MaPharmacie is a Paris pharmacy of a greener kind. On the exterior, the standard green flashing cross which represents French pharmacies, belies what’s inside. Tinctures and capsules appear to float on living walls of medicinal plants, all reflected in mirrors under the glow of fluorescent lighting.

Located in the Bastille, where late night clubs and avant-garde galleries mix with gardens and elevated green spaces, MaPharmacie is like it’s surroundings, a blend of history and contemporary artistic expression.

José Lévy designed this simple but unusual neighborhood pharmacy to include some discreet and not-so-discreet details that  he says, “disrupt the surface of things.”

The design challenges our everyday notion of a contemporary pharmacy. From the street, the shop windows are purposefully empty and unconstrained, a reflection of an spare interior space fitted with bright lights and small blocks of marble. Rows of subdued packaging create a linear pattern on the mirrored walls.

MaPharmacie’s clever paired down design summons up the apothocary and botanical origins of our modern day pharmacies.

MaPharmacie
44 rue Faubourg du Temple
75011 Paris

Photos : Matthieu Salvaing
Architects : Nathaniel Sibony and Jean François Isse