Archinect - News

Centre Pompidou media facade inspired by Piano & Rogers' original design concept

2024-08-07T18:36:00-04:00

Since opening in mid-July, the Centre Pompidou's full-height media facade installation has turned into a major draw at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. By activating the iconic shell of the museum (which is about to close in the coming months in preparation for Moreau Kusunoki and Frida Escobedo‘s massive 2030 regeneration), the project done in partnership with Nike says it is revisiting the original design intents of Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers, whose architecture, in turn, inspired the design of the first Air Max sneaker. (As some readers may be aware, their original 1970 vision was supposed to include a massive 'Live Centre of Information' comprised of several satellite-fed television screens — a "sort of Internet before the Internet," according to historian Boris Hamzeian.)

The temporary project highlights different stories from the sports world, along with select artwork from the Centre's collection. It will remain on view until August 11th in sight of artist Raphaël Zarka’s...

Knowlton School landscape architecture alum Bill Minadeo on his second Olympic skatepark design

2024-08-06T12:20:00-04:00

“We’ve done all the competitive events up to the Olympics so starting with Dubai this year and then through the Olympic qualifying series in Shanghai and Budapest,” he said. “There’s been a progression of design that goes through each of those different courses both in street and park that will ultimately lead up to the courses we’ve designed for Paris and the Olympics.”

Bill Minadeo, an OSU Knowlton School Class of 1991 landscape architecture alum, designed the first Olympic skateboarding park in Tokyo and the latest park and street courses in Paris. He said the park he created for this year’s competition, which is being staged outside the Place de la Concorde, was made “a little bit harder” for all 88 athletes while still retaining vital universal design characteristics. The Olympic skate park will be disassembled and reused in two permanent locations in Paris after the culmination of the medal round ends on August 11th.

Also of note, Team USA is participating this year without Alexis Sablone, the goofy-footed MIT School of Architecture alum who competed in the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.

Pharrell calls for reintroducing arts and architecture competitions at the Olympics

2024-08-01T17:54:00-04:00

[Pharrell] Williams is aiming to reinstate arts competitions back on the world’s biggest sports stage, starting with raising awareness through his star-studded Louis Vuitton event Thursday in Paris. He passionately shared his goal to see the tradition revived by the Olympics in 2028 the night before the Games’ opening ceremony.

As we detailed three years ago during the Tokyo games, the modern Olympics were at one time also meant to showcase feats of artistic and architectural talent (although most were tinged by racist theories of the time). Pharrell’s view, which he wouldn’t elaborate, is that having them included would “raise awareness.”

Francesca Aton of ARTnews joined the musician and Louis Vuitton creative director (and avid skateboarder) in espousing: “[It’s] clear that reviving them would not only take a big effort but would also require the support of those active among the categories in each respective field. As recent studies on arts workers reveal gaps in professional continuation and low wages, support for those in the field could be a welcome change and an opportunity for impactful discovery.”

Paris Olympic medalists are taking home a piece of the Eiffel Tower, too

2024-07-27T14:00:00-04:00

The 5,084 official medals to be conferred at the Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games all include pieces of iron removed from the Eiffel Tower during previous renovation work. The pieces are made by Chaumet. Each is about 85 millimeters or about 3.35 inches in diameter and includes an 18-gram chunk of iron positioned at its center.

The official Olympics website says: "On each medal, original iron from the Eiffel Tower was cut into a hexagon, the geometric shape that evokes France to the point of becoming its nickname. This symbol recalls the mobilisation of an entire country, beyond its capital, to offer historic Olympic and Paralympic Games. Without its usual ‘Eiffel Tower brown’ paint, the puddled iron has been left in its original colour. Placed in the centre and embossed with the emblem of the Paris 2024 Games, this piece of heritage fits elegantly among the gold, silver and bronze to give the medals a two-tone effect."

