A Disappearing Elevator is the Star of RH's New Paris Flagship

"Designed by AD100 architecture firm Foster + Partners, the innovative system was born of necessity. As Sarah Wai, a partner with the firm who worked on the project explains, a conventional elevator with a permanent rooftop enclosure would have been visible from the Champs-Élysées and blocked the sightline to the Eiffel Tower-and would not have been permitted under the zoning constraints in the prestigious location."

""To address these challenges, we collaborated with manufacturers to develop a retractable lift that rises only when needed and disappears seamlessly when not in use," explains Wai. While this type of elevator design has been used in private European residences, this is the first of its kind in Paris to be installed in a public space."

"In Paris, Foster + Partners was responsible not only for the ingenious rooftop mechanics but for enhancing the building's historic architecture throughout. The building, built in 1983 and which formerly housed an Abercrombie & Fitch, is one of the few free-standing structures on the Champs-Élysées. The building boasts herringbone floors, gilded ceilings, twenty-foot-tall bronze and cast medallion doors and heritage-protected gold leaf-tipped iron gates."

Foster + Partners created a retractable rooftop elevator for RH's Paris gallery to avoid obstructing sightlines to the Eiffel Tower and comply with strict zoning. The lift rises only when needed and retracts out of view, developed in collaboration with manufacturers. The mechanism represents the first installation of this type in a Parisian public space, though similar systems exist in private European residences. The RH gallery opened in September during Paris Design Week as part of an ongoing European expansion that includes prior openings in England, Germany, Spain and Belgium and planned galleries in London and Milan. The 1983 building retains numerous historic finishes.

Read at Architectural Digest