Archinect - News

Christo and Jeanne Claude’s Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped to be recycled for Paris Olympic Games

2023-09-20T11:55:00-04:00

The Mayor of Paris has announced that Christo and Jeanne Claude’s Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped installation is to be recycled for use in the city’s upcoming Olympic and Paralympic Games. As reported by ARTnews, the effort will be led by the environmental organization Parley for the Oceans.

Under the plans, 269,000 square feet of blue polypropylene fabric and 9,800 feet of red polypropylene rope will be recycled. The recycling of the fabric and rope is in addition to the reuse of the wood and steel substructures which have already been reused by carpentry and steel producers.

Photo: Benjamin Loyseau. Copyright: 2021 Christo and Jeanne-Claude Foundation

“The fabric and ropes will be recycled into shade structures, tents or barnums for our next major events in Paris, in particular the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games,” Paris Mayor Anne Hildago said in a statement reported by ARTnews. “This is a very fine example of the art world’s ability to adapt to climate challenges.”

The installation w...

Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s wrapped Arc de Triomphe is open to the public

2021-09-23T10:59:00-04:00

L’Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped, Paris, 1961-2021, an installation by Christo and Jeanne-Claude, has opened to the public in Paris. The installation, which will be on view from September 18th to October 3rd 2021, sees the famous landmark wrapped in 25,000 square meters (270,000 sqft) of recyclable silvery blue polypropylene fabric, and 3,000 meters (10,000 ft) of recyclable red polypropylene rope.

Photo: Benjamin Loyseau. Copyright: 2021 Christo and Jeanne-Claude Foundation

The project is the culmination of a 60-year vision by Christo and Jeanne-Claude, which began in 1961 when Christo imagined wrapping the Arc de Triomphe in fabric. In 1962 and 1963, he created a photomontage of the idea; a collage which he repeated again in 1988. In 2017, he began actively developing the idea, leading to this week’s public opening. “It will be like a living object which will move in the wind and reflect the light,” said Christo, who passed away in 2020. “With its moving folds, the monument’s surface wil...

Look at photos of Christo and Jeanne-Claude's nearly complete L'Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped

2021-09-15T19:33:00-04:00

The long-awaited wrapping of the Arc de Triomphe by the late artist couple Christo and Jeanne-Claude is nearing completion ahead of its official September 18th debut.

A 95-member team of technicians is working to unfurl over 25,000 square meters (82,000 square feet) of the duo’s signature polypropylene fabric that will completely envelop the iconic Parisian monument that was originally commissioned by Napoleon I in 1806.

It had been the couple’s dream to wrap to monument since 1962 when Christo and Jeanne-Claude occupied an apartment on the nearby Avenue Foch, where the Bulgarian immigré produced a photomontage of the wrapping that took sixty years to actualize.

Now, with workers abseiling down the face of the 50-meter tall Arc, the
duo’s vision has finally come together thanks to an exhaustive body of
drawings and other technical specifications left behind b...

Watch Christo and Jeanne-Claude's L'Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped get installed live

2021-08-17T17:19:00-04:00

Late artists Christo and wife Jeanne-Claude’s L'Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped is currently being installed in Paris. This project is finally being realized 60 years after the pair’s original conception of the idea.

The iconic monument is being wrapped with almost 25,000 square meters of silvery-blue fabric made of recyclable polypropylene and 3,000 meters of red rope. Over the course of six decades, Christo and Jeanne-Claude have worked on an array of similar works, including a wrapping of the Reichstag in Berlin, the Pont Neuf in Paris, and a 1.5-mile-long section of an Australian coastline.

Previously on Archinect: Christo and Jeanne-Claude's 'L'Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped' to open in September

Inspiration for L'Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped came when Christo became enamored by the structure while living in a nearby rented room in 1961. A year later, he made a photomontage of the planned project, and fast forward to 1988, he revisited the idea and created a collage of the work.

The installati...

Christo and Jeanne-Claude's 'L'Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped' to open in September

2021-06-15T14:22:00-04:00

Originally planned for spring 2020, L'Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped was delayed due to the pandemic. It will enrobe the Champs-Élysées landmark in almost 25,000 sq. m of silvery blue fabric, made of recyclable polypropylene, and 7,000 metres of red rope.

Following the pandemic-forced cancellation of the original spring 2020 event and the death of the co-creator Christo in June of that same year, the monumental, temporary work of art L'Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped has been revived to be on view after all, from Saturday, September 18 to Sunday, October 3, 2021.

At Geo – Die Luftwerker, a company in Lübeck, Germany, 25,000 square meters of recyclable polypropylene fabric are sewn into panels for "L'Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped." Photo: Wolfgang Volz © 2020 Christo and Jeanne-Claude Foundation

Per Christo's wishes, the project will be completed by his team in partnership with the Centre des Monuments Nationaux (CMN), the government institution that manages the Arc de Triomphe.

"Thirty-six years after the Pont-Neuf, one of Christo and Jeanne-Claude's most ambitious projects will finally see the light of day”, said Paris Mayor, Anne Hidalgo. "More than a year after Christo's death, Paris is continuing the work of this great artist, giving us the ...

Paris approves Champs-Élysées makeover

2021-01-12T15:40:00-05:00

The mayor of Paris has said a €250m (£225m) makeover of the Champs-Élysées will go ahead, though the ambitious transformation will not happen before the French capital hosts the 2024 Summer Olympics. Anne Hidalgo said the planned work, unveiled in 2019 by local community leaders and businesses, would turn the 1.9 km (1.2 mile) stretch of central Paris into “an extraordinary garden”.

The Champs-Élysées, History & Perspectives study, led by French architect Philippe Chiambaretta of PCA-STREAM, explains the potential of the major urban overhaul: "The overall vision for the district located between the Champs-Élysées roundabout and the Arc de Triomphe builds up the quality of use over a period of ten years through the reduction of nuisances (noise, heat, car traffic...) and improving comfort (air quality, spaces given back to pedestrians...)."

Rendering from the Champs-Élysées, History & Perspectives study, led by Philippe Chiambaretta/PCA-STREAM.

"The Étoile intersection is reinvented as a public plaza geared towards tourists and Parisians who come to contemplate the Arc de Triomphe. On the avenue, the promenade experience makes a comeback and flâneurs will be able to stroll up and down the historic boulevard in an atmosphere greatly improved by the reduction in motor traffic."

Previously on Archinect: Parisians seek to restore the Champs-Élysées to its former glo...

Parisians seek to restore the Champs-Élysées to its former glory

2019-12-19T17:46:00-05:00

The Champs-Élysées, often called the “most beautiful avenue in the world”, is not what it was. The pavements are cracked, the trees that line the cobbled, traffic-clogged road struggle to survive in one of Paris’s most polluted areas, and Parisians stay away. Now local community leaders have unveiled an ambitious €250m (£212m) project to restore the celebrated 1.2 mile (1.9km) long avenue to at least some of its former glory.

"The ambitious plans include reducing the space for vehicles by half, creating tunnels of trees and encouraging more aesthetic use of commercial spaces such as terraces," The Guardian lays out some details envisioned by Paris-based architect Philippe Chiambaretta of PCA-STREAM. So far, the endeavor is still in its proposal stage.

With the 2024 Summer Olympics and Paralympics swiftly approaching, Paris has announced a number of civic beautification projects, including the Eiffel Tower Park redesign, the massive Gare du Nord overhaul (not without criticism), and Boulevard Périphérique improvements.