The restaurant Ardent opened in Paris in the Faubourg-Montmartre district in September after four months of work. Led by the architectural firm DOD headed by David-Olivier Descombes, Ardent is a project that plays with contrasts, juggling with a more raw aspect, just like the cuisine offered on the menu.
Since its inception in 2009, DOD Architecture has been conducting both residential and contract projects. Its founder, David-Olivier Descombes, trained at the Ecole Supérieure d’Architecture Intérieure de Lyon and the Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture de Versailles, likes to work on spaces to create unique places that resemble his clients as much as possible. “I want to make projects that are the clients’, not mine. It’s something very important to me,” says David-Olivier Descombes. With Ardent, the challenge that was given to him and his team was to rehabilitate an old Asian cuisine restaurant into a place that is both simplistic and yet has an atypical touch.
Restaurant Ardent by DOD © Gilles Trillard
A balance of contrasts
With a kitchen called “raw”, because of the wood-fired cooking of its dishes from appetizer to dessert, the restaurant Ardent is the result of a work on contrasts and sharing spaces. “The more contrast there is, the more you can convey, in my opinion,” explains the interior designer. Thus, where the bar area and kitchen are blended into black walls and furniture, the rest of the room relies on lighter tones, accentuated by the natural light produced by the bay windows that surround the restaurant, offering an interesting contrast. The tables, chairs and benches are dressed in light tones with the use of leather and wood. The walls are adorned with vintage mirrors, while white tiles line the dining area.
Restaurant Ardent by DOD © Gilles Trillard
Restaurant Ardent by DOD © Gilles Trillard
Through the use of materials such as burnt wood for the kitchen area, natural leather for the benches, wood for the tables and chairs or even tiles for the walls, the DOD agency offers clients a play and harmony of materials, for a result that is all about sobriety. “I didn’t want to be sophisticated. We had a starting point: the raw side of the kitchen, so we had to play with the materials to offer a softer aspect to the rest of the space, to achieve a balance” he concludes.
Maïa Pois