Just in time for the Summer Olympics, Kengo Kuma's Saint-Denis–Pleyel metro station opens in Paris

2024-07-26T18:55:00-04:00

Kengo Kuma’s completed design of the Saint-Denis–Pleyel metro station in Paris is one of the largest and most significant new projects highlighting the city’s push for sustainable urban renewal as a consequence of its turn as the host of the 2024 Summer Olympics.

Images shared following its inauguration on June 24th with President Emmanuel Macron in attendance showcase a horizontal composition distinct from the verticality of its surroundings. (It will later boast a sculptural installation from the French artist Prune Nourry.)

Image: © Kengo Kuma & Associates - Photography by Michel Denancé

The station measures 377,000 square feet, making it the largest in the Grand Paris Express rail network. It’s designed to service 250,000 passengers a day from the new Metro lines 14 through 17, with connections to both RER D and GPE 4 commuter trains.

Image: © Kengo Kuma & Associates - Photography by Michel Denancé

Image: © Kengo Kuma...

Modernist early-70s marvel restored as training venue for green-friendly Paris Olympics

2024-07-26T15:40:00-04:00

Reuse and refurbishment will be part of the buzz surrounding this year’s Summer Olympics in Paris, and Chatillon Architectes' new renovation of the Grand Nef de l'Île-des-Vannes sports complex is getting top billing as one of the key projects contributing to a ‘green’ games.

The facility had been vacant since 2018. Chatillon sought to upgrade its energy efficiency and accessibility ratings while preserving its aesthetic and spatial qualities, which have existed since it was constructed in 1971. Today, it has an interior space of 32,300 square feet supported by a superstructure comprising two inclined concrete arches of 82 feet each.

Image: © Antoine Mercusot/Chatillon Architectes

Work included the installation of acoustic wood panels, the addition of new seating and a state-of-the-art multisport floor for athletes, LED conversion of lighting fixtures, and new HVAC systems.

Image: © Antoine Mercusot/Chatillon Architectes

The Grand Nef is now compliant with the latest code requirements...

A skateable testament to physics and form takes over the Centre Pompidou

2024-07-23T12:57:00-04:00

This summer, outside of the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the museum’s famous forecourt area will be the site of a timely skatepark activation by local artist Raphaël Zarka.

His new Cycloïde Piazza installation is meant to connect young Parisian skate enthusiasts and forms a key part of the Cultural Olympiad preceding this year's games, as presented by Centre Pompidou curator Jean-Max Colard.

Image courtesy Raphaël Zarka

Harkening to the experimentations of Galileo and other astronomers and mathematicians as its primary reference, the centerpiece skateable "sculpture" was designed in unison with the architect Jean-Benoît Vétillard to carry several references to France's rich art history and architectural culture.

Image copyright Fred Mortagne

A polychromatic color palette quotes Le Corbusier's "Clavier de couleurs" keyboard cards from 1931. Constructivism and the works of painters such as Lyubov Popova also hold weight over the installation's presentation, helping it to serve as an "urb...

Oliver Wainwright on Paris' claims to be the 'greenest Olympics yet'

2024-07-21T08:46:00-04:00

With its focus on mobility, greenery and renovation, the overarching legacy of the Paris Olympics looks set to be more promising than most, ultimately helping to stitch long-severed suburbs into the centre. The mental geography of most Parisians will expand, for the better. Perhaps that’s the most that could be hoped for: with its emphasis on speed and reliance on private developers, the Olympics can hardly be a vehicle for more equitable forms of development.

Oliver Wainwright unpacks the City of Lights’ vision for a green (some might say ‘greenwashed’) 2024 Olympic Games while complimenting some of the new architectural designs from Ateliers 2/3/4/, Kengo Kuma, and others. No survey would be complete, of course, without a site visit to the massive new Athletes’ Village master planned by Dominique Perrault for the gritty Saint-Denis suburb, where he counted several flaws.

