Le Paris Brest by Christian Le Squer

Le Paris-Brest by Christian Le Squer is the brasserie of the new train station in Rennes, the capital of Brittany in the northwest of France. Patrick Jouin and Sanjit Manku of Jouin Manku designed the interiors of the restaurant which will attract not only passengers traveling through the station, but also the people of the city itself – a vibrant and welcoming brasserie distinguished by the quality of its cuisine thanks to the expertise of renowned chef Christian Le Squer and his young protégé Benjamin Le Coat.

Approached from the first floor station concourse and opening out towards the city center, Le Paris-Brest extends out above the tracks which pass beneath bringing trains from Paris to Brest on the Atlantic coast. The idea of the restaurant as a jetty and the expression of this movement towards the sea was the first source of inspiration for Jouin and Manku as they approached the project. They also looked to the ambitious architecture of the new building itself and sought to echo that language in the brasserie's interiors with a subtlety that would communicate Le Paris-Brest's dual identity both as an integral part of the station and as a place apart, with its own atmosphere, its own expression, and its own life.

The use of wood as a key material follows through from the station into the restaurant but here the warmth of the solid oak ceiling is set in contrast with the cool minerality of the stone floor and bar which suggest the granite so characteristic of the Breton coast. Light plays across the surfaces from full-height windows on either side. There is a sense too of erosion, of the metamorphic movement of the sea itself, in the pattern of the grey-blue terrazzo floor and the bar which could be three rocks, stranded in the middle of the room as the tide ebbed way.

Solid, simple and beautiful materials create an interior which is durable and rich without being opulent, in keeping with the character of this brasserie which, despite the quality and ambition of its cuisine, is accessible and popular. This is also a place of great life and activity, the flow of movement of the station entering through the restaurant’s doors as diners come and go, some with luggage some without, whether to eat quickly before catching a train or to while away some time lingering over a meal.