RDAI practices architecture, interior architecture and design.
Founded in 1972 by Rena Dumas, the award-winning practice is now led by Denis Montel and Julia Capp.
 
With nearly one hundred employees from 10 different nationalities, the agency — winner of the Equerre d'Argent, French best architecture prize in 2014 — is recognized worldwide. Experienced architects, interior architects, designers and technicians work together on around 70 international projects each year always responding to the specifics of places and cultures.
RDAI works on all scales, from entire buildings to interior environments and individual objects - with innovative support from technical experts, research and development, datamining and material specialists — treating a diverse selection of programmes including retail, hotel, residential, workplace, cultural, events and furniture design.
 
With its intuitive and conceptual approach, the objective of RDAI is to reach the very essence in every creation.

Team
Artistic and general director
   
Denis Montel  

A graduate of the École d’Architecture Paris-La Défense, his first professional experiences were transdisciplinary. For ten years he collaborated with agencies specializing in architecture, interior architecture, landscape, scenography and strategic design.

In 1999 he joined Rena Dumas, directing major projects for RDAI.

In 2007 he co-founded RDAI-Architecture with Rena Dumas and Nicolas Karmochkine. After Rena’s disappearance in 2009 he became managing director and artistic director of the two agencies, RDAI and RDAI-Architecture.

Denis has taught at the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs and various architecture schools, and regularly takes part in international conferences.

   
Associate general director
   
Julia Capp  

Julia graduated from the University of Queensland, Brisbane with a Bachelor of Architecture and Bachelor of Design Studies and has an MBA from the Institut français de la mode, Paris. 

Julia spent four years working in London at McColls then Bruce Henderson, then six years based in Hong Kong — where she registered as a government-chartered architect in 1995 — and Shanghai, working for Peter Fung, Patrice Butler and Pearl Lam on hotel, club and residential property development projects. 

In 1998 Julia joined RDAI to coordinate the agency’s architectural projects, at a time when the agency was growing quickly, with projects worldwide. In 2006, she developed the furniture and object design department. In 2022, Julia became Associate General Director.

   
Directors
   
Gérald Sellier  
Architect DPLG, Operations director
Ségolène Casetta  
Human Resources Manager
Dominique Hébrard  
Interior architect, Associate artistic director
   
Architects and interior architects senior
   
Mathieu Alfandary
马修.阿尔方达利  
Interior Architect , RDAI Architecture Asia Manager
室内设计师,RDAI建筑设计事务所亚洲区经理
Sybil Debu   
Architect, Project Director
Nathalie Gonon   
Interior architect, Project Director
Cécile Buhagiar   
Interior architect, Project Director
Marie-Eve Dubray   
Interior architect, Project Director
Guillaume Wendling   
Architect HMONP, Project Director
   
Technical department
Daniel Le Pan  
Interior architect, Technical department director
Materials library
Carole Petitjean  
Director of materials library and design department
   
Research and Development
Florian Tenent  
Interior architect, Director of Research and Development
   
Architects, interior architects, designers
Floriane Abello
Florence Adler Sibel
Emilie Alexandre
Joanna Andreassian
Héloïse Arbona
Charlotte Arnoux
Sofia Badrezzamane
Niels Barateig
Floriane Bernabeu
Stéphanie Bozza
Juan Fernando Calderon
Filippo Canni
Rosine Clauss
Jérome Delafosse
Elise Delestre
Adrien De Melo
Héloïse Duclair
Elisa Duvivier
Giovanni Eberle
Akhilla Ghiribelli
Filippos Grigoriadis
Ludovic Haehnsen
Mona Hariri
Xavier Hinsinger
Lisa Hong
Anne Kerignard
Benoît Lemarié
Léa Lesor
Antoine Lhéritier
Raffaële Luquin-Manesse
Federico Mannino
Clémence Marchal
Jean-Baptiste Pilli
Jean-François Py
Marion Renard
Joséphine Riffiod-Adam
Natalia Salas
Jerry Schael
Barbara Stec
Yves Théaudière
Johan Thuillot
Sébastien Vadde
Roberto Vinante
Cécile Voyron
Yang Zhao
   
