In the vibrant and culturally rich landscape of Paris’s 11th arrondissement, the boundary between an intimate dinner and an electrifying night out is increasingly beginning to blur. Located at 5–7 rue Marguerite-Moret, a striking new hybrid venue known as Le Poisson Volant officially opened its doors on October 2, welcoming patrons into a space engineered to transform as the night deepens. Conceived as a fluid environment where fine dining gradually surrenders to the pulse of a nightclub, the venue occupies the footprint of the former L’International music venue.
Behind this ambitious spatial and conceptual transformation is the Parisian interior architecture studio Claves, founded by Laure Gravier and Soizic Fougeront. Tasked with redefining the two-level footprint, the designers drew upon a rich and unexpected tapestry of aesthetic references, bridging the rugged permanence of Brutalist architecture with the atmospheric, nostalgia-laden decorative traditions of 1980s Chinese eateries. The resulting environment is not merely a restaurant that plays music late, but a thoughtfully choreographed architectural ecosystem designed to accommodate two entirely distinct rhythms within the span of a single evening.
The project itself is the collaborative vision of restaurateurs Bertrand Chauveau and Paul Henri, the creative minds behind the nearby neighborhood eatery Le Cornichon, who teamed up with chef Yanxin Yin to bring the culinary component to life. Having previously collaborated with Claves on Le Cornichon, Chauveau and Henri naturally turned to Gravier and Fougeront to tackle the complex spatial demands of Le Poisson Volant. Among the primary conceptual inspirations for the interior was New York’s legendary China Chalet—the beloved Financial District Chinese restaurant that famously doubled as an underground late-night gathering place for the city’s creative class. Channeling that same spirit of clandestine nocturnal energy, the team set out to craft a destination in Paris that feels both intimately familiar and deliciously unmoored from conventional hospitality typologies.
Brutalist Structure Meets Decorative Details
To achieve this shifting spatial identity, Claves completely reorganized the interior architecture of Le Poisson Volant around a robust new framework of structural columns and heavy beams. Taking distinct cues from Brutalist architecture as well as the industrial heritage of the surrounding neighborhood, these structural elements establish a commanding geometric rhythm across the venue’s rooms. However, this heavy, monumental grid is intentionally disrupted by an interplay of slender decorative lines, contrasting textures, and vast reflective surfaces.
Large mirrors have been meticulously aligned with the architectural grid, ingeniously extending sightlines through the interior and creating an optical illusion that makes the physical spaces appear to continue endlessly beyond their real boundaries. On the restaurant’s ground floor, the spatial composition is anchored by a large, curvaceous oval bar crafted from patinated steel. Positioned at the center of the room, the bar is enveloped by comfortable built-in banquettes and dramatic, dark purple-brown walls that absorb ambient light.
Underfoot, patterned carpeting introduces a vital layer of tactile warmth and acoustic softening, while high-backed chairs—subtly inspired by the iconic furniture designs of Charles Rennie Mackintosh—introduce an unexpectedly delicate, linear silhouette against the heavy architecture. Adding another layer of historic and cultural resonance, silver-painted geometric motifs trace the contours of the walls and structural columns, playfully recalling traditional Chinese decorative patterns alongside classic Art Deco ornamentation.
A Cinematic Interior Inspired by Wong Kar-Vai
The atmospheric soul of Le Poisson Volant draws heavily from the cinematic world of director Wong Kar-wai, celebrated for his films defined by saturated colors, deep shadows, and an almost palpable sense of nocturnal longing. The architects leaned heavily into the filmmaker’s fascination with reflections, confined spaces, and the emotional resonance of color. Within the Paris venue, dark, matte surfaces willingly absorb the ambient illumination, while strategically placed mirrors catch and refract fleeting fragments of the surrounding rooms.
This cinematic illusion becomes particularly pronounced as the evening progresses and the lighting shifts. Bathed in deep red illumination, the restaurant assumes the mysterious, transient character of a place suspended somewhere between different cities and distinct decades. Claves explicitly describes the setting as an imaginary Shanghai by night, pulling aesthetic references freely from decorative arts and film history.
Even the material surfaces contribute deliberately to this sense of ambiguity. Hand-painted mirrors introduce delicate illustrated details into the heavy architecture, while the repeating ceiling grid lends a hypnotic, metronomic rhythm to the spaces. The entire composition feels intentionally theatrical, yet the underlying architectural framework remains rigorously legible throughout the experience, preventing the design from slipping into mere pastiche.
An Aquarium Conceals a Private Room Downstairs
Moving between the two floors of the venue is an experience in spatial transition. The staircase connecting the ground floor to the basement is not treated as a mere utilitarian link, but as an essential narrative component of the spatial journey. Guiding patrons downward is a monumental diptych by Chinese artist Shuo Hao, commissioned specifically for Le Poisson Volant. This striking artwork introduces its own narrative imagery into the interior, visually marking the threshold between the vibrant dining room above and the subterranean, nocturnal world waiting below.
Upon reaching the lower level, visitors discover a distinct spatial arrangement centered around the DJ booth and an exclusive private room. Intriguingly, this private enclave is entirely concealed behind a large, custom-built aquarium filled with intricate mineral compositions. Inspired in part by the immersive aquarium installations of contemporary artist Pierre Huyghe, this unconventional architectural partition serves as both a glowing visual barrier and a surreal focal point.
The illuminated contents of the aquarium radiate a soft, otherworldly glow through the glass, casting shifting patterns and reflections across the surrounding subterranean surfaces. As the hours tick by, this enclosed basement environment creates a setting that feels increasingly insulated and entirely removed from the reality of the Parisian street outside.
Lighting and Sound Shape the Transition into Night
The core success of Le Poisson Volant’s hybrid identity relies heavily on a sophisticated choreography of lighting and acoustics, developed in close collaboration with Paris-based lighting design studio Matière Noire. Large luminous panels are seamlessly integrated into the architectural ceiling grid, providing a soft, diffuse, and welcoming illumination during the early dinner hours. As the evening evolves, these panels shift their output, casting sharper, more dramatic, and more concentrated lighting over the dining room.
This geometric arrangement of light reinforces the underlying architecture of the space, allowing the atmosphere to undergo a radical metamorphosis without requiring any physical reconfiguration of the furniture or layout. Sound design, expertly crafted by FLEiK, works in tandem with the lighting to manage the venue’s evolution. From around 11:00 PM onward, Le Poisson Volant begins its definitive transition into club mode, operating late into the early morning hours on selected nights.
The very same structural columns, banquettes, and mirrored walls that defined the calm sophistication of the dinner service remain firmly in place, yet their character transforms utterly under the pulsing lights and driving rhythms. Through this thoughtful synthesis of architecture, lighting, art, and sound, Le Poisson Volant offers a compelling model for contemporary hospitality design—proving that a single spatial envelope can successfully accommodate two completely different worlds within the span of one unforgettable evening.
