CASE STUDY
The foundations of the story Embracing Sofitel’ s mantra of l’ Art de Vivre, Ran & Morris focused on developing a design proposal to position the luxury hotel as an expression of French luxury viewed through the unique historical lens of Bucharest.
“ Design has a relationship with the path of history, and it is from a convergence of historical elements that we built the narrative for this prominent Bucharest building,” says Ran Yanuv.“ Most of our projects begin that way, and it is only once that narrative has been written that the design process truly begins.”
In a vibrant capital city defined by a mix of Soviet-era architecture and numerous historic and cultural sites, Bucharest was once known as‘ Micul Paris’, or‘ Little
Paris’, for its early French architectural, cultural, and social influences. Harnessing those core narratives, while remaining focused on the refined French luxury exuded by the Sofitel brand, Ran & Morris applied their renowned‘ story-catching’ methodology to selecting design elements from multiple layers of influence.
“ We consider ourselves to be story catchers in interior design, and we approach projects like archeologists revealing the details,” explains Morris Algazi.“ We dig deep to find the authentic story of the culture and everything that once thrived in a building, a neighbourhood, and a city.”
Unifying their vision With a mandate won for a proposal selected from design studios from around the world, Ran & Morris began the process of unifying two adjacent buildings into a singular vision. In collaboration with Cumulus, a leading Romanian architectural firm, they laid out plans to join two buildings, the first built in the late nineteen century, and the second as an extension
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