Development
Julia Capp
development [at] rdai.fr
Materials library
Carole Petitjean
materiautheque [at] rdai.fr
Press
François Trédez
presse [at] rdai.fr
For RDAI, the particular and the universal combine to create an essence of architecture.
Long-renowned for elegant interiors their experience and creativity allows them to embrace every aspect of design from the city to the chair, the place to the object. From the intimate scale of the body and the carefully crafted interior to the urban scale of the street, their architecture is always unique, a response to the context and a conjuring of atmosphere, flow and light.
RDAI’s legacy stretches back to the firm’s founding in 1972 by the much-admired interior designer, Rena Dumas. Rooted in the elegant architecture of Paris, RDAI’s heritage of interiors, sited in the world’s most luxurious shopping streets, became design laboratories for the incubation of ideas. Now directed by Denis Montel the practice has brought its experience to bear on a global architecture addressing every conceivable scale.
Edwin Heathcote
Architecture and design critic
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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 death 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. |
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Julia Capp
Managing director
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Dominique Hébrard
Interior architect, associate artistic director
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Alfonso Ponce-Alvarez
Development Director
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Ségolène Casetta
Human Resources Manager
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Florence Esclangon
Administrative and financial director
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Véronique Duchesne
Interior architect, production director
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Antoine Vernholes
Strategic Advisor
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Sybil Debu
Architect
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Daniel Poehner
Architect RIBA
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Marie-Eve Dubray
Interior architect
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Cécile Buhagiar
Interior architect
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Nathalie Gonon
Interior architect
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Daniel Le Pan
Interior architect, technical department director
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Carole Petitjean
Director of materials library and design department
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Florian Tenent
Interior architect, Director of Research and Development
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“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.
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