Fast-food giant McDonalds have commissioned designer Patrick Norguet to redesign their restaurant interiors across France.
While the chain has come to appeal primarily to teenagers, Norguet wants to rebrand it as a place for families.
The space is divided by plywood cabinets, shelving and booths, and furnished with his own Still metal chair for Lapalma.
Customers can order at the counter or from digital terminals in family booths.
The neutral pallette is highlighted with orange and yellow metal storage boxes, plus red and dark green upholstery.
Other designer updates to fast-food restaurants include a Little Chef outlet by Ab Rogers and a chicken shop in Munich by Ippolito Fleitz Group.
Here are some more details from Patrick Norguet:
New interior design for McDonald’s restaurants in France by Patrick Norguet
Mc Donald’s has put Patrick Norguet in charge of designing the new architectural identity for its restaurants in France. A project which is exciting in terms of its scope as well as in its technical and sociological constraints since it concerned McDonald’s returning to its founding myth: familial fast food. If the brand was originally founded on the family, its image has little by little slid towards a more urban and adolescent tone. A return therefore to McDo’s DNA with this new interior design that Patrick Norguet, literally and figuratively, matches with getting back to roots.
The plant metaphor, with its branching development, this root common to the brand and to the family, is transformed here into an architecture which is transversal and expansive: birch plywood takes root and branches out in the restaurant in order to create areas, functions and moods for different social requirements without compartmentalising.
This organic and functional furniture/architecture offers several possibilities, several eating choices from eating standing up for lone teenagers, alcoves providing privacy to family table service, a small revolution at Mc Donald’s with digital control terminals integrated into the base and distributed throughout the restaurant. Henceforth, a mother can settle with her offspring at a table, order from a nearby terminal and wait for the meals to be brought to the table.
Patrick Norguet’s design, which as always hits the spot, uses contemporary white which he counterbalances with fun colours without falling for “toy” conventions like for example the storage elements with the painted metal boxes included in the base template. The luminous ambiance and the quality of the acoustics are exceptionally meticulous and offer customers a comfort which is rare today, whilst the quest for a certain radical nature is revealed through the choice of materials (plywood, sheet metal, concrete, etc.), tested in conditions of heavy passage to respond to the constraints of such a popular restaurant.
The designer is using his “Still” metal chair for Lapalma for the seats with a new high stool version specially designed for the occasion. The ceramic floor also designed by Patrick Norguet for Lea Ceramica immediately lends a distinctive tone to the venue. These huge, ultra-slim 2 metre slabs break with usual visual conventions: warm and graphic without being carpet, they change our habits in terms of flooring to create a brand new typology.
Piloted at the start of the year in the Villefranche-de-Lauragais restaurant 40 km from Toulouse, the concept was immediately appealing and spoke volumes. 6 restaurants are currently in the pipeline throughout France.
Seeing these images, I can't help but thinking of Mac Donald's typical oily smell and traces of ketchup on old trays…
I'm not the biggest fan of McDonalds, but this design is great – I really like how the neutrals have been augmented with the toned down reds and yellows. Very classy.
Maybe someone should redesign the food they serve…
I would prefer to see McDonalds investing money in the quality of their food than the interior of their so called 'restaurants'…
this is for my friend june. wow, quite a mcdonalds.
a strategy! now, will they also hire a french chef to rethink their menu?
Don't all McDonalds already look like this ?
my favourite comment lol
Looks good, however it still won't be a restaurant experience when the food is cheap, fabricated garbage…
If the product is not good, the packaging cannot do much to make it better.
lipstick on a pig!
the geometric shapes reminds me of Piet Mondrian's paintings
Exactly. That is one reason why it comes across as visual noise, jumbled and fragmented. You ask yourself "why?" Looks like change for change's sake. The redesign adds little of value to customers and makes each "restaurant" more costly to furnish and maintain. Thumbs down.
Lovely…, and as for the product, it does no more then it sets out to achieve…so with that, a food that you eat that is ridden with guilt, but fills your rumbling belly, and now to enjoy this "guilty plessure" in a hospitable and charming enviroment.
It looks sterile and grey and cold and flimsy.
Must have been a good earner for his studio, plus he wedged his own chairs in there (and removed the DSWs that normally sit in 'design' MacDonalds.)
A business man's project.
polishing a turd!
everyone of you are a bunch snobs…..
Well, that maybe true, but in my defense I didn't say they shouldn't sell hamburgers anymore, but there is a huge different between the hamburgers they sell, or what you could get in an average bar, paying the same.
And the bar isn't so called specialized in selling them, McDonalds is…
But I guess that the answer, McDonalds doesn't serve hamburgers, it tries to sell you one.
