articulated cork structure with stainless steel rings
Height 8 metres – Span 16 metres
Renovation of the Colisée Marceau complex – Issy-les-Moulineaux (92)
2024–2026
Client: Amundi – Monceaux Assurances
Project management: ESSOR
Architectural design: Quadrifiore Architecture
Main contractor: Stylique
Loxiale studio’s Team :
Lucile DROUET (Atelier Loxiale) – creation and artistic direction
Sandra FURLAN (Agence MDMA) – co-direction and expertise in exceptional craftsmanship
Clitous BRAMBLE – overall management and installation of artworks
Lionel ACCORSI (Atelier des RIAS) – engineering and structure
Adelise LEDILHUIDY (Nad’oz) – coordination and execution
Laetitia HUBERT (l’envol&), Vincent LETOURNEAU, Nathalie MORERE, Cécile OLLIER (La Doélaniase), Roman TOUBOUL, Maud VAREILLAUD-BOUZZINE – artists and craftspeople. Melissa Hadatcha – Intern
Special thanks : Isablelle Richard, Montaine Bongrand
At the heart of the restaurant shared by major companies – including Arte and Airbus, amongst others – on the outskirts of Paris, the overarching CEIBA project, conceived by the architectural practice Quadri Fiore Architecture for the site’s renovation, takes shape in a monumental work: the central tree.
Designed by Atelier Loxiale, its trunk makes a powerful sculptural statement. Crafted from ‘Pangolin’ material, cork returns to its natural state to become living bark, an organic axis around.
CEIBA goes beyond the artistic realm to become a committed initiative. In partnership with Clim’action Bretagne, l’ONF and Forêt modèle de Provence, a reforestation project has been launched: several hectares of forest featuring cork oaks will be planted by 2028.
In the face of climate change, these tree species are now finding new habitats. Already present in the south of France, they are spreading northward, as far as Brittany and the Vendée.
Just as a tree produces its seeds, the artwork becomes a source of life. Planting trees whose bark was used to create the artwork means embedding La CEIBA in a virtuous cycle, where art extends the life of living things.
Preserving a material now threatened by global warming, and turning this trunk into a bridge to the cork oaks—the first members of the Loxiale team.
What if a piece of art could grow a forest: