Cora – Shopping center

The shopping centre was showing its age and suffering from the proximity of the Vache Noire shopping centre, both of them situated in Arcueil, a Paris suburb with problems and in the process of being revamped.

To keep its clientele, the Cora shopping centre realized it needed to change its image and identity. AIM Hanemian Architects undertook the commission and as part of the strategy proposed that the adjacent Campanile hotel should be part of the Cora make-over.

The Cora site was totally opened up and given a black floor alternately matt and shiny with red led lighting to welcome customers, with the lighting effect being reflected in the overhead canopies. The customers’ parking area is also made more attractive by means of a zonal colour scheme (floors, walls and ceilings) to make it easier to remember where the car is parked.

The former elevation with its serrated design has been simplified architecturally. In the foreground perforated metal panels allow light to pass between the ground floor level of shops and the offices on the floor above. The whole range of shops shares this metallic base for their brand names together with red kakemonos. In the background the Cora brand name is firmly established on bracketed glass panels. Similarly the Campanile Hotel is clearly identified on a metal panel in green, the hotel chain’s theme colour.