“It follows a classic pattern,” author Justinien Tribillon tells him. “The development is designed to ensure that people with more money will move here, increasing local tax revenues, instead of building very ambitious, progressive, sustainable social housing for the existing inhabitants of Seine-Saint-Denis.”

The games' opening ceremony begins on the cleaned-up Seine River on Friday, July 26th, at 7:30 PM local time.

The 2024 Olympic Village as an answer to America's point access block problem

2024-07-01T11:21:00-04:00

Host cities through the decades, including Helsinki, Athens, London, Torin, Seoul, Barcelona, and most recently, Paris, have all used point access block housing that would be illegal to build in the U.S. When studying mixed-use Olympic Villages as a model for successful pedestrian-oriented development in the U.S., it becomes abundantly clear that major discrepancies exist between housing options in the U.S. and the rest of the world.

The endemic use of brick and natural stone in European apartment buildings versus their more combustible American counterparts is another factor underlying discrepancies architect Sean Jursnick herein describes as preventing the creation of better adaptable low-carbon multifamily designs in the country. It adds to another recent analysis of the point access block dilemma from the Center for Building in North America in May.

He says: “Reforming the building code and allowing for taller point access blocks, similar to Paris’ Olympic Village, is a great first step in unlocking high-performance housing.” The A/C-less dorms will house up to 14,250 athletes and support staff during the games before transitioning into permanent housing for 6,000 in the ailing Saint-Denis suburb.

Paris Olympics Athlete's Village to cool without AC during summer games

2024-05-03T17:30:00-04:00

To combat the intense summer heat in France, a geothermal energy system will cool the athlete apartments in the Seine-Saint-Denis suburb. This technology utilizes natural resources and is expected to reduce carbon impact by 45 percent compared to traditional air conditioning systems. The system will maintain a temperature below 79 degrees Fahrenheit during the night, even in the event of a heatwave, according to Laurent Michaud, the director of the Olympic and Paralympic Villages.

The planned alternative system will distribute cold water from underground to cool through the floors of the apartments, which will later become home to more than 6,000 permanent residents after the more than 15,000 Olympic and Paralympics athletes vacate in September. The buildings all have green roofs and will reportedly be powered completely by renewable energy in line with Paris' 2050 principles. Their construction achieved a 30% reduction in its carbon footprint compared to other modern projects.

Other countries, meanwhile, have promised to bring their own portable systems as a backup as experts have forecasted another unusually hot summer for the continent.

The Grand Palais debuts its pre-Olympics makeover in Paris

2024-04-24T11:48:00-04:00

As the start of this summer’s Olympics and Paralympics draws closer in Paris, the first images of the Chatillon Architectes-led restoration of the Grand Palais have been made public.

The initial phase of the four-year project that will be completed in 2025 involved expanding its capacity by 60%, creating a new pedestrian linkage to the Seine and Square Jean Perrin, restoring the balconies of the structure’s nave, and removing ad hoc additions that had slowly accrued since its opening 124 years ago.

Image credit: Laurent Kronental for Chatillon Architectes

New public gardens were created around the building, fostering an enhanced connection between it and other historic areas in the 8th arrondissement: the Champs-Élysées, Boulevard Churchill, and Petit Palais. They include more than 250 plant species, fed by rainwater that has been collected from the roofs — the largest made of glass in Europe — of the Grand Palais. The project's total costs will equal about $500 million USD, and the...

Labor and funding disputes are impelling repair work on the Eiffel Tower

2024-04-18T18:20:00-04:00

To date, only 30% of the tower has been repainted. Adding more than 100 weekly operations to monitor the lead increased annual running costs from €50m to €92m—and may reach a staggering €130m. The unions have also denounced the state of infrastructure, which sees tourists with tickets still queuing for up to three hours.

In February, the Société d’Exploitation de la Tour Eiffel (or SETE), which operates the tower announced losses nearing $2 million as a result of the weeklong strike. Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo has sparred openly with both France’s culture and tourism ministers about the tower’s lacking historical monument status and security situation on the Champ de Mars. The presence of lead paint and the pandemic have also combined to frustrate repair work efforts. The landmark’s last official full paint job, the nineteenth since it opened, was completed in 2010.

