Office Zola architectes has completed a striking renovation of a 19th-century commercial complex in Vannes, Brittany, creating a flexible coworking space called Maison Flow. The project demonstrates what the firm describes as "gentle radicalism" in its approach to historic preservation and contemporary adaptation. The Nantes-based architecture studio, which also maintains offices in Paris and Vannes, worked with developer Pasithéa to convert the long-abandoned distillery into modern office spaces. The renovation expanded the building's gross floor area from 1,200 to 1,800 square meters at a cost of 5.4 million euros. The original ensemble, located near the main train station, consisted of a bourgeois house with a mansard roof, a narrow winter garden, and a 40-meter-long production hall at the rear. The buildings served as a commercial distillery until 1960 before falling into private ownership and gradually deteriorating over subsequent decades. The architects approached the main facade of the historic house with careful restraint, focusing primarily on restorative work to the natural stone exterior. This preservation strategy maintains the building's character as the public face of the complex while respecting its heritage status in the city center. The most visible contemporary addition is a new floor on the flat annex extension, clad in highly reflective aluminum and glass. Despite its modern materials, this addition deliberately recedes visually to avoid competing with the ornate historic facade, creating a dialogue between old and new through contrast rather than imitation. A bistro occupies the ground floor, activating the street level and providing amenities for building users and the public alike. The intervention becomes more radical at the rear production hall, where architects removed the entire roof structure and inserted three new levels within the tall interior volume. One section was excavated to create a basement level, with the additional load supported by new reinforced concrete frames. The building envelope was set back several meters from the original outer wall, creating an elongated courtyard space between the hall and the boundary wall. Inside Maison Flow, the design remains deliberately understated, with all building systems and infrastructure left exposed to view. The main hall features a motorized movable wall and retractable bleachers, allowing the space to be reconfigured for different uses and group sizes. According to the operator's website, the office and meeting rooms are not intended for long-term leases but rather for daily rentals, enabling companies to book the facilities for meetings, conferences, or special events as needed. This flexible model responds to evolving workplace trends and the growing demand for temporary, adaptable office solutions in smaller French cities. The project reflects a broader trend in Vannes toward contemporary architecture with reflective facades, as evidenced by Nieto Sobejano's upcoming art museum, which will also feature metallic cladding. Maison Flow represents a successful balance between preserving industrial heritage and creating forward-looking workspaces that serve the modern economy.