PARTISANS designed a new face for Royal de Versailles Jewellers’ Rolex Boutique that pays homage to the high-precision craftsmanship that has defined the timepieces for over 100 years. A rippling limestone façade wraps the ground-floor boutique, introducing soft folds and undulations that offer a gentle yet resolute counterpoint to the austere rectilinearity of the 14-storey modernist high-rise that sits above. Using parametric modeling and advanced digital fabrication, the limestone façade takes the anatomical components of a watch and translates them into architectural geometries that are both classic and progressive. The steel fins of the existing high-rise descend into the smooth, curved limestone fins that echo the band links of a watch, and curvilinear windows reflect polished watch crystals. The east façade is CNC-etched with a parametric pattern that was developed in collaboration with Italian computational designer Arturo Tedeschi. Inspired by the engravings found on watch face dials, the design harnesses algorithms to translate the layered complexity of fine watchmaking into an architecture where materials, textures, and motifs are interlaced with precision. The result is a distinctive three-dimensional pattern whose elegant, fluid bends and micro-textures glitter when grazed by sunlight, breathing movement and vitality into the seemingly brutal stone.
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