ROYAL TREATMENT
Savour Paris at your feet – quite literally – in the newly restored Belle Etoile suite at Le Meurice 入住剛剛修復完成的Le Meurice酒店，當然不能錯過頂樓的Belle Etoile套房，感受何謂「巴黎在你腳下」
Paris is always a good idea. The epicentre of culture, wit and grandeur, this magical city of light brims with an ever-evolving je ne sais quoi that lures in bon vivants time and time again. In the heart of this historic city, just steps away from the Louvre, sits a gilded hotel: Le Meurice, built in 1835 and coined the “original palace hotel”, has seen the likes of Queen Victoria, Pablo Picasso, Andy Warhol and Beyoncé pass through its doors. Now, nearly two centuries after it first opened, the hotel is undergoing one of its biggest renovations yet – 160 rooms and suites are being restored over several years. It’s inspired by the beauty of Versailles, the epitome of which is captured in the newly unveiled crème de la crème: the Belle Etoile penthouse suite.
“Projects like this don’t come along every day,” says Margaux Lally, one half of Lyon-based design studio Lally and Berger, which she co-founded with partner Luc Berger. The young duo worked with (and was introduced to Le Meurice’s management by) Charles Jouffre of Ateliers Jouffre to overhaul the hotel, as well as this seventh-floor suite perched in the middle of a roof garden, originally conceived as a summer restaurant.
The result is simply breathtaking. Deserving of its name – French for “beautiful star” – Belle Etoile spans an astounding 6,700sqft, complete with a 3,200sqft private terrace that has been newly transformed with the help of French landscape architect Pierre-Alexandre Risser to mirror the Tuileries Garden below. Greenery wraps the suite on all sides and is set against 360-degree panoramic vistas of Paris’s most iconic landmarks, including the Louvre, Place Vendôme, the dome of the Invalides, the Musée d’Orsay and the hourly twinkles of the Eiffel Tower at night.
“You have the impression that you’re all alone in Paris with the city at your feet, as if all its monuments were there just for you,” enthuses Luc. “Rather strangely, many of the windows were previously blocked up, notably in the bedroom.” Hence, it became the starting point of the restoration to bring the suite’s exceptional milieu into the duplex suite. Margaux and Luc replaced the single door that gave access to the terrace with floor-to-ceiling sliding glass doors so that every room now opens up to the outdoors. “It’s almost as if each opening is a tableau vivant of the city,” says Margaux.
The magnificent setting does more than just serve as a backdrop, however; it gave the duo the desire to create “a dialogue” with it. “The way the Parisian sky changes throughout the day and seasons inspired us for the colour palette,” says Margaux. “We opted predominantly for blue-greys and greyish greens.” Adds Luc of the beautiful botanical references weaved into the suite, envisioned as a Parisian town mansion: “The banister of the spiral staircase in the entry foyer is designed with the branch motif and the chandelier above it has glass palmettes.”
