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"I haven’t seen anything quite like this," says Jules Boykoff, a professor and former professional soccer player who studies the impact of the Olympics on marginalized communities. "Typically, hostile architecture is more subtle." — WIRED
The worry that Los Angeles may attempt a full-scale homeless 'cleansing' ahead of the 2028 Olympics has always been present as the statistical realities make too apparent: At least 75,000 people currently live without housing in L.A. County. Now, the task for their advocates is to buck trends that... View full entry
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... View full entry
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
I personally grew fond of the general. Touring the different workshops, he always mentioned the “battle for France” that they absolutely had to win, but also spoke of his deep gratitude. That afternoon in June last year in Saumur, he told the compagnons: “Your pride in your work is beautiful to see. How lucky France is to have you helping to return this absolute masterpiece of a spire to the sky of Paris.” — The Guardian
A restoration of this order should take 10 to 15 years (that’s according to experts speaking immediately after the April 15, 2019, blaze). Instead, an army of over 2,000 workers and skilled tradespeople has diligently chipped away under the direction of General Jean-Louis Georgelin, who died... 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
Archinect has received photos of the newly opened Simone Veil Bridge, designed by OMA/Rem Koolhaas and Chris van Duijn in Bordeaux, France. The project spans 549 meters (1,801 feet) in length and is 44 meters (144 feet) wide, connecting the communes of Floirac and Bègles over the Garonne River... View full entry
The Grimshaw-designed Robert Poujade pedestrian bridge in Toulouse has officially opened. Developed alongside ppa.architecture as part of a consortium led by French civil engineering construction company Eiffage, which included Ingérop, ATP, and Quartiers Lumières, the bridge is one of... 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
Ten major companies in the construction equipment industry have formed a coalition to promote sustainability in the sector. The France-based organization, named the Community of Sustainable Equipment Players (CAMD), includes Bouygues Construction, Colas, Eiffage, Haulotte, JCB, Kiloutou, Manitou... 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
BIG has unveiled renderings for its new Marengo Multimodal Transport Hub project in Toulouse, France’s fourth largest city. The 129,000-square-foot building connects the city center to the UNESCO-listed Canal du Midi and the Périole neighborhood and will be realized adjacent to the existing... View full entry
The Urban Land Institute (ULI) has today announced Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo as its selection for the 2023 ULI Prize for Visionaries in Urban Development, one of the industry’s leading honors for community building and development worldwide. “La Dauphine,” as she is better known to the press... View full entry
