RENAULT SUITE N°4
EXHIBITION
MAISON
&OBJET
TAKE-OVER
RENAULT Suite N°4 by Mathieu Lehanneur recently won the Grand Jury prize for the best concept car at the International Automobile Festival in Paris. This unique vision revisiting the iconic 4L vehicle and dreamed by the talented AD100 designer will be showcased for the new edition of MAISON&OBJET, March (24-28) the international design & lifestyle fair in the Parc des expositions in Paris, Villepinte. We invite you to discover our exclusive interview with the creative mind behind this visionary car …
TO LEAVE, DISCOVER & ESCAPE
Our desire to escape never felt this strong and essential. It is from this original idea that Mathieu Lehanneurand Renault teamed up to invent a new travel experience. Based on the mythical 4L, which celebrated its 60th anniversary last year, the creator imagined a vehicle like a nomadic hotel suite, totally open to the outside and whose horizons can be constantly renewed. 100% electric, SUITE N°4 is a eulogy to escape, a bubble of minimal luxury that is inspired as much by architecture as by the environments it passes through. Like a room on four wheels, welcoming and bathed in light, SUITE N°4 combines a new art of living, in the city or in the nature…SUITE N°4 is not a classical vehicle, simply a travel architecture.
How did this collaboration with RENAULT came to life ?
To mark the 60th anniversary of the iconic 4L, RENAULT asked me to reflect on my vision of this legendary car. The 4L is a myth and it is obviously an invitation that I could not refuse. I did not want to pay tribute to his immense success nor to his beautiful age, but rather to show that it has never been so current! I have always enjoyed working on the monuments of this way, I like to play with their history and their “untouchable” heritage to project them into our reality with our contemporary sensibility
What seduces you in the 4L?
It is above all, a piece from our collective memory. We all have a memory or an image associated with it. The 4L is a myth that does not only belong to the automotive world but which carries and transports an imagination and a true culture of freedom. It is a mix beetween art of living & spirit of protest. In this sense, the 4L expresses the ultimate French flair placed on 4 wheels…I also like its timeless sobriety, it is stripped of everything superfluous. its luxury is non ostentatious and essential.
Your inspiration around this project?
I wanted to create a room with a view but whose horizon could be indefinitely renewed… Like the missing link between mobility and immobility, between displacement and refuge, I wanted to make the experience as beautiful on the road as when stationary. I thus hybridized the world of automotive and architecture. Suite N°4, is not a classic vehicle, it is a travel architecture…
Tell us the story behind SUITE N°4?
Suite N°4 is a eulogy to flight. It opens the way to a mobility that no longer cares about performance but experience! It is an open-air hotel room. But better than a room in the most beautiful of palaces, it is exactly where you want it: facing the sea, middle of a field or on the move in the city of your dreams. It’s often said that in the most important real estate is the location and there you are. In the right place, at the right moment and if possible in good company
Your vision of automotive design?
In the automobile as elsewhere, the best definition of design is given to us by Victor Hugo »The form is the substance that rises to the surface… »
Describe the textures and materials that inspired you this concept car?
Transparency, a lot of transparency… I wanted the cabin to be dematerialized to let the light in. Suite N°4 is built around an enveloping glass roof and panoramic that takes up the lines and the volume of the original 4L. Naturally powered by a electric motor, we additionally added solar collectors on the roof as a tribute to each particle of energy to be preserved. In terms of materials and finishes, an unprecedented painting concrete surface definitely places Suite N°4 on the side of architecture. Imagine her in full nature, it’s no longer a car, it’s a tiny house!
How do you see the transition of the automobile to the electric era?
The automobile is experiencing its revolution. Of course the electric era is one of the pillars but beyond that it is its the very status that is being reinvented today. It was a means of transport from point A to point B, it becomes the support of experience. The art of travel is more important than the destination. No matter where A is, who knows when we will get to B, only the in-between counts.
RENAULT SUITE N°4 EXCLUSIVE EXHIBITION
MAISON & OBJET HALL 5A
MARCH (24-28)
CONVERSATION WITH MATHIEU LEHANNEUR
MARCH 24 at 2PM
ESPACE TALK / HALL 7
Parc des Expositions Paris Villepinte