Once, the home of a notorious bishop, the seventeenth century building in the town of Orléans, Hôtel Dupanloup, has recently been reconstructed to function as International Research Center of the University of Orléans. Studio Makkink & Bey developed a series of spatial installations that transform the historic Hôtel chambers into lively public spaces.
Invited by the The French Artistic Nationale Commission Makkink & Bey furnished the main room as well as 23 working/meeting rooms of Hôtel Dupanloup by creating eclectic three dimensional collages of furniture; amongst others PROOFF Worksofa’s, EarChairs and SideSeats in new colourschemes, a ‘Dupanloup chair- and table’ specially designed for the project, antique pieces of furniture, a special edition of the Tree trunk Bench and re-designs made of Ikea furniture by students of École Supérieure d’Art et de design d’Orléans that participated in a summer workshop with Studio Makkink & Bey.
Carpets and curtains outline the reprogrammed spaces and introduce a new heraldy that narrates about the content of the local archives (such as from the local Fine Art Museum, the Frac Centre and the House of Jeanne d’Arc). The spirits of the past and present are merged and create rich contexts for researchers -and visitors of the International Research Center of the University of Orléans to meet- and work in. Even when not in use these ‘room in a room’ interiors are intriguing spatial still lifes that portray several layers of time, or as Director of Cultural Affair of the Centre Region Sylvie Le Clech describes them; ‘A treasure hunt across centuries’.
The project will be finalized in September 2014 with the opening of the building and launch of a publication about the project development en renovation.
