From the soon-to-open restaurant at the Grand Palais to the interiors of The Chancery hotel in London to the private island of Norman&#39;s Gay, architect Joseph Dirand multiplies his projects.

Text by LAURE AMBROISE

In your case, can we speak of <a href="https://www.lofficielibiza.com/design/quintessential-interior-design-pieces-for-the-inner-architecture-enthusiast" target="_blank" rel="noopener">architecture</a> as a destiny? &laquo;I have always wanted to do this job and it was my father Jacques Dirand 's photographs that inspired me. He was one of the greatest architecture and <a href="https://www.lofficielibiza.com/design/dior-nature" target="_blank" rel="noopener">interior</a> photographers and the first to specialize in the 70s, working for all the major newspapers, from The World of Interiors to AD and Vogue&raquo;.
Among the most memorable images was a report on the work of Luis Barrag&aacute;n in Mexico. &laquo;As a child I was attracted above all by <a href="https://www.lofficielibiza.com/ibiza/ibiza-s-contemporary-art-scene-how-new-communities-are-crystallizing" target="_blank" rel="noopener">contemporary</a> and visionary projects and by the houses of architects such as Frank Lloyd Wright or Le Corbusier . In addition to their architectural structure these houses were filled with works of art and inhabited by artists who surrounded me throughout my childhood, whose conversation was super stimulating&raquo; .
Very close to his father, he also acts as his photographic assistant, to the point of starting "to think about places by imagining the photos that could have been taken of them" .

He studied interior architecture at the &Eacute;cole nationale sup&eacute;rieure d'architecture de Paris-Belleville and has been carrying out private projects since the second year. At the age of 23 he launched his own agency: he was fascinated by the post-war architecture of the 50s and the art of the 60s, Land Art and American minimalist art. Influences that lead him to push the radical and the minimal to paroxysm and then open up &laquo;to other suggestions to question my choices&raquo;.
Today he defines his work as an "ornamental minimalist", &laquo;they are actually two opposite concepts, but the definition evokes that point of balance when nothing can be added and nothing eliminated, when there is nothing useless but everything conveys a experience you can't do without" . After various private projects, he launched into the concept of luxury boutiques by creating the <a href="https://www.lofficielibiza.com/fashion/balmain-womens-show-autumn-winter-2023-2024-collection-photo-look-video" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Balmain</a> store of which Christophe Decarnin was then artistic director.

&laquo;It was a highly commented project because it was the first time that a boutique had such a residential aspect. I had recreated this idea of the haute couture salon in resonance with the brand, which struck a paradoxical contrast with the style of the designer whose fashion was so busy and so young. I had imagined a very minimalist hall of mirrors in the manner of a Kubrick film set design, there was this tension between the past, heritage and modernity. The consequence of this project was that all the luxury groups called me to work for them&raquo; .
He created the <a href="https://www.lofficielibiza.com/fashion/pucci-show-in-florence-when-where-summer-2023-collection" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Pucci</a> , <a href="https://www.lofficielibiza.com/fashion/balenciaga-show-autumn-winter-2023-2024-look-images-photos-collection-video" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Balenciaga</a> , Rick Owens , Chlo&eacute; and Weston boutiques on the Champs Elysees : &laquo;we worked on totally different and almost opposite brands. To tell their story, I dived into their universes, and I spent a lot of time with these creators, constantly reinventing myself because they had nothing in common with each other. It was a period of five years that enriched me a lot until I had the impression that I had tried all the styles and the motivation to continue this type of exercise disappeared&raquo;. In the meantime, he created his first Parisian restaurant, Monsieur Bleu at the Palais de Tokyo , which enjoyed insane success. &nbsp;

The basic idea? &laquo;Create temporal places that find their roots in the past and which at the same time respond to our desires today&raquo; . He continues by creating the Lou Lou, Flandrin and Girafe restaurants, and in 2015 he imagines his first furniture collection. &laquo;I am first of all an architect who began his career with interior architecture and who now does global architecture. The furniture I designed was conceived to participate in a global story. At the same time I have always been passionate about furniture by architects, not designers, which is why I worked on pieces that referenced all my mentors, from Mies van der Rohe to Jeanneret . They are pieces of furniture that have an existence in themselves and are like miniature architectures&raquo; .
What has changed in your approach to interior architecture in recent years? &laquo;My understanding of the experience more than the looks, with the physical experience of an environment in its ergonomics, but at the same time the importance of dissecting each of the life moments of the people who will live in it to make them as magical as possible. In France we are nourished by an art of living where everything counts, be it gastronomy, fashion, music, hospitality, all very rich areas even if we are extremely critical and never completely satisfied and always want to go further. We have this classical education and at the same time a creative soul &raquo; .

&laquo; Italy is similar to us with other roots, but we share the same basic elements: what we do in the field of interior architecture has always been among the best things ever done despite the evolution of styles&raquo; .
Today Joseph Dirand works on more than 25 projects between the United States and Europe. One of the last was the design of a 120-metre yacht : &laquo;I had never worked on something that fascinated me so much being completely ignorant of the sector, nourished by my motivation to learn, understand, see how my experience could transform and apply yourself in a context that I didn't know at all, an adventure that lasted five and a half years. Now I'm about to build two more yachts. The Four Seasons hotel in Miami that we built is a success despite being the smallest of the bunch. The structure was a historic building which housed a private club frequented by Sinatra and Al Capone: I worked on this Thirties reference to which we added a contemporary building that brings the sea and the beach inside with a palette of blue and sand and references to wooden huts on the beach. They also entrusted me with another hotel in Gstaad and another in Rome. In London I carried out a long-awaited project by transforming what was the United States embassy built by Saarinen in the 60s into a hotel of the Rosewood group which will be called Chancery in which David Chipperfield collaborates. We are also developing the private island of Norman's Cay in the Bahamas on the model of Moustique: formerly an island of pirates, it was the site of rum smuggling during Prohibition before being used by a Colombian cartel to smuggle drugs in. I've been working on it for six years to develop a small town with its own community with the least possible environmental impact. In Paris I'm working on the new Grand Palais restaurant. I'm also designing a balloon to go to the stratosphere, for the French company Zephalto who have imagined space travel. They asked me to imagine three cabins for two people where for about six hours they will have an experience of spatial hotellerie. Finally, I have been trying for several years to develop a collection of extraordinary houses to rent all over the world in which I identify plots and historic houses in particular places. We have already bought two properties, one in Courchevel where we are developing a 2,200 square meter chalet in an alpine garden facing an extraordinary panorama, the second property in <a href="https://www.lofficielibiza.com/travel/where-to-vacation-based-on-your-zodiac-sign-astrology" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Capri </a>. For the moment the project is called La Collection &raquo; .

Real Dream, architect Joseph Dirand talks about his projects

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