"While the chain has come to appeal primarily to teenagers, Norguet wants to rebrand it as a place for families."
this guy obviously doesn't have kids then.
it's a great looking place and I like a lot of the details, but it certainly doesn't look like it fits his own brief. it looks like the design is just the usual mix of material and design detailing that appeals to designer eeedjits like us lot that read dezeen, but I don't think it would score much with a bunch of children. and as anyone with kids knows , if they are happy we are happy!
You're universalizing American kids' tastes with so much confidence…
Their toys look entirely different, their outfits look different, even the graphic and illustration styles on their favorite bed time stories are different, why would they be sensitive to the same design aesthetic?
Just to help explane
definition of "polishing a turd"
The act of trying to make something hopelessly weak and unattractive appear strong and appealing. An impossible process that usually results in a larger, uglier turd.
It would never happen in Oz. Perhaps France can afford Norguet as they sell bier with their fries?
You think? You obviously aren't a macca's customer. All of them are having an 'interior designers' stamp being put on them now as they go through a 'revitilisation program'. Quite a few architectural companies are involved and are being asked to deliver a different type of experience to the average user. The results have been quite interesting.
Design some independent cafes who sell products that don't rape the planet or exploit their employees or the supply chain, and then I'll listen. And that's not snobbery – it's ETHICS. Norguet should get some.
Anyone know the grey cafe chairs( the ones with a real backrest)? Were they designed by Patrick Norguet, if so who for?
Thanks!
Looks good, however it still won't be a restaurant experience when the food is cheap, fabricated garbage…
Bring back the disabled-/babycare toilets ! They "went missing" in the Netherlands !
This mondrian esq style looks like its going to date quickly! Also solid colour bright upholstery – hope its not fabric
Star Trek meets 50s diner – too sophisticated for kids to appreciate. I doubt the designer had any input to the food they sell – likely not much into the kitchen operation either – Clean and clinical, so as a retail environment it works for fast food service but it apprears to be a little off brand for McDs. Perhaps the designer thought he could be influential on the company……
Looks like the interior of IKEA
I agree there is an Ikea vibe going on in there, he just forgot the ball park for kids to play in.
I've noticed how fancy McDonalds has been getting. There's one in Montreal on rue St. Catherine that this made me think of.
I see a lot of spaces for art to be displayed. Pottery etc. I like that.
McDonald's isn't exactly a concept which encourages you to stay and enjoy the cool surroundings. The hint is in the words 'fast food'. People want to eat their food and get out as soon as they can.
Sure, they've tarted up a few restaurants but this is proof as to how many billions the megacorp makes on an annual basis. They can afford to make a greasy spoon look like Pizza Express……
Looks nice, like a MacDo schould look like but the ugly green logo does not match this interior……..BTW who was asking something about the food ?
Interesting comments from people who probably know nothing about preparing meals for a fast food market..however that makes the comments all the more valid.
As A Designer I like the vibe and flow…almost a bit too upscale but clean. Maybe Mac should explore am alternative menu that would address the soybean crowd
could be interesting…form follows function with flair..and the menu usually follows what will sell…challenging! much Love!
Amazing design but for McDo ! It will be better for slow food restaurant.
I agree it does not look kid friendly. As to the food, estimates are now at over 247 billion served, they must be doing something right.
I wonder what the designers first thoughts where when Micky dees first approached him. I'm sure $ came into the picture but one can not help wonder how does one feel comfortably represent really bad food. Besides these thoughts Im happy to see his work though yet saddened to see who it is for.
I really like the design of the order counter area but the rest seems like a grid nightmare to keep clean and misses out on the McDonald's brand – especially the attraction to families.
The McDonald's flagship design in the UK is great for this fast food 'restaurant'. http://www.archithings.com/interior-designs-for-m…
Until the food gets better I wouldn't want the lighting reduced.
look is good but this is not good for Mc D, make a new design which is good for Mc D,
The dark confused cubbies have no clear function except to collect dust over time!
The finishes selection is fit for a Cafeteria and would not attract mature customers.
The food is still and will always be garbage.
very pretty maintance nightmare! good industrial design should be pratical, and relate to the public it serves. The space is anything but family oriented…is starbucks next? I am an industrial designer
i don't understand the "storage" elements (what are they storing in the dining area?) and the shelves throughout are going to be dirt/trash collectors…the calm colors are nice vs the usual vibrant/gaudy reds, oranges covering every surface.
This doesn't read "families" at all. It reads "business luncheon." Don't get me wrong, I actually think the design is really neat–sophisticated even, which is a strange word to associate with McDonald's. But nothing about it makes me want to bring my kids.
it’s time for the MCD food to evolve.
if the design doesn't kill ya, the food will!
Gorgeous designs, would love to see this guys work on a home interior rather than just commercial!