DODA.A is an architecture and interior design studio founded in 2009 by David-Olivier Descombes. It supports its clients from construction to decoration: architects, interior designers and project managers follow each project from the first sketch to the handover of the site, from Paris, Bernay and Vayres, near Bordeaux, in France and abroad.
Restaurants, cafés and bars
This is the studio’s best-known line of work: its first restaurant, Les Triplettes de Belleville, dates from 2013. Since then, it has delivered some sixty restaurants that carry a brand’s identity, from concept to furniture: the Tripletta pizzerias, from Paris to Lyon, Bordeaux, Lille, Marseille and Rennes; the Kozy cafés, whose spatial identity the studio developed; Bouillon Pigalle, Café du Louvre, Café du Mexique; in Lyon, the 1,000 m² Sicilian restaurant Casa Nobile; in Madrid, Chez Jean-Jacques and Chez Colette; in Luxembourg, the Haërz brasserie.
Hotels, guest houses and serviced accommodation
Turning an existing building into a place to stay: the Hôtel des Carmes, in the historic centre of Aurillac; the Hôtel du Faubourg, an abandoned building in Paris’s Faubourg Saint-Antoine turned into an aparthotel; the Hôtel Glarner in Saint-Ouen; the Château de Cieurac, 30 bedrooms and a spa, for Australian hoteliers. The studio also designs and fits out villas as guest houses, with spa, indoor and outdoor pools, cinema room and gym: in Normandy, on the Arcachon Bay, and in the hills behind Nice, in Èze and Châteauneuf-Grasse.
Renovation of old buildings and heritage
The studio specialises in old buildings, often run-down, sometimes listed: two 17th-century buildings in the heart of Honfleur, in a protected historic district; a group of buildings in Bernay’s historic centre brought back into housing (Logements N); a longère in the Charentonne valley saved from collapse; an Anglo-Norman manor in Villers-sur-Mer. Across France, it works on listed historic monuments and in conservation areas, alongside the Architecte des Bâtiments de France.
Houses
New builds, extensions, added storeys, complete renovations: a new timber house in the Normandy countryside; a storey added to a suburban house in Chatou; a 19th-century house at the back of a courtyard in Paris’s 15th arrondissement; two villas on the Arcachon Bay (Hilo des Oiseaux, La Perle); a villa with an indoor pool overlooking the bay of Dinard. In Normandy, the studio helps private clients across the region build, renovate or extend longères, thatched cottages and traditional houses in half-timbering, brick or Caen stone (Norman homes).
Multi-unit housing
A medical and social care centre with 16 bedrooms for Groupe SOS, in a Bernay manor house and its contemporary extension; two homes for an independent developer in Bois-Colombes, near Paris. The studio also takes part in developer competitions, notably in Normandy with the developer Pierre Normande, around Pont-l’Évêque.
Interior architecture and decoration
For a flat as for a public venue, the studio designs the layout and the furniture, and chooses the materials: Appartement A, in Paris’s 15th arrondissement, decorated and furnished throughout; the common areas of a Parisian care home.
Pharmacies, healthcare and senior living
A new 2,500 m² medical centre and pharmacy in Bernay; a senior living residence of 115 apartments in Deauville.
Offices
In Paris, offices for a wealth manager, a film producer and a notary’s practice.
Competitions
A skyscraper for the Toronto skyline; a 1,500 m² testing centre for Decathlon; housing in Pont-l’Évêque with Pierre Normande.
How the studio works
- Tailored to each project: from sketch to site, design, planning applications, contractor tendering and site supervision by the studio’s own project managers; a full assignment or only part of it.
- Three offices: Paris (8th arrondissement), Bernay (Normandy) and Vayres, near Bordeaux, where Clémentine Collado is associate architect, for projects in the Paris region, Normandy, the Gironde and the Arcachon Bay, the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region, and abroad: Madrid, Luxembourg, New York, Toronto, Singapore.
- For whom: restaurateurs and restaurant groups, hoteliers, private clients, developers, social landlords, companies and healthcare providers.
Have a project in mind? Contact the studio.