Rowan Moore on how Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo plans to use the 2024 Olympics as the catalyst for a greener ‘City of Lights’

2024-01-02T13:46:00-05:00

She wants to make it a paradise of low pollution and healthy living, as friendly to pedestrians and bicycles as can be, with new developments planned to promote community life. This is a long-term endeavour, going back to Hidalgo’s predecessor Bertrand Delanoë, who was mayor from 2001 to 2014, but the Olympics have been enlisted to give it a boost. In the face of what Rabadan calls “a lot of political resistance”, the Olympics “gave us the opportunity to accelerate the transformation we need”.

Surveying the broadscale urban greening and pedestrianization program of 2023 ULI Prize for Visionaries in Urban Development laureate Mayor Anne Hidalgo, Rowan Moore declares the slate of changes “absolutely right” for Parisians while admitting that her “rhetoric has a way of outrunning reality.”

The Guardian critic also reversed his colleague Oliver Wainright’s praise of the ‘15-minute city’ concept developed by Hidalgo’s advisor Carlos Moreno, which he sees as “overhyped” and “a bit vapid.” The Opening Ceremony will feature with a 6-kilometer-long parade down the cleaned-up river Seine. Dominique Perrault’s 51-hectare athletes’ village in Saint-Denis, which serves to further showcase many of the methods and 2050 benchmarks championed by Hidalgo, will be turned over to the city for its stewardship and eventually reuse beginning March 1st.

Notre Dame Cathedral completes spire reconstruction ahead of 2024 reopening

2023-12-11T17:30:00-05:00

France had previously reversed plans for the restoration’s completion before the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Summer Games prior to the death of project overseer General Jean-Louis Georgelin in August. The replacement of the original 19th-century spire was heavily debated before officials decided on a historically accurate timber and lead reconstruction, which was done without the adorning sculptural relics and a copper rooster figurine. Both outstanding elements are expected to be added later, along with contemporary stained glass windows.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Rebâtir Notre-Dame de Paris (@rebatirnotredamedeparis)

Now, with interior clean-ups and ceiling vault reconstructions also completed, an army of 500 will turn to exterior renovations and the installation of a new fire protection system and roof coverings.

As reported by the NYT, the collapse of Notre Dame's spire during the tragic fire deeply affected both Parisians on-site and a glob...

Will the 2024 Olympic flame be installed on the Eiffel Tower?

2023-05-26T15:02:00-04:00

Paris 2024 organisers have been planning to install the Olympic flame on the Eiffel Tower, a source with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Monday. The source added that the flame would not be put at the top of the Eiffel Tower, for technical reasons, and it was not clear whether it would stay on the monument throughout the Games but the combination of two such iconic images would be a dramatic backdrop to the July 26-Aug. 11 event.

The new antenna array on top of the tower is the only thing preventing the flame from alighting (pun) on its freshly-painted pinnacle. The flame traditionally symbolizes the continuity of the ancient into modernity.

Notre-Dame Cathedral, meanwhile, will not have its own makeover readied in time for the 2024 summer games' commencement on July 26, as per the French government's latest update.

In a turnaround, French officials say Notre Dame’s restoration will not be ready in time for the Olympics

2023-03-06T17:38:00-05:00

Notre-Dame Cathedral's spire will be back in place by the end of the year, but a full reopening following the devastating fire of 2019 will not happen before next year's Paris Olympic Games. The reconstruction is still on track for completion by the end of 2024, the culture ministry told AFP. But the sharp spire, added by architect Eugene Viollet-Le-Duc during the cathedral's redesign in the 19th century, will be back in place by the end of 2023, the ministry said.

