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Post-Games: Paris Timber Rich Athletes Village to Leave Legacy

According to master planner, the Paris 2024 aftermath is the "most dangerous time" for the Paris Olympic Village


Wed 31 Jul 24

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Less than one week into the Paris Olympics, organisers are already looking beyond the Games in their bid to repurpose the games’ infrastructure, including the Athletes Village.

In March, Wood Central revealed that the €2b Athletes Village—the most sustainable ever constructed—was constructed from 45% timber, including 14,250 cardboard beds, 8,200 fans, and 5,535 sofas sandwiched between laminated veneer lumber floor and ceiling panels.

While the game’s athletes have criticised the Village’s eco-focused condition, French architect Dominique Perrault is master planning its future. The Village straddles the northern Parisian suburbs of Saint-Denis, Saint-Ouen-sur-Seine, and ÃŽle Saint-Denis.

“We don’t want to build a village; we want to build a district, a new district,” Mr Perrault told Dezeen today. I am not an architect in this process; I am the urban designer.”

Mr Perrault, who led the masterplan with his studio Dominique Perrault Architecture, said the Village is “two streets” anchored by the Seine River.

“The idea is simple and efficient. One street is more urban, with some buildings and some courtyards, going to the Seine River and connecting with a new bridge. The other is more like a garden – it’s a street from the public transport station to the Seine River with a presence of the landscape. That’s it.”

Lining the “streets” is a cluster of nineteen apartment and office buildings, anchored by an eight-storey mass timber building – which uses a spruce glulam timber frame, prefabricated concrete floors and a Douglas fir exterior – that will host the world’s media.

These buildings have been designed in line with Paris 2024’s ambitious sustainability targets and meet the International Olympic Committee’s “New Norms.” These include halving the carbon footprint of London 2012 and Rio 2016 and emitting no more than 1.58 million metric tonnes of CO2.

“After the Olympic events this summer, we are at crossroads.”

Dubbed the Timber Games, much of the coverage so far has been dominated by the game’s ambitious carbon targets—with authorities investing €200m in timber projects to revive France’s forest economy. In March, Etienne Thobois, Paris 2024 CEO, confirmed that 33 of 35 venues were upcycled, ensuring the €4.5 billion showpiece didn’t cost the earth.

However, for Mr Perrault, achieving these goals (for the Village) was just a tick-box exercise and secondary to his main ambition for the project: reconciling the banlieue with the city.

“We have some considerations about sustainability. We use some wood, we have fresh air through the Village, we have a lot of green space, and water is very important—okay, good boy!” he joked to Dezeen.

“You know what? The question is not only about the Village; it is around the Village because if we would like to be successful in the social approach and urban design, we should consider the Village neighbours.”

French architect Dominque Perrault on the legacy of the Paris Athletes Village.

Located on a 52-hectare site, the Village has one of Paris’s poorest and highest crime rates. After the games, it will be converted into a range of private, student, and social housing, offices, and public spaces expected to accommodate 6,000 residents and another 6,000 workers. There will also be schools, parks, and improved transport links.

Mr Perrault says its success as a district will become apparent in the two years after the games: “After the Olympic events this summer, we are at a crossroads,” he said. “During the first two years after the event, I think it’s the most dangerous time for the Olympic Village because, in one way, the village could be a new place in this part of Paris, or maybe the village could stay a village with some good buildings.”

Ties to Seine and existing buildings prioritised

One key way Mr Perrault hopes to achieve this is by connecting the area to the Seine—the river that cuts through the heart of Paris—after its links had previously been made inaccessible.

“The main idea was, ‘Okay, the Seine River, where is the Seine River?'” he said. Nobody knew at the beginning. Nobody could touch the water, nobody could walk along the Seine River. It was impossible.”

“Now, with this new district, it is possible to create a new relationship between the people living and working in this district and the river.”

In delivering the Paris games on time, on budget and in line with IOC's "New Norms", organisers have leaned on timber-based construction stadiums - including Grand Palais Éphémère. Here, work on the glue-laminated timber superstructure took just three months to assemble, with prefabricated beams and panels assembled by construction crews. (Photo Credit: Patrick Tourneboeuf)
In delivering the Paris games on time, on budget and in line with IOC’s “New Norms”, organisers have leaned on timber-based construction stadiums – including Grand Palais Éphémère. Here, work on the glue-laminated timber superstructure took just three months to assemble, with prefabricated beams and panels assembled by construction crews. (Photo Credit: Patrick Tourneboeuf)

Mr Perrault has provided direct access from the centre’s transport station—finished this year and designed by Kengo Kuma and Associates—to the Seine by reinstating a natural sloping route and stepping terraces down to the water. Another critical move has been establishing a relationship between the new and existing buildings across the site.

In particular, Mr Perrault highlighted the Cité du Cinéma —a 1930s power station that was repurposed as the Cité du Cinéma film studios in 2012. It is currently inaccessible to the public, but it will be used as a canteen and training facility during the games.

He hopes that by placing it at the heart of the master plan and repurposing it in this way, the building can be re-established as a public landmark for the area and help breathe life into the district in the future.

He added, “We have the chance to keep and protect the Cité du Cinéma, but we should improve the quality of life in this building.”ld introduce some public space in this building because, at this moment, it’s a citadel. It’s closed, impossible to go through, and totally crazy.”

“If we reintroduce the Cité du Cinéma in the story, we will be very lucky and successful.”

By reusing the Cité du Cinéma, Mr Perrault hopes he can also send out a wider message about the value of reusing existing buildings in city developments.

“There’s a very important message about reusing the existing condition,” he said. The existing condition becomes like a material for architecture. So, in urban design, the material is not only concrete, glass, and metal; the material is the existing condition and how we could use and transform it with some new programme.”

  • Click on Wood Central’s special feature for more information about the Paris Olympic Games and its timber-based venues. Please note, that this article was republished with extracts from Dezeen’s most recent Dezeen’s Olympic Impact series.

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  • Wood Central

    Wood Central is Australia’s first and only dedicated platform covering wood-based media across all digital platforms. Our vision is to develop an integrated platform for media, events, education, and products that connect, inform, and inspire the people and organisations who work in and promote forestry, timber, and fibre.

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