Noue Studio Builds Restaurant Around Immovable Concrete Wall

Noue Studio transformed a load-bearing concrete wall that could not be removed into the defining structure of Eleventhfloor Restaurant in Granges-Paccot, Switzerland. The renovation treats the existing wall and its adjacent technical shaft as fixed reference points, organizing seating, circulation, and sightlines around them. A single cutout in the wall serves as a passage, sightline, and room divider. The bar counter features a rippled texture, while banquette seating attaches directly to the concrete wall, blurring the line between structure and furniture. Materials include exposed concrete, brushed stainless steel, and polycarbonate paneling. Reuse is central: former steps became stools, and existing tables were recovered. Green furniture provides the only saturated color near windows. The project, completed in 2025, reflects Noue Studio's broader method of working with existing fabric, seen also in their Fribourg apartment renovation (preserving a 1936 modernist interior) and a villa renovation that reorganized an 1980s floor plan.