Administration
Delphine Leprêtre
Myriam Nicou
Finance and HR
Catherine Carlier
Jérôme Decker
Marie Lemaux
Claire Després
Communication / Press & Competitions
François Trédez
Arlette Thierion
   
Technical department
Arnaud Alcée
Romain Buyer
Mathieu Lainez
   
Ewen Le Bis
Mathilde Lebrun
Frank Maury
Facility management
Alexandre Santamarina
Materials library
Florence Boulay-Neveu
Raphaëlle Clergeau de la Torre
Marina Gomes
Lucie Montauzé
Awards and exhibitions
Awards
Exhibitions
   
2024  
FD100 Awards 2023
RDAI is glad to see the Maison Hermès Madison NY be part of the100 projects lauréates of the 3rd edition of the international award Le FRENCH DESIGN 100, which rewards innovation in furniture and interior design.
2023  
AHEAD Awards 2023
The AHEAD Awards has revealed its inaugural global AHEAD 100, a list of the best new hotels opened worldwide over the past year. We are proud to announce that SO/ Paris hotel was awarded in the category “Hotel Conversion”, a conversion of an existing non-hotel building into a 5 star hotel.
Créateurs Design Awards 2023
La Maison Hermès 706 Madison - Laureat in the category "Best Commercial Project in Interior Design".
Prix Versailles 2023
Hermès Madison 706, New York — Lauréat of Prix Versailles Amérique du Nord 2023  "Shops category".
2022  
Prix Versailles
Hermès Rive Gauche, Paris — Shops & Stores / Special prize Interior — Continental winners « Europe »
The FRENCH DESIGN 100 Award
Console Arca — Laureate
2020  
Prix Versailles
Hermès New York Meatpacking —  Special Prize Interior — Continental winners “North America”  
2018  
Prix Versailles
Hermès Hong Kong Prince — Special Prize Exterior — Continental winners “Central Asia and the Northeast” “South Asia and the Pacific”
2016  
ADC Awards by Muuuz
Les Bains, Paris — Laureate in the category “Interior / Restaurants” 
Paris Shop & Design
Les Bains, Paris — Laureate in the category “Restaurant” 
Prix Versailles
Ganjam, Bangalore — Interiors, honorable mention in the category “Stores”
Prix Villegiature Awards
Les Bains, Paris — Named in the categories “Best hotel creativity and ingenuity in Europe”
Restaurant & Bar Design Award
Les Bains, Paris — Laureate in the category “Europe Restaurant”
2015  
European Hotel Design Awards
Les Bains, Paris — Laureate in the category “Interior design — Restaurants”
2014  
Prix de l'Equerre d'argent
La Cité des Métiers Hermès, Pantin — Laureate
2012  
Observeur du design
Chaise Sellier — Label Observeur du design
Paris Shop & Design
Hermès Rive Gauche, Paris — Laureate in the category “Equipement de la personne”
2011  
Wan Retail Awards
Hermès Rive Gauche, Paris — Laureate in the category “Greater than 200 sqm”
2010  
Observeur du design
Fauteuil cireur John Lobb — Label Observeur du design
2007  
Observeur du design
Pippa (folding stool) — Label Observeur du design
2024  
17.01–22.03
Le French Design Gallery - Exhibition "Nomadic nuances"
From January 17 to March 22, Le French Design Galerie unveils 34 FD100 award-winning works as part of the "Nuancier Nomade" exhibition. Among them is a model of the "Madison" sofa, manufactured by Ateliers Jourffre and designed by RDAI for the Maison Hermès Madison in New York. The exhibition will then move to the gallery of the French Institute in Milan in April, during Milan Design Week.
Exhibition "Nuancier Nomade"
2023  
07.09–16.09
Paris Design Week
“Seascape” — RDAI x Atelier Arethuse x Lelièvre — RDAI 13 rue du Mail, Paris 2ème
https://www.rdai.fr/fr/projects/587/seascape/seasc
07.06–09.06
3 Days of Design
“Seascape” — RDAI x Atelier Arethuse x Lelièvre — French Embassy Copenhagen
Lien
2018  
12.06–17.06
Art Basel 2018 — Galerie Philippe Gravier
“Le pavillon salle à manger”
Link
2017  
06.09–20.09
AD Intérieurs, La Monnaie, Paris
“Le pavillon salle à manger”
Link
02.05–14.05
D'DAYS, Musée des Arts décoratifs, Paris
“Stairway to Infinity”
Link
04.04–09.04
Wallpaper - Holy Handmade ! Salone del Mobile, Milan
“Treasure box”
Link
2016  
11.03–21.04
Aedes Architecture Forum, Berlin
“Zoom: from Object to Architecture”
Link
2015  
08.09–25.09
La Galerie d'Architecture, Paris
“Zoom: RDAI Architecture”
Link
2009  
09.04–30.04
Mouvements Modernes, Paris
“Renas Dumas, Tapis Lumière”
Link
Rena Dumas, 1937–2009

