bulgari to promise its clients a unique experience in surroundings that offer innovative, bespoke treatments focused entirely on inner and physical well-being, relaxation, and sport. In Paris, this philosophy is delivered in an exceptional 1,300 square meter space on two levels and is open to hotel residents and local clients. Expertly designed to help clients revitalize, recover from jet lag, swim, enjoy a massage, and receive exceptional care treatments, the Bulgari Hotel Paris Spa features its own hair salon and is the new must-visit Paris address for well-being and beauty in a setting totally devoted to personal care. Clad in Vicenza stone sourced from the Veneto region of northern Italy, the walls and their traces of fossils and sediments deposited thousands of years ago meet the warmth of Burmese teak, while the reception counter is carved from a single block of green onyx; a signature detail that regular clients of Bulgari spas will recognize immediately.
The Pool Space
The 25-meter semi-Olympic pool is lined with mosaics created from a myriad shades of emerald, jade, and malachite. Glints of gold ripple through the reflections of light on water to create a striking effect of brilliance on the undulating surface of the pool. Evoking the baths of ancient Rome, the entrance opens into a space that is as spectacular as it is uncompromisingly intimate. The space is interspersed with sandblasted glass columns into which the Bulgari Constellation motif designed by artist Luca Maleonte has been engraved using the same techniques like those developed by the iconic master glass artists of the Art Deco era. These four columns emit a soothing light that is immediately relaxing, whether you are swimming in the pool or comfortably snuggled up on a mattress in one of the poolside cabanas. The second – Vitality – pool is decorated with a mosaic identical in style to those of the Roman baths at Caracalla, which also inspired the Bulgari Divas’ Dream jewelry collection. The gentle murmur of the waterfall, the seats that allow you literally to float in the water, and the different pressures of the hydro jets and massaging air jets combine to create a unique sense of well-being. The relaxation continues in the mixed hammam clad in white Aphyon marble from Antalya beneath a mosaic sky of gold and green. An ice fountain carved from an imposing block of black granite completes the experience by giving clients the revitalizing option of alternating heat and cold.
Photography courtesy of Bulgari Hotel Paris
Visit Antonio Citterio Patricia Viel
- by Matt Watts
