The Parisian architect speaks about her childhood, her maximalist style, her busy schedule, and what sets her apart from others in her field.

Parisian architect and designer Laura Gonzalez travels to all corners of the world on ambitious projects that span the gamut&mdash;hotels in <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/travel-living/soho-house-rome-san-lorenzo-luxury-social-club">Rome</a> and Spain, a concept store in New York, and <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion/nfts-luxury-fashion-collaborations-gucci-louis-vuitton" target="_blank" rel="noopener">luxury</a> boutiques in Tokyo and Hawaii&mdash;all done up in her <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/travel-living/colorful-maximalism-2022-home-interior-design-trend" target="_blank" rel="noopener">maximalist</a> style. &ldquo;Each project is a new story to tell. Above all, I always love redoing mythic places,&rdquo; she says.
Born in Paris, Gonzalez grew up near <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/film-tv/2023-cannes-film-festival-lineup-films-movies" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cannes</a>, in the south of France. Her father was a hotel and <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/travel-living/le-dive-dimes-square-manhattan-french-restaurant-bar" target="_blank" rel="noopener">restaurant</a> owner, and she was immersed in the world of hospitality. &ldquo;My father&rsquo;s office was lined with cashmere prints. Every room in the house was very busy and maximalist, with inspiration from North Africa, particularly Algeria, where my father was born,&rdquo; says the architect. &ldquo;As an only child, my parents took me everywhere. They loved <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/art/vanessa-beecroft-artist-performances" target="_blank" rel="noopener">art</a> and auction houses.&rdquo;

<a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/art/sharon-stone-visual-artist-los-angeles-art-gallery-exhibit" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Art</a> challenged the young Gonzalez. She drew and made <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/art/chic-ceramics-pottery-instagram" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pottery</a>, but wasn&rsquo;t sure if it was something she wanted to pursue. &ldquo;I hadn&rsquo;t thought about it; no one in my family was an architect or a <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/art/colin-king-interior-designer-arranging-things-book" target="_blank" rel="noopener">decorato</a>r,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;I thought to myself, I want to do an artistic job, but I don&rsquo;t see myself going to art school. I was also very organized, and <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/travel-living/joseph-dirand-architect-french-paris-design" target="_blank" rel="noopener">architecture</a> combined these two sides of my personality.&rdquo;
Gonzalez enrolled at the &Eacute;cole Nationale Sup&eacute;rieure d&rsquo;Architecture Paris-Malaquais. She speaks excitedly about her studies there, which included workshops like choreography and nude figure drawing. Gonzalez also studied in China and Venice, where she spent three months working on her graduation project. Her idea was to imagine a museum at the Punta della Dogana, before Fran&ccedil;ois Pinault established his collection there and entrusted the architecture to Tadao Ando. &ldquo;He could have entrusted it to me,&rdquo; she laughs. The architect started her agency, Pravda Arkitect, a few months before graduating, and her first major project was the Paris club and <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion/doja-cat-interview-schiaparelli-fashion-new-music" target="_blank" rel="noopener">music</a> venue, Le Bus Palladium. &ldquo;It was a complete creative adventure. This is the advantage of <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/travel-living/rooftop-pools-nyc-hotels" target="_blank" rel="noopener">hotels</a> and restaurants&mdash;they&rsquo;re much more creative than a Parisian apartment.&rdquo;
Of the 45 members of Gonzalez&rsquo;s team, 38 are women. &ldquo;We bring a different sensitivity, and clients come to us for that. It&rsquo;s a sensibility that differentiates our work. There&rsquo;s a great generation of female architects coming up,&rdquo; she says.

L&rsquo;OFFICIEL: Your aesthetic is very playful. 
LAURA GONZALEZ: Even when I try to tone things down, I can&rsquo;t. It&rsquo;s like, in my own apartment, sometimes I think I&rsquo;m going to be more neutral, but it starts again. Carpets come, then fabrics, paintings, sofas&hellip;I think, in this more stressful climate, we want a joyful and colorful <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/travel-living/clustering-home-decor-interior-design-tiktok-trend">interior</a> that transports us elsewhere and makes us dream. It would have been difficult for me to do only minimalism. Mixing things and finding the right harmony is very intuitive for me. Choosing a piece of fabric can sometimes take hours. Sometimes a certain model is no longer available, and we&rsquo;re trying to redo the whole room. Other times something is too old, too kitsch, not modern enough, too bright&mdash;you always have to find the right balance. It&rsquo;s like a game of Tetris. 
L&rsquo;O: You have several retail and hospitality projects in the works. Do you also do private projects? 
LG: Our agency is [smaller], and our way of working leaves us little time to do apartments. We prefer to make second homes because the experience is a bit more relaxed. Whether in Marbella or Capri, [these homes are] where our clients want to relax and take their time. I&rsquo;m also working on a book published by Rizzoli that will be released this fall. I didn&rsquo;t want to make a portfolio, so I chose projects in a narrative way that cover residences, hotels, restaurants, and homes in the <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion/high-fashion-country-style-pastoral-fantasy-miu-miu-louis-vuitton" target="_blank" rel="noopener">countryside</a>.

L&rsquo;O: Tell us about your furniture collection New York Splendor. Do you want to design more furniture? 
LG: I call <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/art/molteni-and-c-salone-del-mobile-milan-design-week-2023-interior-design-furniture" target="_blank" rel="noopener">furniture</a> creation my little recreation. For this collection, we worked with artisans and manufactured everything in France; the collection is fun, and we took it to New York to be exhibited. We usually have no stock, and once a year we present pieces at our gallery in the seventh arrondissement in Paris that we stage by imagining different vignettes. The next exhibition will be in September. 
L&rsquo;O: How has your approach evolved over time?
LG: I&rsquo;ve refined my approach, keeping a line of balance while still pushing the limits. We have fewer creative barriers now, but especially a new field of artistic exploration with new materials, particularly <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion/lola-tung-coach-coachtopia-campaign-sustainability-circular-fashion" target="_blank" rel="noopener">recycled</a> textiles, so it&rsquo;s a new way of working. In my opinion, the use of materials makes the style.

The New York Splendor collection. Photo by Denise Behrens

Architect Laura Gonzalez's Maximalist Impact

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