Location: Île de Bendor, France

Design Team: Hardel Le Bihan Architectes, Niez Studio and Zannier Hotels

Area: 13,500 m²

Year: 2026

Client: SAPR

Executive Architect: Builders & Partners

Structural Engineering: Lamoureux Ricciotti

MEP Engineering: Oteis and WSP

Lighting Design: BOA Light Studio

Photography: Schnepp Renou, DePascuale+Maffini and Pierre Lucet-Penato

Design Features: Zannier Île de Bendor lies just off Bandol on the French Riviera. Paul Ricard acquired the seven-hectare island in the 1950s and shaped it into a Mediterranean enclave for art, craft and leisure. After decades of use and gradual decline, the Ricard family commissioned Hardel Le Bihan Architectes, Niez Studio and Zannier Hotels in 2020 to renew the estate as a whole. The work extends beyond a hotel refurbishment to encompass buildings, paths, planting and the island’s shared life.

The design retains the scale of an existing settlement. Delos, Soukana and the fishermen’s houses of La Madrague keep distinct relationships to the shore, while additions step around older structures through terraces, arcades and low rooflines. Pale render, natural stone and terracotta tones carry the tactile character of southern France. New work avoids imitation, yet remains continuous through scale, shadow and the rhythm of openings.

Landscape repair is central to the transformation. Niez Studio reduced unnecessary hard surfaces and concrete edges, reintroduced Mediterranean species suited to wind, salt and summer drought, and connected the harbour, rooms, restaurants, spa, pools and coastline through pedestrian routes. Buildings no longer read as isolated resort facilities; pines, shrubs, stone walls and sea views bind them into a continuous car-free island experience.

The 93 rooms and suites face the sea, with most opening onto balconies. Restaurants including Le Grand Large, Nonna Bazaar and Soukana, together with workshops, a gallery and wellness spaces, restore the island’s social dimension. Interiors do not impose a single identity across the estate. Stone, timber, plaster, textiles and crafted objects give each building its own intimacy.

Arrival by ferry, movement along the harbour and a measure of public access preserve Bendor’s character as more than a private retreat. The project’s strength lies in placing memory, hospitality and ecological repair within one spatial order. From the water it remains a layered white settlement; on foot, retained buildings, restrained additions and recovering Mediterranean landscape unfold as a slow architectural journey.

Design Team: Hardel Le Bihan Architectes is led by architects Catherine Hardel and Cyrille Le Bihan from Paris. Its work spans adaptive reuse, housing, hospitality, offices and cultural programmes, with an emphasis on finding continuity within existing fabric and site conditions. On Île de Bendor, the practice led the architectural rehabilitation and additions.

Niez Studio is led by French landscape architect Philippe Niez. The practice considers planting, soil, water and time as long-term agents of place. For Bendor, it directed the island-wide landscape and ecological renewal, reducing hard surfaces, restoring Mediterranean planting and reorganising pedestrian routes.

Founded by Arnaud Zannier, Zannier Hotels develops hospitality around local culture, craft and a strong sense of place. Here it serves as operator and leads the interiors, linking rooms, restaurants, wellness, art and craft into a coherent island experience. Builders & Partners acted as executive architect, Lamoureux Ricciotti provided structural engineering, Oteis and WSP handled building services, and BOA Light Studio designed the lighting.