French designer Patrick Norguet has paired raw concrete and sheet metal with colourful ceiling-mounted light boxes to create an unusual interior for this McDonald's on the Champs-Elysées in Paris.

Norguet – who was put in charge of designing a new architectural identity for McDonald's restaurants across France in 2011 – based his interior on shifting attitudes towards fast food, while taking into account the restaurant's high-profile location.

"This project came about as a result of a new study carried out over two years on the major changes of our time, the integration of new habits and new technologies," said Norguet.

"It has a radical and resolutely modern approach that affords clients of the Champs-Elysées location a high-quality setting and convenience of use, on two levels inside and on the new deck outside," he added.

The famous Avenue des Champs-Elysées connects the tourist hot spots of the Tuileries gardens and the Arc de Triomphe – up to 300,000 people are thought to walk along it each day.

The boulevard boasts some of the highest rents in the French capital, and a dedicated association of shop owners who lobby for improvements, public projects, events and extended opening hours.

At the McDonald's outpost, simple materials such as concrete, sheet metal and metallic netting contrast with a ceiling mounted of light boxes covered with colourful vinyls.

Concrete was recently used by Landini Associates to overhaul another of the chain's branches in Hong Kong, created as an alternative to bright and colourful fast-food restaurants. McDonald's is also rolling out simplified new packaging this year in an attempt to change its image.

In Paris, a set of furniture specially designed for the restaurant includes high trestle tables, wooden benches topped with light-coloured cushions, and light-coloured chairs.

"The furniture coupled with great attention to detail ensures architectural cohesion and accentuates the sense of openness and lightness," said Norguet. "It's a truly novel place where the person can take his place back in this space that is more pared down, more functional and more welcoming."

McDonald's has previously turned to Mei Architects to create a golden restaurant in Rotterdam.

Other designer updates to fast-food restaurants include a Little Chef outlet by Ab Rogers and a chicken shop in Munich by Ippolito Fleitz Group.

Photography is by Renaud Callebaut
Light box visuals are by SND & Frank Hülsbömer.