This setback constitutes a major blow to French President Emmanuel Macron’s lofty initial promise to have the restoration work completed in time for the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Summer Games. Spectators had called into question whether or not the goal was feasible or even salutary from the beginning, particularly because of the water retained in the vaulted ceilings and other structural issues related to the composition of the stone.

Previously on Archinect: France’s Culture Ministry says Notre Dame is still on track to reopen in time for the 2024 Paris Olympics

The spire itself was the subject of a debate within the country. Prime Minister Édouard Philippe’s preference for a new version that was “adapted to the techniques and the challenges of our era” eventually got scrapped in favor of a more historically accurate construction made of timber and lead elements in line with the government’s mandate to restore Notre-Dame to its its “last known visual state.”

France 24 reported th...

France’s Culture Ministry says Notre-Dame is still on track to reopen in time for the 2024 Paris Olympics

2022-08-02T15:57:00-04:00

French President Emmanuel Macron’s vow to reopen Notre-Dame in time for Paris’ turn as host of the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Summer Games still appears to be on track after France’s Minister of Culture Rima Abdul-Malak said her office was “quite confident” in the reconstruction’s progress.

Abdul-Malak was on hand for a site inspection over the weekend alongside Phillipe Villeneuve, the chief architect of the country’s cultural monuments. The two were in Paris to inspect the recently-completed clean-up of the 859-year-old structure’s interior worship spaces, which they say represents a turning point towards the overall project’s accelerated completion.

The question is how much of the heavily-damaged cathedral will be restored and reopened to the public in time for the 2024 date set by Abdul-Malak. The controversial interior segment of the second phase of reconstruction finally began in September after lockdown-related delays and is to be followed by the replica spire’s reinstallati...

The Eiffel Tower is getting a new 60 million euro paint job in lieu of some much-needed repairs

2022-07-12T12:01:00-04:00

According to CNN, the unnamed need for maintenance was first uncovered in confidential reports obtained by the French periodical Marianne. Rust damage to the structure has accumulated over the years, a product of the lead contained within the paint which was originally meant to protect its steel from oxidizing but is now slowly making its condition worse in the opinion of at least one structural engineer with knowledge of the situation.

As Marianne noted, this represents the 20th time the tower, which Gustave Eiffel originally conceived of as a 20-year temporary installation, has been repainted since its debut as the centerpiece of the 1889 Exposition Universelle. The latest round will reportedly cover a mere 5% of the entire 1,063-foot structure. An unnamed expert told the magazine: "At best, it will be mostly useless, but at the very worst, it will make the defects in the existing layer of paint worse and result in corrosion."

Related on Archinect: Paris mayor announces €300M Eif...

MAD Architects unveils design for 2024 Paris Olympics' Aquatic Center

2020-07-20T18:37:00-04:00

MAD Architects, led by Ma Yansong has been selected along with French architectural firms, Jacques Rougerie Architecture, Atelier Phileas Architecture, and Apma Architecture to design the Aquatic Center for the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Located in the Saint-Denis district of Paris, the design team's concept envisions the Aquatic Center as a piece of a public artwork. Aesthetically, the facility flaunts a translucent curved facade that appears to be floating, giving the structure a sense of lightness with a rippled reflexive effect. The building is expected to hold 5,000 spectators during the Olympics, and has been designed to reduce in size by 50 percent once the games are over.

70 percent of the structure is constructed from wood, aligning with the 2024 Paris Olympics' environmental protection considerations and sustainable development. The facility also uses solar panels to reduce light and energy consumption; rainwater collection systems also recycle water to irrigate the landscaping ...

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.

New renderings of LAN's Grand Palais redevelopment in Paris

2018-02-27T14:23:00-05:00

French firm LAN (Local Architecture Network) won the competition of restructuring the iconic Grand Palais back in 2014. Updates have been released on the firm's plans for this historic Paris venue, a space which was built in 1900 for the World's Fair.

Grand Palais, Mediation space simulation. Image: LAN.