“At the start of each project there is a story to be told, a dream to pursue, one full of sensitivity and poetry. The successful project is the one that maintains the purity of this original vision, answering the dream from which it was born. All our projects are marked by the concern with how humans will live and evolve in these spaces. They are characterized by this passion and this attention to detail. Architecture is an event in itself. Architecture is to be lived and inhabited. It is a generous act. I understood very early the responsibility, I would say the greatness of the profession of architecture, which can give happiness or overwhelm. When I speak of happiness, it is the happiness that generates energy. This is a very important element in the art of creating and building.” Rena Dumas - 2007

Rena Dumas embodied the values of her chosen profession. She discovered architecture as a teenager, when her brother was studying in Athens, and she decided to follow the same path, concentrating on interior architecture.

Rena graduated from the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Appliqués et des Métiers d’Art in Paris, before continuing her education in Greece and the United States. New horizons opened to her on meeting the architect André Wogenscky in 1968. She took over the management of Robert Anxionnat’s Paris practice, carrying out numerous projects, including the Time Life’s Paris offices and boardroom.

In 1972 she opened her own studio, Rena Dumas Architecture Intérieure. Among her first clients were the Marine Midland Bank and Urquijo Bank while the collaboration with Hermès, which continues today, began in 1976.

From 1983 until her death in 2009, Rena designed furniture and objects, exploring concepts of nomadism. Furniture that folded/unfolded enabled her to delve into the ideas behind structural articulations. With a vocabulary built on simplicity and the absence of embellishment, these pieces express the subtlety of touch. 

Timeline
   
   

1972
Establishment of Rena Dumas Architecture Intérieure by Rena Dumas

1976
Beginning of the collaboration with Hermès

2000
Move to new offices from 5 to 13 rue du Mail 75002 Paris

The change of premises allows the agency and all its departments to expand, including the material library


2001
Inauguration of the Maison Hermès Ginza in Tokyo with Renzo Piano Building Workshop

2006
Inauguration of the Maison Hermès Dosan Park in Seoul

2007
Establishment of RDAI-Architecture

Partners: Rena Dumas, Denis Montel and Nicolas Karmochkine

2009
Death of Rena Dumas

Denis Montel becomes Artistic Director of RDAI

2010
Inauguration of Hermès Rive Gauche in Paris

2014
Prix de l’Equerre d’argent

Cité des métiers Hermès — RDAI-Architecture, winner of the “Equerre d'argent” 2014           


2015
Diversification of activities: hotels, condominiums in the USA, tower in Taipei, and more

2019
Winner of the National Pulse Memorial & Museum competition in Orlando with Coldefy

2022
RDAI celebrates its 50th anniversary!