Le Cerisier restaurant, Lille, France - Coldefy, Laurent Minot

50 ONDERWERP

LE CERISIER RESTAURANT, LILLE, FRANCE

A landmark of luxury

© Cedric Helsly

By Denise Close, Jean-Luc Wittersheim

ONDERWERP 51

Š Cedric Helsly

Integrating lighting with architecture is essential to make the most of a building’s spaces. Le Cerisier restaurant, in the historic center of Lille, shows what enchanting atmospheres can be created by the judicious use of LED lighting driven by the DALI system.

52 ONDERWERP

© Coldefy

This contemporary white concrete edifice stands out against Lille’s old town, which is a mixture of protected historic structures and more recent high-rises. Located opposite the High Court, the building occupies the angle formed by a small cobbled street typical of old Flemish cities, rue Saint-Joseph, and a wide tree-lined boulevard, the Avenue du Peuple Belge. This district right in the center of the city has a tremendous historical heritage.

In 2013, the building’s owners - family group GMB Invest / ICM, headed by Charles-Édouard Marquet - commissioned architect Coldefy & Associés to work on this mixed-use building, which has housing on the upper floors and restaurant facilities on the first two levels. Responsibility for the interior decoration went to architect Laurent Minot and the lighting to Modular Lighting Instruments, with Coldefy managing the interface between technical and architectural elements on the one hand, and interior planning, layout and fit-out on the other.

LUMINOUS 2019/23

© Cedric Helsly

© Cedric Helsly

The gourmet restaurant Le Cerisier en Ville and its brasserie La Griotte occupy, respectively, the first floor and the ground floor of Lille’s Le Peuple Belge building.

Embracing the city The high-tech building’s smooth white concrete lines enclose all of the structure’s elements in an elegant grid with variable sized openings. The restaurant façade is, in part, set back further than that of the brasserie below it. Large windows connect both the restaurant and the brewery to the city, along with the balcony bar and dining rooms.

Laurent Minot led the interior design project, working with Coldefy’s architecture. The idea was to employ classically inspired elements in an unequivocally modern building. Architect Simon Ducreu from Coldefy explained: ”We relied on the site’s history, the area’s urban morphology, and the shared desire to create a unique place.”

For the lighting design, Charles-Édouard Marquet wanted Modular Lighting Instruments and Coldefy to work together from the outset to create a lighting approach that was in harmony with the architecture. The lighting highlighted key elements of the design, emphasizing the building’s height, showcasing certain decorative elements, and creating a cozy and comfortable restaurant atmosphere, with intriguing views of hallways and passageways...

LE CERISIER 53

© Cedric Helsly

An invitation to intimacy The brightly lit entrance invites visitors to cross the threshold. Once inside, the environment becomes increasingly more intimate.

Simon Ducreu explains: ”The restaurant entrance, a glazed doubleheight space, is the project’s pivot point. Coldefy wanted to highlight this urban window, particularly through lighting that marks both the angle and setting from the Avenue du Peuple Belge.

The idea was to create the effect of a starry sky, framed by the entrance’s concrete arches. The ceiling forms a constellation consisting of recessed Qbini LED spotlights, from Modular Lighting Instruments.”

Beyond an oak door, the spaces are structured by alternating parallel bands framing the light sources. A gallery along the rue Saint-Joseph façade was designed to establish interaction with the historic building fronts facing it.

54 LE CERISIER

This open and transparent pathway along which visitors stroll towards the heart of the facility is a visual crossing point composed of evenly spaced floor lighting, extending from the bar to the smoking room. Embedded spotlights in the ceiling complement the floor lights.

The atmosphere in the restaurant is more intimate, due to lower lighting levels with the focus on the tables. Modular L.I.’s Qbini trimless spotlights add illumination from the ceiling along with wall sconces. Qbini has honeycomb grids to prevent glare and produce varied colors due to temperature variations. The sconces accentuate height and focus towards the tables. The overall lighting intensity is therefore intentionally low with the ability to fade and better emphasize the decoration. Another area of lighting emphasis is the entrance to the nearby open and very brightly-lit kitchen.

This has strong and homogeneous illumination which highlights but doesn’t disrupt, the general atmosphere.

© Coldefy

© Cedric Helsly

First floor of the restaurant plan

“LED is now an obvious choice in any new construction project”

© Coldefy

Simon Ducreu, architect

Layout of the ground floor level

LUMINOUS 2019/23

LE CERISIER 55

© Cedric Helsly

The building frame's signature white concrete façade stands out distinctively during daylight hours, then fades away at nightfall to reveal contrasting full and empty shapes.

The façade’s grooves are underlined by small projectors, making the building stand out and enhancing its vertical elements.

From the outset of the design, there was a commitment to use LEDs for lighting.

“LED is now an obvious choice in any new construction project,” said Simon Ducreu, “because of the modular nature of the technology, the limited heating of light sources and the benefits in terms of energy consumption. LED gives us the same results as incandescent lighting. We are asked for a certain maximum energy consumption per square meter, and only LED makes it possible to obtain these results.”

56 LE CERISIER

A centralized lighting management system using DALI protocol, with a touch-sensitive board and switch, modulates the light through a control device and adapts its intensity according to the time of day, which enables the creation of unlimited lighting scenes.

The restaurant, like all establishments open to the public, is subject to regulatory constraints. In an establishment of this type, the artificial or natural lighting on shared indoor and outdoor passageways must create perfectly visible paths without visual discomfort. This meant respecting minimum lighting levels of 150 Lux. The careful attention to the lighting has paid off. “Customers are pleasantly surprised and realize it’s an original creation,” said Charles-Edouard Marquet, project manager of the family-owned GMB Invest / ICM Group. “We’d invested a lot to get this feeling, through multiple small touches. Light is an essential symbol.

There’s a magic at night that we don’t have during the day, that we wanted to emphasize.”

© Cedric Helsly

© Cedric Helsly

Client GMB Invest / ICM Group Charles Edouard Marquet Architect Coldefy Simon Ducreu Interior architect Laurent Minot

Websites www.gmbinvest-icm.com www.caau.fr www.laurent-minot.com www.lecerisier.com www.supermodular.com

LUMINOUS 2019/23

© Cedric Helsly

Luminaires Modular Lighting Instruments Qbini 4.3W Modular Lighting Instruments Smart Kup 48 with Smart Tubed Wall Modular Lighting Instruments Smart Asy Lotis 48

ONDERWERP 57