Grand Palais, entrée de la Rue des Palais simulation. Image: LAN.

Among the updated features are six new galleries and a Chanel-sponsored entrance. The $570 million renovation also includes a new entrance from Square Jean Perrin into refurbished science museum, and a new internal walkway linking all parts of the massive complex.

Grand Palais, Curved Galleries simulation. Image: LAN.

LAN describes the undertaking, "For us, the Grand Palais represents modernity both in its design and in its symbolism. It is a hybrid building in terms of its architecture, its use and its history."

Grand Palais, Main Galleries simulation. Image: LAN.

Grand Palais, reception area simulation. Image: LAN.

The G...

Populous' Paris 2024 Olympics scheme striving to create “the most sustainable Games ever”

2017-09-20T17:49:00-04:00

According to the team, the designs for both the new and temporary venues and facilities ‘will seek to shape and integrate sporting spectacles in the city’s urban landscape while supporting Paris 2024’s commitment to be the most sustainable games ever’.

As seen in Rio 2016 to London 2012, sustainability is an ongoing issue for cities hosting the Olympic Games. Recently, Populous and consultancy group Egis unveiled the first rendering of their design for the Paris 2024 Olympics, stating that their concept will help create “the most sustainable Games ever”.

“Our mission was to understand how each sport and discipline could best function in existing venues, new buildings when required as legacy and temporary modular sites, identifying the best option in each case,” says Egis' Diogo Taddei, who supervised the work of the consortium. “One of the biggest challenges was to transform illustrious Parisian monuments into sports venues, adapting them to the requirements of the Olympic and Paralympic Games.”

Dominique Perrault reveals plans for the Paris 2024 Olympic Village

2017-09-18T19:54:00-04:00

After decades of failed bids and one particularly humiliating loss to London in 2012, Paris has officially been named the host of the 2024 Olympics. Though the city plans on making the most out of its existing facilities, some new development will take place. One of such projects is the Dominique Perrault-designed and planned Olympic Village, which helped secure Paris' 2024 bid because the city said they would be unable to freeze the project, which had already begun work, for four years had they accepted hosting duties for 2028 instead.

Along with the majority of new venues being built for the games, the Olympic Village is set in Saint-Denis—the poorest of France's 101 mainland departments—in an effort to rejuvenate the area. The development centers around the Cinema City film studios created in a disused power station by the film-maker Luc Besson which will house that athletes' dinin...

It's official - LA will host the Olympics in 2028, Paris in 2024

2017-09-13T18:26:00-04:00

Los Angeles’ rollercoaster campaign to host the Olympics — an effort marked by early defeat and last-second negotiations — reached its conclusion Wednesday when the city was formally awarded the 2028 Summer Games. International Olympic Committee members, by a unanimous show of hands, voted their approval at a session in Lima, Peru, ending an unusual bid competition that resulted in two winners as Paris was simultaneously given the 2024 Games.

Paris and Los Angeles were officially awarded the 2024 and 2028 summer games, respectively. Both cities have previously hosted the summer olympics twice, Paris in 1900 and in 1924, and Los Angeles in 1932 and in 1984. The two cities already have some of the necessary infrastructures to host the games but the Olympics will most likely transform their built environment.

Los Angeles to host 2028 Summer Olympics; hopes to cut costs by using existing venues

2017-08-01T13:40:00-04:00

After weeks of negotiations with the International Olympic Committee, Los Angeles officials have reached a deal to host the 2028 Summer Games under terms they hope will generate hundreds of millions in savings and additional revenues. The agreement will bring the Olympics back to Southern California for a third time, after Los Angeles hosted in 1984 and 1932. It also opens the door for the 2024 Games to be held in Paris.

Spiraling costs and notorious budget overruns have discouraged other cities from pushing towards being a host to the 2024/28 Summer Olympics, but Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti thinks otherwise and hopes to avoid unpredictable spending by reusing existing venues and infrastructure.

