Rodolphe Parente and Marion Mailaender reimagine Paris’ Ken Club as an architecture in motion, bringing the 1985 identity of the fitness and social club into a contemporary setting opposite the Eiffel Tower. The architects approach the past as an architectural remix, shaping a place where the visual language and atmosphere of the 1980s are sampled, reworked, and given a new rhythm. Parente and Mailaender imagine the club almost as a film set built to last, recreating the atmosphere of another era without turning the interiors into a period replica. Saturated colors, rounded forms, reflective surfaces, and theatrical contrasts between light and shadow give the spaces a sense of movement. 

all images by Ludovic Balay

When Mireille and Pierre Benzaquen founded the Ken Club in 1985, it quickly became a social spot where people came to exercise, meet, and spend time together. Forty years later, the renovation takes that history as its starting point. Parente and Mailaender were tasked with recreating the spirit of the original Ken Club without copying its appearance. References to the 1980s are abstracted and redistributed throughout the interior, allowing the building to acknowledge its past.

A light-filled interior is organized around seating areas, pools, circulation routes, and planted zones, while strong graphic interventions interrupt the architectural framework. Pale surfaces meet turquoise, yellow, pink, and green, producing an environment that feels deliberately removed from the visual language often associated with fitness spaces. A patterned ceiling spreads irregular green forms across a warm yellow surface. Seen from below, the composition reads almost like an oversized graphic work, while its scale turns the ceiling into an active part of the spatial experience. Circular openings are cut into walls, framing views between rooms and introducing a recurring motif of curved geometry. The pool area takes this language in another direction. Blue surfaces surround the water, while a large circular opening creates a view into the adjoining space. 

This approach reflects what made the Ken Club different when it opened. It was designed as a place where exercise and social life could happen together, and the new interiors continue that idea. Members move between areas for training, swimming, resting, and meeting, with the architecture changing along the way.

The architects describe the project as an ‘architectural remix’ and a ‘sample of a state of mind.’ Rather than trying to recreate the club exactly as it looked in 1985, they have taken its atmosphere as a starting point. The result feels connected to the original Ken Club without turning the interior into a recreation of the past.

a glazed roof brings daylight into the club’s circulation spaces

the Ken Club’s bright central lounge connects seating, circulation, and the glazed garden spaces

patterned surfaces and rounded openings continue the interior language

round windows create a continuous graphic rhythm

the openings frame views of the patterned interiors and reflect across the water

treadmills line a mirrored training room illuminated in pink

strength-training equipment fills the pink-toned fitness room

sculptural pink furniture contrasts with reflective metal surfaces in the club’s interior

curved washbasin counter is framed by metallic panels and integrated lighting

curved blue walls and circular ceiling openings shape a sculptural circulation space

mirrored lockers and sculptural seating define the changing rooms

a washbasin area combines cork-toned wall panels, stainless steel, and pink lighting

the cycling studio uses blue lighting and illuminated frames

mirrored surfaces and warm metallic finishes define one of the club’s training spaces

a contemporary setting opposite the Eiffel Tower

project info:

name: Ken Club | @kenclubparis

architects: Rodolphe Parente | @rodolpheparente, Marion Mailaender | @marionmailaender

location: Paris, France

original opening: 1985