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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... View full entry
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... View full entry
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... View full entry
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. — The Guardian
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... View full entry
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. — Medium.com
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... View full entry
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. — Runner's World
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... View full entry
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... View full entry
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. — The Art Newspaper
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... View full entry
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”. — The Guardian
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... View full entry
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... View full entry
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.
— Reuters
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... View full entry
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.
— France 24
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... View full entry
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... View full entry
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... View full entry
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... View full entry