AZURE 2015-03-04

anyone familiar with jouin manku, the highly experimental studio run
by product designer Patrick Jouin and architect Sanjit Manku, might be
tempted to box the Paris firm’s work in to the realm of luxury retail and
hospitality: the restaurants of Chef Alain Ducasse, Van Cleef & Arpels
boutiques – all boast sumptuous, sleek interiors. Then there is Fontevraud
L’Hôtel in the Loire Valley, where a storied past has helped to shape a
contemporary vision, one that balances an austere way of life with all of
the modern conveniences.
Erected during the 12th century as the Saint-Lazare priory, the hotel
stands as one of four buildings within the Fontevraud Abbey, a UNESCO
World Heritage Site and one of the largest preserved monasteries in
France. The entire compound spreads across 13 hectares, with most of
the property occupied by the Fontevraud Royal Abbey (King Henry II
of England was buried there over 800 years ago). The region has been a
long-time tourist destination, given the numerous châteaux and vineyards,
many of which have produced wine since the first century AD.
The hotel occupies two storeys of the peak-roofed abbey, which once
housed 1,000 monks and nuns, then became a prison after the French
Revolution. No trace of the original lodgings remains today, but nor do
any of the 54 renovated rooms ooze the kind of ornamentation one might
expect from the firm’s previous projects. When Jouin and Manku first
58 mar ⁄ apr 2015