Beautiful and sustainable, the buildings of the Olympic Village in Paris convey the city’s contemporary ideals. In particular, the housing created by Brenac & Gonzalez & Associés bears the fine-grained details that are often lacking in projects of this ilk – and that are especially surprising in structures erected firstly for visiting athletes.
The timber-concrete mid-rise structures do not shy from ornament: Their ceramic facades – “alternating terracotta tiles, sometimes glazed, sometimes matte” – are subtle yet expressive. “They recall the pattern of tartans, or the brick ornaments found at the Meunier chocolate factory or on the Jules Ferry schools,” the architects explain. “The reading is revealed furtively and in fragments depending on the time of day or the light.” The buildings feature striking balconies, with wooden door frames, powder-coated steel railings and glass partitions. Fully visible through hallway glazing, the internal stairwells are dynamic and inviting.
This thoughtful, elegant design is in service of longevity. In the fashion of those created for many other recent modern Games, this Olympic Village was conceived to be permanent, its temporary quarters designed to transition into permanent housing. “Unlike the historic Olympic villages, we thought in terms of heritage so that this new district fits ‘in the long term’ as a real place for family life within the dynamics of Greater Paris,” the firm explains. “Work is being carried out around the design of the [apartments], allowing perfect reversibility… quickly and at a lower cost.”
Affordable housing is, by matter of course, another ideal that the City of Paris is aiming for. The Village is situated at the juncture of three suburbs north of Paris – Seine-Saint-Denis, Saint-Ouen and Ile-Saint-Denis – each with their own socio-economic challenges. The official website of Icade, the real estate developer, states, “It has been conceived from the very start with local communities in mind. Once the event is over, the Olympic and Paralympic Village will be transformed into an urban neighbourhood designed for its residents and deeply rooted in its surrounding area.” Referencing Olympics organizers’ promises that 32 per cent of new homes in Saint-Denis and Saint-Ouen and 48 per cent of those in Ile-Saint-Denis “will be set aside for public housing,” CNN reported, “The site was chosen in the hopes it would revitalize some of the city’s historically impoverished northern suburbs.”
The overall design is undeniably appealing: The master plan is by world-renowned architect Dominique Perrault; he was chosen as urban planner by SOLIDEO, the consortium in charge of the project. Perrault commissioned the nation’s most fascinating talents to design “a complex” of bioclimatic buildings together amounting to 48,000 square metres; alongside Brenac & Gonzales, they include UAPS (lead architect), ECDM, Atelier Pascal Gontier, NP2F and Post-Office Architectes. The landscape, a 3,000-square-metre “urban forest,” that meanders through and naturally cools the neighbourhood, is by TN+ and CDC Biodiversité. This surrounding greenery, together with rooftop gardens and solar panels, boosts the project’s sustainability quotient.
According to CNN, the landscape design also includes “an experimental sidewalk built with seashells, which are supposed to absorb water that evaporates in the heat to keep passers-by cool.” And its main thoroughfare features five eye-catching air purifiers, versions of the Aerophiltre, by PARA-PM. “These giant, UFO-like towers are designed like vacuums to suck in the polluted air and filter out dangerous particles.” Jérôme Giacomoni, the company’s president, says they can clean “the equivalent of the volume of 40 Olympic-sized swimming pools an hour.” Moreover, according to Icade, one of the buildings in the Village is a “testing ground for new solutions involving water and bio-waste with the local area and surrounding farmland.” And the master plan also included the repurposing of existing buildings – like an old electric factory and movie studios – into central gathering spots for athletes.
Sometime in September, after they have departed, the contenders’ temporary accommodations will transform into 245 housing units for sale, 93 social housing rental units for families and 99 intermediate housing rental units; there will also be a 150-room student residence and a 65-studio social housing residence “intended primarily for people with disabilities,” according to Icade. The auxiliary buildings will turn into a variety of amenities: public spaces, a social sport club, a coworking hub, childcare centres and a timber office building.
How well will ideals stack up against reality when the time arrives? So far, press reports surrounding the Olympics have brought to light the many contradictions in a well-meaning project of this scope, scale and global reputation – especially in Seine-Saint-Denis, which has been home to a growing community of migrants. Many had set up informal living arrangements within abandoned factories and other liminal spaces. As preparations for the Games ramped up, there were reports of displacement – which the local and international press picked up on.
“In the run-up to the Paris Olympic Games, human rights activists have alleged that authorities are engaged in ‘social cleansing,’ a government policy of removing the homeless from the city,” France24 reported, noting that authorities deny this narrative. Hundreds of migrants were said to have been evicted from their squats and sent to “other parts of France.” Will these people be welcomed back post-Olympic Games, when the buildings now accommodating star athletes will transition to their permanent, more virtuous uses? And will the designated affordable housing in the Olympic Village remain so, or – as happened in London – rise in rental rates along with the rest of the market?
The athletes themselves have sounded the alarm on another issue: Some complained of how stuffy their suites were during a heatwave. As part of the buildings’ eco-conscious design, the athletes’ rooms have no air conditioning. After receiving “a slew of complaints,” as per The Guardian, Olympics organizers began allowing teams to bring in their own mobile AC units. This in turn led to what some other teams, unable to afford the provision, complained of as a “two-tier” system. They had to keep their balcony doors open in order to sleep through the night. It might sound like a superficial concern, but it underlines the inequalities that bubble up to the surface, and the consequent tensions, between those who must take on the burden of a climate conscious future, and those who can simply pony up for a more comfortable living situation.
Are these short-term concerns distracting from the bigger picture, which is mostly good for the vast majority of people? One hopes so. While we’re rooting for our favourites to snatch up their medals, let’s also think about the true legacy of the Games. With all of its beauty, old and new, Paris must jump on this momentous opportunity to not only project its ideals onto the world but to take in the many lessons learned about social and environmental design during its turn in the spotlight. As great architecture shows, it’s the details that count.
The Olympic Village was designed to transition into a permanent community, complete with housing and other amenities. Will it deliver on its goal to revitalize the Paris suburbs?