Paris has embarked on the largest urban real estate project in 30 years. Urban specialists, designers, gardeners, suppliers will be sought out throughout Europe. Shouldn’t you be here?
At the epicentre of Paris sprawls 6 hectares of semi-underground shopping arcades and spaghetti junctions of modern transport. Built in the 1970s, ‘les Halles’ has aged badly. The ambition is to re-vitalise the area. Since the 12th century, les Halles was the site of Paris’ central food markets. These were moved 40 years ago and 1970s architectural grime took over.
Today, despite its lack of aesthetic appeal or shopper-friendly lay-out, les Halles is a commercial success: it boasts over 40M visitors a year, generating turnover of €470M last year.
The winner of the short-list to lead the renovation project is French architect David Mangin. His design calls for a “modern urban garden”. The most striking feature will be a huge glass roof. It was also the least expensive proposal.
Mangin’s urban garden design will act as the core theme as the final plans are completed this year. Specifics are already appearing but tenders for the main work will not start for a few months yet.
Address: IBT Partners - 17 rue du Colisée - 75008 Paris - France
