Miami, specifically the city’s colorful surfer huts and neon signs, inspired the breezy aesthetic of PNY’s third iteration. The fashionable Parisian burger joint mini-chain (PNY stands for Paris New York) has now debuted in the lively Marais district, and unlike its siblings—the more classic Faubourg Saint-Denis and urban Oberkampf outposts, along with the recently launched barbecue restaurant, PTX (Paris Texas)—local firm CUT Architectures embraced a more sultry vibe. Partner Yann Martin says PNY Haut Marais evokes warmth, mixing bare stone and brick as well as custom wall textures that combine the same carousel bulbs found at the other PNY locales with pendant lights made out of copper tubes and plates. Tables fashioned from compact laminate and bench surfaces from birch plywood also underscore a predilection for streamlined modernity.

The bi-level restaurant is dominated by turquoise and pink powdercoated steel tubular structures, buoyed by a downstairs terrazzo floor melding cool white marble studded with parcels of pink and green shredded glass. To draw guests to the second-floor dining area, Martin and his team “decided to turn the bar and staircase into a dramatic element unifying the two stories,” covering them in white metal mesh to diffuse the light from the abundance of neon tubes. “It’s the central element for its visual strength and ability to lead people upstairs,” he adds. Mirrors behind the bar only heighten the sense of animation. 

Booths unite the table and seats into one piece. Crafted from more colorful steel tubes with rounded corners, their backs are also swathed in lacquered metal mesh. “They create micro-architectures within a tiny space while seating a maximum of patrons,” explains Martin.
In homage to cubed cement tiles used on the floor of the original PNY, pink and green gradient walls feature an unstructured 3D pattern showcasing a trio of different woods that depict the abstraction of palm tree trunks. Further capturing Miami’s lush, tropical aura, plants are interwoven throughout.

“Though the turnover and pace are quite high,” says Martin, “the design gives it the perfect balance since people feel relaxed and kind of remote when entering the space.”