As the Los Angeles Times reports, "Olympic experts have said that L.A. could be different because its plan relies on existing venues such as Staples Center, Pauley Pavilion and the Coliseum. It avoids spending billions to construct new stadiums and arenas. Further savings would arise from housing athletes and the media at UCLA and USC rather than building expensive villages."

LA officials aren't only hoping to cover the cost of the games but actually generate a surplus — emulating the success of the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Olympics.

Paris and Los Angeles to host the Summer Olympics in 2024 and 2028

2017-07-11T16:53:00-04:00

The rare decision to name the hosts of separate Games simultaneously — established with a unanimous vote of I.O.C. members on Tuesday — is an effort by the organization to counter diminished interest shown by democratic nations in hosting the Olympics amid exorbitant costs, white-elephant stadiums, widespread corruption, rampant doping and limited appeal to the youth audience.

Delegates of International Olympic Committee will vote on future hosting cities on Sept. 13 in Lima, Peru. "Paris is favored to hold the Games in 2024, the centenary of the last time it hosted the Olympics, while Los Angeles is expected to hold the Summer Games for a third time in 2028." Paris and Los Angeles remain the only cities bidding to host the 2024 Olympics after withdrawals of Boston, Rome, Budapest and Hamburg, Germany.

The cities are also expected to demonstrate efforts in reforming the Olympics in reducing prohibitive costs in staging the Games by using mostly existing and temporary facilities.

Paris mayor announces €300M Eiffel Tower renovation

2017-01-16T13:05:00-05:00

The Eiffel Tower is to undergo a €300m, 15-year refurbishment, Paris’s mayor Anne Hidalgo announced on Friday. [...] The planned refurbishment is intended to bolster the French capital’s bids to host another World’s Fair in 2025 and, before that, the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic games [...]. The project will be managed by the tower’s operator, the Société d’Exploitation de la Tour Eiffel, a public service company wholly owned by the City Council.

The 15-year refurbishment of this most-visited monument anywhere in the world (the 127-year-old wrought iron structure has been operating at its maximum capacity of about 7 million visitors since 2003, according to Wikipedia) will take more than a few buckets of paint and also comprises the modernization of the elevators, viewing gallery, security and access facilities, as well as the light show systems.

“The Olympics are a dream that turn into a nightmare." – Rome's mayor pulls 2024 Olympic bid

2016-09-22T12:45:00-04:00

Virginia Raggi, who was elected in June and has faced a tumultuous start to her tenure, said in a highly anticipated press conference that it would be irresponsible to move forward with the bid, given the debts that it would accrue and the burdens it would place on Roman taxpayers. [...] The 38-year-old lawyer said the city was still paying debts it had accrued for the Games in 1960, and would not stand for more “cathedrals in the desert” – abandoned stadiums – that the city could ill afford.

Take the Olympics, please!

California pledges to pick up (some of the) cost overruns of LA 2024 Olympic bid

2016-04-14T18:19:00-04:00

The Associated Press reports a California legislative panel advanced a bill Tuesday committing the state to cover up to $250 million in cost overruns as part of Los Angeles’ bid for the 2024 Summer Olympics. The Senate Governmental Organization Committee approved the bill in a 7-0 vote after proponents said they’re confident they can provide the Games without the serious deficits that have challenged other recent host cities. They pointed to Los Angeles’ profitable hosting of the 1984 Olympics.

Previously in the Archinect news:

LA 2024 plays up a sunny disposition in their logo for the Olympic bid

2016-02-17T19:13:00-05:00

'Every day people follow the sun to our city in pursuit of their dreams,' bid committee chairman Casey Wasserman said in a statement, adding: 'We're inviting the world to follow the sun to California in 2024.' The Olympic movement takes such things seriously. In the past, millions of dollars have been spent on the design of emblems and the often-ridiculed mascots.

You can read LA 2024's full press statement about the logo's unveiling here, and watch the promotional video below.