Approved back in 2015, MVRDV's plans to redesign and expand the 1970s Vandamme Nord shopping complex in Montparnasse, Paris have officially begun. First built by architect Pierre Dufau, the shopping center's glory days faded as it failed to adapt to a changing urban environment over the years.

MVRDV's restructuring scheme for the new Gaîté Montparnasse complex aims to improve its urban connectivity and to make it a pedestrian-friendly space. According to the latest details from MVRDV, the Vandamme Nord will be expanded into a 108,000 m2 mixed-use building with a new program on the roof, a hotel, office space, 62 social housing units, a 350 m2 kindergarten, and new entrances on Avenue du Maine and Rue Mouchotte. The Vandamme public library will be moved from its current underground location to the top of the building.

The facade will be opened up and fragmented into a “collection of boxes” that will be inserted into the existing structural frame. Each “box” will differ in size, program, function, color, and materials, and will be flexibly designed to accommodate future demands. 

“Based on the existing structural grid, the majority of boxes are suspended from the façade revealing the [building's] wide range of functions [...] Density is increased carefully while respecting the architectural language of the original design and refreshing the run down details and organisation of the block,” MVRDV says.

The project is currently slated for a 2020 completion.