走訪巴黎從來也不是壞主意。她是個文化集中地，四處流露著睿智和顯赫，這神奇的光之城永遠也在散發著一種難以言喻的迷人魅力，一直為講究生活品味的人士所嚮往。建於1835年的Le Meurice酒店，坐落於歷史名城的心臟地帶，距離盧浮宮只數步之遙，被列為最早的皇宮酒店，維多利亞女王、畢卡索、Andy Warhol、Beyoncé也是其住客。開業接近200年，Le Meurice近年才迎來最大規模的復修工程：160間客房、套房在過去幾年分階段翻新，房間設計靈感源自凡爾賽宮，而最新揭幕的頂層豪華套房Belle Etoile，就正是其最佳典範。
駐里昂設計公司Lally and Berger的合伙人Margaux Lally指：「這類項目絕對可遇不可求。」公司由她和拍檔Luc Berger組成；年輕的設計二人組跟Ateliers Jouffre的Charles Jouffre合作(Charles更是把他們介紹予Le Meurice管理層的媒人)負責全面復修酒店，包括位於七樓天台花園中間位置的豪華套房，最初曾有意改建成夏日營業的餐廳。
結果如何？一句到尾：令人嘆為觀止。法語Belle Etoile正是美麗星宿的意思，而新裝修的套房名符其實就是一顆Belle Etoile：佔地6,700平方呎，包括3,200平方呎的私人露台，請來法國景觀建築師Pierre-Alexandre Risser操刀重新設計。綠意環繞套房四周，環視360度全景，盡覽巴黎最具標誌性的地標，從盧浮宮到芳登廣場；榮軍院的圓頂教堂、奧賽美術館和入夜後一小時閃一次的巴黎鐵塔也盡收眼底。
Luc興奮表示：「感覺就如巴黎只屬你一人，整個城市也在你腳下，就像一切歷史遺跡只為你存在。奇怪的是，以前套房裡大部份窗戶也是封起來的，特別是睡房。」這就成了復修的起點，決意把四周令人驚艷的景觀帶到頂層豪華套房。Margaux
That staircase leads down into one of the suite’s four bedrooms, while past the boudoir entrance hall is another two. The master en suite, meanwhile, occupies the entire top floor. Quintessentially 18th-century splendour meets a fresh layer of modern flair that resulted in a decidedly warm, convivial and intimate environ. “Our approach was one of subtle, refined luxury,” describes Luc of the details such as marble thresholds, a chevron-patterned parquet, gilded touches, embroidery on the broadcloth curtains and reinterpreted 18th-century faux marble skirting boards, which are blended with state-of-the-art technology such as Apple TV, a Bang & Olufsen theatre system and LED lighting.
The crown jewel of the suite is a majestic marbled master bathroom that’s encircled by newly windowed walls on three sides, through which natural light streams and views unfold of Montmartre and the Sacré-Coeur. New brass and bronze details complement a decadent circular Jacuzzi, lulling you into a languid state of bliss in a private cocoon high above the city. “If we could imagine the bathroom of our dreams, I think it would be this one,” says Margaux. It’s a sentiment that can certainly be said about the equally splendid suite.
//和Luc把原先通往露台的單門拿走，換上落地玻璃趟門，每個房間也能打開連接戶外。Margaux說：「打開趟門，就如看到一幅幅巴黎的流動藝術畫。」壯麗的景觀不單是一幅佈景板，還讓兩位設計師產生與之「對話」的慾望。Margaux表示：「巴黎天空不同時節的變化給予我們設計用色的靈感，主要以灰藍、灰綠作為主色。」而Luc就在設計中融入了植物的元素，把套房想像成巴黎市中的大屋。「入口處的螺旋樓梯欄杆，以樹枝圖案為概念，懸掛其上的水晶燈綴以仿棕櫚葉的玻璃裝飾。」沿著螺旋樓梯往下走來到套房中四個睡房的其中之一，經過起居室走廊便會發現其餘兩個房間。主人房雄據整個頂層。18世紀典型的恢宏氣勢遇上清新現代的魅力，營造出一個溫暖、陶然自得同時不失私密的氛圍。Luc指：「我們希望能帶出含蓄而精煉的奢華。」套房擁有雲石門檻、人字形地板、鍍金修飾、絨面呢刺繡窗簾，還有18世紀復刻仿雲石地腳線等細節，當然還配備了最先進的娛樂設備，如Apple TV、Bang & Olufsen影院系統和LED燈源等。套房有何神來之筆？正是主人房令人屏息的雲石大浴室，環繞三邊的是新建造的玻璃牆，讓自然光和蒙馬特聖心堂的壯麗景色引到室內。新造的黃銅和青銅細節襯托著圓形的大按摩浴池，引誘你在煩囂之上洗滌心靈，悠然浸浴。Margaux表示：「夢想中的浴室，大概就這個樣子。」這句話絕對能同樣套用於這華麗的套房上。//