Wanderlust

The desire for travel on the docks

On June 6, 2012, a queue of more than one hundred meters waited before the green facade of the Cité de la Mode et du Design. Cassius was DJing in a neon cube, lasers were traversing the concrete of the old docks, and, underfoot, the Seine was flowing. The name—Wanderlust, that German word that names the desire to set off—did not promise a closed room: it promised a dock turned into a dance floor.

1,600 m² terrace at river level

Jakob+MacFarlane, authors of the green plug-over that wraps the 1907 warehouse, thought of the venue as a platform of about 2,000 m² open to the river. What defines the site is the 1,600 m² terrace at dock level—not the building's rooftop, occupied by another club—and an interior covered area of about 386 m² that groups the dance floor and restaurant. A pavilion-bar, an open-air cinema with 80 seats with headphones, and the light of Yann Kersalé completed the opening device. Conceived at first as a seasonal pavilion, from May to October, it ended up being fixed as a stable venue. By day, yoga, workshops, and brunch fit; by night, the wood becomes a dancefloor facing the shore.

French Touch, Cercle, and afters

Behind it were Arnaud Frisch, Antoine Caton, and Manu Barron—the Savoir Faire group, the same orbit as Social Club and Silencio—. In the first years, the terrace hosted I:Cube, Étienne de Crécy, Para One, Gilb'r, or Busy P. In 2017, Cercle recorded Étienne de Crécy's Spring Mix there. The programming widened towards house, hip-hop, and afters: in 2022, the venue hosted the afterparty for DJ Snake & Friends. The restaurant WE rotated chefs—Benjamin Darnaud at the beginning; later Bertrand Grébaut, Christophe Pelé, Arnaud Daguin, or Jérôme Aubert—and in 2023 the terrace celebrated a decade with street food from Action Bronson.

The dock remains lit

Wanderlust is not a traveling brand: it remains at 32 Quai d'Austerlitz, now in the orbit of Assembly. Each spring, the terrace reopens—in 2023 with the Vega lighting structure by Visual System; in 2024 with nights like LLAB Club—. In July 2024, it closed for ten days for the Olympic ceremony. Activity is concentrated from Tuesday to Saturday, with lives, food, and clubbing. The green of Jakob+MacFarlane remains the beacon of open-air dancing in the 13th district.