LA SAMARITAINE, A DIGITAL RENAISSANCE

“La Samaritaine” is one of the most prestigious European retail projects of the twenty-first century.

Japanese architects SANAA, Pritzker winners in 2010, were commissioned to renovate and rethink the existing building. It is an outstanding 150 years old mix of Art Nouveau and Art Deco styles that

now features a futuristic ondulated glass facade. Its program is completely reinvented from the ground up with 29000m2 of retail space, a luxury hotel, office spaces, 96 residential units and a childcare facility.

The digital communication campaign was entirely based around a digital twin of the project. Arforia was able to create such a virtual copy thanks to two things, the 3D scan data of the Art Deco and Art Nouveau parts and the various BIM models provided by SANAA.

This highly realistic virtual copy of the project helped Arforia create several digital applications that were designed in close collaborations with LVMH and La Samaritaine :

A public mobile Augmented Reality application was developed to easily reach the audience and

communicate about the main features of the buildings. A touch screen App helped to have a general understanding of the programmatic richness of the project and a virtual reality app immersed the audience inside the project for a poetic wandering experience. Lastly, Arforia developed an augmented reality app that helped architectural professionals test different color scenarios for the Art Nouveau Glass roof structure part.

These different apps were showcased for three years in the Samaritaine showroom next to the construction site and received more than 15 000 visitors. This digital campaign received the “Best Digital Communication” Award of 2015.