mathieu lehanneur opens business playground at pullman tour eiffel

mathieu lehanneur opens business playground at pullman tour eiffel
all images by felipe ribon / courtesy of mathieu lehanneur

following the success of first ‘business playground’ at pullman london st. pancras, french designer mathieu lehanneur has opened the second iteration for the pullman tour eiffel hotel, inviting guests to experience a meeting room as a unique union of private and professional life. the space, overlooking paris’ landmark tower, reflects the brand’s ‘work hard, play hard’ attitude, marrying performance and pleasure with a novel twist on the conventional aspects of the business routine. visitors encounter a work surface designed like a poker table, a personal area for informal conversations and a cabinet of curiosities, all of which are meant to stimulate creativity and reinvent traditional hospitality conditions.

the space invites guests to experience a meeting room as a unique union of private and professional life

in the ‘business playground’ room, the central work surface is given an additional dimension — lehanneur has reinterpreted it as a poker table, which features a leather edge around its circumference. the playful quality of the stand-out furniture piece is designed to make people want to participate in the meeting, just as they would want to engage in a game.

‘the pullman ‘canopy break’ is somewhere else, outside, under the trees’, describes lehanneur

the table made of fiberglass, beige leather and corian®, turns a meeting into a pleasurable and comfortable experience. ‘there are two ways to sit at a meeting table: leaning against the backrest of the chair, or leaning forward on your forearms. the difference between the two is not without meaning. it says a lot about our relation to others and about what’s happening in the meeting. by bringing comfort and a certain suppleness to the table itself, i wanted to instill in each person the desire to participate and be at the heart of the debate, to go from passive to active, from spectator to participant…. through a simple shift from casino to meeting room, the pullman poker table gives meetings a new dynamic and reconciles the concepts of work and play!’ lehanneur explains.

lehanneur has reinterpreted the central work surface it as a poker table

noting the importance of relaxing moments and informal exchanges between intensive work sessions, lehanneur has created a ‘canopy break’ space. a dedicated bubble-like corner allows workers to relax comfortably and take an organic hiatus from their routine. ‘between two meetings, the pullman ‘canopy break’ provides an escape route that is both organic and digital. designed to offer a pause but also as an informal extension of the meeting, the pullman ‘canopy break’ is somewhere else, outside, under the trees’, describes lehanneur.

lehanneur has created a ‘canopy break’ space, a dedicated bubble-like corner